Broadcast on July 6 at 11 pm, and repeated on Friday, July 11, at 1 am.

YURI KOCHIYAMA: PASSION FOR JUSTICE (1994) (57:27)
by Pat Saunders & Rea Tajiri

This forceful documentary looks at the life and work of the Japanese-American human rights activist Yuri Kochiyama, and chronicles her contributions for social change through some of the most significant events of the 20th century. This work begins with her incarcerated as a young woman in a Japanese internment camp, and spans her involvement with worldwide nuclear disarmament, Malcolm X and the Black Liberation Movement, Japanese-American redress and international political prisoner rights.

For interesting insights into the artists and their work, check out the REEL NEW YORK interviews with Pat Saunders and Rea Tajiri.

Pat Saunders is a veteran of the civil rights movement of the late 1960s and has enjoyed a long association with the Kochiyama family. She has worked with Women Make Movies, Channel L, The American Film Institute, and Film Video Arts, and in various capacities on independent film and video projects. Ms. Saunders sees video as a means to educate and organize people around progressive issues.

Rea Tajiri is an award-winning independent media artist who has been active in film and video production for the past 10 years. Her experimental documentary, HISTORY AND MEMORY: FOR AKIKO AND TAKASHIGE, received the International Documentary Association's Distinguished Achievement Award. Her work has been screened at national and international venues, including the Whitney Biennial, Yamagata International Documentary Festival and the New York Film Festival. Ms. Tajiri recently completed her first dramatic feature film, STRAWBERRY FIELDS.