The Red Pines

A pioneering Japanese American community perseveres
by
Katie Jennings
2008
12 mins

The Red Pines, a short film for university and K-12 classrooms, explores the Japanese American community on Puget Sound's Bainbridge Island. It shows the cultural forces that enabled many of its members to return and rebuild their lives after exile and incarceration by their own government during World War II.

The Red Pines" tells an enormously important story. Bainbridge Island was the first Japanese American community forcibly removed by the US Government during WWII. All the injustice, the irony, the support, the tragedy, and the courage are evident in this short, accessible video.
Franklin Odo
Director, Asian Pacific American Program, Smithsonian Institution

Reviews
Akamatsu," or Red Pine exemplifies the resilience and endurance facing hardships as a metaphor for the true story of the Bainbridge Island's Japanese Americans. From the immigrant generation, the Issei, to the third and fourth generations, this short documentary traverses the difficulties faced by this group, from the lumber mill days, the WW II incarceration, to the social acceptance they find today. It was a difficult journey told in an absorbing and very inspiring way.
Tetsuden Kashima
Ph.D., Professor, University of Washington
Terrific! In 12-minutes, *The Red Pines* provides a thoughtful, well-crafted survey of the pre- and post-war Japanese American experience on Seattle's Bainbridge Island. This documentary is also perfect for secondary, junior, and high school classrooms.
Lane Ryo Hirabayashi
George & Sakaye Aratani Professor of the Japanese American Internment, Redress and Community, UCLA

Awards and Screenings
Northwest Asian American Film Festival
Washington DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival
Port Townsend, Washington Film Festival

Features and Languages

Film Features

  • Closed Captioning

Promotional Material

Promotional Stills

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