Steven Okazaki
Encyclopedia
Steven Okazaki is an American filmmaker. He is Sansei Japanese American (3rd generation) and is based in the San Francisco Bay Area
. He has received a Peabody Award
and been nominated for four Academy Awards
, winning an Oscar for the documentary
short subject
, Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo
(1990).
in 1976, making narrative and documentary shorts. In 1982 he produced Survivors for WGBH Boston
, a documentary short about Hiroshima
and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors
. In 1985 he received his first Academy Award nomination for Unfinished Business
, about three Nisei Japanese Americans who challenged the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II
in court. In 1987 he wrote and directed the independent film
, Living on Tokyo Time
, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival
and was theatrically released by Skouras Pictures
. In 1991 he won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
for Days of Waiting, about Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian artist who went with her Japanese American
husband to a World War II
internment camp for Japanese Americans
. He continued to make documentary films for PBS and later with HBO. In 2006 he received his third Oscar nomination for The Mushroom Club
, a personal documentary about his journey to Japan to interview atomic bomb survivors
on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
. Okazaki co-received the 2008 "Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking" Primetime Emmy Award
for White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
, and his fourth Oscar nomination in 2009, for the documentary short The Conscience of Nhem En
. Okazaki's production company, Farallon Films, is based in Berkeley, California
.
San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a populated region that surrounds the San Francisco and San Pablo estuaries in Northern California. The region encompasses metropolitan areas of San Francisco, Oakland, and San Jose, along with smaller urban and rural areas...
. He has received a Peabody Award
Peabody Award
The George Foster Peabody Awards recognize distinguished and meritorious public service by radio and television stations, networks, producing organizations and individuals. In 1939, the National Association of Broadcasters formed a committee to recognize outstanding achievement in radio broadcasting...
and been nominated for four Academy Awards
Academy Awards
An Academy Award, also known as an Oscar, is an accolade bestowed by the American Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize excellence of professionals in the film industry, including directors, actors, and writers...
, winning an Oscar for the documentary
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
short subject
Short subject
A short film is any film not long enough to be considered a feature film. No consensus exists as to where that boundary is drawn: the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all...
, Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo
Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle Ishigo
Days of Waiting is a documentary short film by Steven Okazaki, about Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian artist who went voluntarily to an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II...
(1990).
Career
Okazaki started at Churchill FilmsChurchill Films
Churchill Films is a producer of direct-to-video films. They have produced The Mouse and the Motorcycle based on the 1965 book by Beverly Cleary and many other award-winning children's films....
in 1976, making narrative and documentary shorts. In 1982 he produced Survivors for WGBH Boston
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...
, a documentary short about Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
and Nagasaki atomic bomb survivors
Hibakusha
The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people"...
. In 1985 he received his first Academy Award nomination for Unfinished Business
Unfinished Business (1985 film)
Unfinished Business is a 1985 documentary film directed by Steven Okazaki which centered on Min Yasui, an attorney from Oregon, Gordon Hirabayashi, a Quaker college student in Washington, and Fred Korematsu, a San Francisco welder and how their lives were affected by Japanese American internment...
, about three Nisei Japanese Americans who challenged the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
in court. In 1987 he wrote and directed the independent film
Independent film
An independent film, or indie film, is a professional film production resulting in a feature film that is produced mostly or completely outside of the major film studio system. In addition to being produced and distributed by independent entertainment companies, independent films are also produced...
, Living on Tokyo Time
Living on Tokyo Time
Living on Tokyo Time is a 1987 movie starring Minako Ohashi and Ken Nakagawa and directed by Steven Okazaki.It is a romantic comedy revolving around Japanese American rock musician Ken and his marriage of convenience to Kyoko, a young immigré from Japan who speaks limited English.The film...
, which premiered in competition at the Sundance Film Festival
Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is a film festival that takes place annually in Utah, in the United States. It is the largest independent cinema festival in the United States. Held in January in Park City, Salt Lake City, and Ogden, as well as at the Sundance Resort, the festival is a showcase for new...
and was theatrically released by Skouras Pictures
Skouras Films
Skouras Films is an American movie distribution company. The original title of the company was Skouras Pictures. Distributed films include Blood Simple, Joey Breaker, Living on Tokyo Time, The Quiet Earth, and Apartment Zero....
. In 1991 he won the Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
Academy Award for Documentary Short Subject
This is a list of films by year that have received an Oscar together with the other nominations for best documentary short subject. Following the Academy's practice, the year listed for each film is the year of release: the awards are announced and presented early in the following year.-1940s:*1941...
for Days of Waiting, about Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian artist who went with her Japanese American
Japanese American
are American people of Japanese heritage. Japanese Americans have historically been among the three largest Asian American communities, but in recent decades have become the sixth largest group at roughly 1,204,205, including those of mixed-race or mixed-ethnicity...
husband to a World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
internment camp for Japanese Americans
Japanese American internment
Japanese-American internment was the relocation and internment by the United States government in 1942 of approximately 110,000 Japanese Americans and Japanese who lived along the Pacific coast of the United States to camps called "War Relocation Camps," in the wake of Imperial Japan's attack on...
. He continued to make documentary films for PBS and later with HBO. In 2006 he received his third Oscar nomination for The Mushroom Club
The Mushroom Club
The Mushroom Club is a 2005 documentary short subject, directed by Steven Okazaki.The short film is about the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and its effects on the residents of that city sixty years later....
, a personal documentary about his journey to Japan to interview atomic bomb survivors
Hibakusha
The surviving victims of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki are called , a Japanese word that literally translates to "explosion-affected people"...
on the 60th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima
Hiroshima
is the capital of Hiroshima Prefecture, and the largest city in the Chūgoku region of western Honshu, the largest island of Japan. It became best known as the first city in history to be destroyed by a nuclear weapon when the United States Army Air Forces dropped an atomic bomb on it at 8:15 A.M...
. Okazaki co-received the 2008 "Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking" Primetime Emmy Award
Primetime Emmy Award
The Primetime Emmy Awards are awards presented by the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences in recognition of excellence in American primetime television programming...
for White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an HBO documentary film that was directed and produced by Steven Okazaki and was released on August 6, 2007 on HBO, marking the 62nd anniversary of the first atomic bombing...
, and his fourth Oscar nomination in 2009, for the documentary short The Conscience of Nhem En
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Conscience of Nhem En is a 26-minute documentary directed by Steven Okazaki, telling the stories of three survivors of the Tuol Sleng Prison. Also known as S-21, Tuol Sleng was where 17,000 Cambodians were imprisoned and killed in the late 1970s...
. Okazaki's production company, Farallon Films, is based in Berkeley, California
Berkeley, California
Berkeley is a city on the east shore of the San Francisco Bay in Northern California, United States. Its neighbors to the south are the cities of Oakland and Emeryville. To the north is the city of Albany and the unincorporated community of Kensington...
.
Filmography
- A-M-E-R-I-C-A-N-S (1976)
- Survivors (1982)
- The Only Language She Knows (1983)
- Unfinished BusinessUnfinished Business (1985 film)Unfinished Business is a 1985 documentary film directed by Steven Okazaki which centered on Min Yasui, an attorney from Oregon, Gordon Hirabayashi, a Quaker college student in Washington, and Fred Korematsu, a San Francisco welder and how their lives were affected by Japanese American internment...
(1985) - Living on Tokyo TimeLiving on Tokyo TimeLiving on Tokyo Time is a 1987 movie starring Minako Ohashi and Ken Nakagawa and directed by Steven Okazaki.It is a romantic comedy revolving around Japanese American rock musician Ken and his marriage of convenience to Kyoko, a young immigré from Japan who speaks limited English.The film...
(1987) - Hunting Tigers (1988)
- Days of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle IshigoDays of Waiting: The Life & Art of Estelle IshigoDays of Waiting is a documentary short film by Steven Okazaki, about Estelle Ishigo, a Caucasian artist who went voluntarily to an internment camp for Japanese Americans during World War II...
(1990) - Troubled Paradise (1992)
- The Lisa Theory (1993)
- American Sons (1994)
- Alone Together: Young Adults Living with HIV (1995)
- Life Was Good (1996)
- Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the StreetBlack Tar Heroin (film)Black Tar Heroin: The Dark End of the Street is a 1999 documentary directed by Steven Okazaki. Filmed from 1995 to 1998 in the Tenderloin, San Francisco, California, the documentary describes the lives of heroin addicts.-Overview:...
(1999) - The FairThe Fair (film)The Fair is a 1960 German drama film directed by Wolfgang Staudte. It was entered into the 10th Berlin International Film Festival where Juliette Mayniel won the Silver Bear for Best Actress.-Cast:* Juliette Mayniel - Annette...
(2002) - Rehab (2005)
- The Mushroom ClubThe Mushroom ClubThe Mushroom Club is a 2005 documentary short subject, directed by Steven Okazaki.The short film is about the nuclear bomb dropped on Hiroshima and its effects on the residents of that city sixty years later....
(2005) - White Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and NagasakiWhite Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and NagasakiWhite Light/Black Rain: The Destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki is an HBO documentary film that was directed and produced by Steven Okazaki and was released on August 6, 2007 on HBO, marking the 62nd anniversary of the first atomic bombing...
(2007) - The Conscience of Nhem EnThe Conscience of Nhem EnThe Conscience of Nhem En is a 26-minute documentary directed by Steven Okazaki, telling the stories of three survivors of the Tuol Sleng Prison. Also known as S-21, Tuol Sleng was where 17,000 Cambodians were imprisoned and killed in the late 1970s...
(2008)
External links
- farallon films official site
- profile by Peter Feng at UC Berkeley Library (1996/"American Sons")
- Okazaki interview on metroactive.com (1999/"Black Tar Heroin")
- Okazaki article from The Japan TimesThe Japan TimesThe Japan Times is an English language newspaper published in Japan. Unlike its competitors, the Daily Yomiuri and the International Herald Tribune/Asahi Shimbun, it is not affiliated with a Japanese language media organization...
(2006/"The Mushroom Club") - Sundance review on indiewire (2007/"White Light/Black Rain")