Director: Yuriko Gamo Romer Producers: Yuriko Gamo Romer, Marc Smolowitz, Loi Ameera Almeron (Co-Producer)
Description:
Baseball Behind Barbed Wire tells the story of the WWII incarceration of Japanese Americans, through the uncommon lens of baseball. Japanese Americans incarcerees had their citizenship and civil rights taken away and were forcibly confined from 1942-45. Playing baseball was a chance to assert their citizenship and affirm their loyalty as Americans, even as camp guards in towers pointed their rifles inward and the barbed wire kept them confined. The concepts of “gaman” (endurance) and “gambaru” (to persevere and keep working hard) are core to the Japanese soul.
Biography:
Yuriko Gamo Romer is an award-winning director/producer. Her film MRS JUDO: Be Strong, Be Gentle, Be Beautiful is the only biographical documentary about Keiko Fukuda, the first woman to attain the 10th degree black belt in judo. MRS JUDOwasbroadcast on PBS nationally as part of CAAM’s Japanese American Lives. Her films include Occidental Encounters which won numerous awards and short films iReflection, Kids will be Kids, Sunnyside of the Slope, Fusion and Friend Ships, a short historical animation about John Manjiro.
Marc Smolowitz is a multi-award-winning director and producer who has been significantly involved in 50+ successful independent films. His company,13th Gen, works with partners to oversee the financing, production, post-production, marketing, sales, and distribution efforts of a vibrant portfolio of filmmakers. He received one of the IFP Fellowships to attend the Cannes Film Festival's Producers Network and Marche du Film, marking him as one of the USA's most influential independent film producers.
