Wataridori: Birds of Passage

Completed in 1975 as his Master’s Thesis project at the UCLA Film School, Robert A. Nakamura’s WATARIDORI: BIRDS OF PASSAGE stands as one of the quintessential documentary portraits celebrating the legacy of the issei, or first-generation Japanese Americans. A still-unequalled study of early Asian American community-building, this poetic documentary couples the perspectives of three issei elders with rich archival images and footage, while bridging generations through scenes from the Manzanar pilgrimages.