Celebrate AAPI Heritage Month: “First To Go” Film Screening & Director Talk

The Japan-America Society of Georgia celebrates Asian-American Heritage Month through a screening of the short film, First to Go: Story of the Kataoka Family, a story of a young girl’s father who was forced from his home and family in 1941 after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was first and 120,000 Americans were next to be forced to relocate to desolate Internment Camps throughout the country. Join us after the 20-minute screening for a behind-the-scenes talk with Director & Producer, Myles Matsuno, and discover how we can find hope, love, and happiness in the darkest of places and explore how cultural understanding can lead to new ways of promoting peace & harmony in your life.

Film: First to Go: Story of the Kataoka Family

Length: 21 min

Logline: One December morning in San Francisco, a young girl’s father was forced from his home and family. He was first and 120,000 Americans were next. This is her story.

Synopsis: A couple hours after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on December 7th 1941, Ichiro Kataoka was the first San Francisco Japanese prisoner taken by the FBI from his hotel in Japan Town. Through a series of unfortunate events, Ichiro would eventually reunite with his family three years later in Topaz, Utah after President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066, which forced all Japanese residing on the West Coast to relocate to desolate Internment Camps throughout the country. Their only crime was being of Japanese ancestry. 

Decades later, though a collection of footage, the Kataoka family legacy is being told through Ichiro’s daughter, great grandson, and relatives of what this family had endured. Although this was a dark time in America’s history, we find that love and happiness can blossom in the darkest of places.

Directed & Produced: Myles Matsuno

Website & Trailer: www.mylesmatsuno.com/first-to-go-story-of-the-kataoka-family