Robert A. Nakamura
Introduction (2-3 lines)
Robert A. Nakamura is a filmmaker and teacher, sometimes referred to as "the Godfather of Asian American media." In 1970 he co-founded Visual Communications, the premier community-based Asian Pacific American media arts center in the United States.
Robert A. Nakamura is a Professor Emeritus of UCLA having taught in the Department of Asian American Studies and Department of Film, Television and Digital Media in addition to being Associate Director of the Asian American Studies Center. A pioneering Asian American filmmaker, he has produced and directed numerous documentary films that have garnered many awards and screenings such the Sundance Film Festival, the Yamagata International Film Festival and Robert Flaherty Seminar for Independent Film and Cinema. He was founding Director of Visual Communications, the nation’s premier Asian Pacific American media arts center, the Media Arts Center of the Japanese American National Museum and the UCLA Center for EthnoCommunications. His honors include the Ann C. Rosenfield Distinguished Community Partnership Prize, Distinguished Artist, C.O.L.A. (City of Los Angeles), UCLA Endowed Chair in Japanese American Studies and having has early work selected for retrospectives of the documentary form by the Film Forum, Oakland Museum of Modern Art and Long Beach Museum of Art.
