Kioku | Remembrance
A film about incarceration, endurance and memorial
Kioku tells the story of a group of students striving to build a monument at the Tulare County Fairgrounds, commemorating the site's use as a detention facility for Japanese Americans during WWII. Like many other fairgrounds in Central California, the Tulare Fairgrounds was quickly converted into an "assembly center", confining nearly 5,000 men, women, and children of Japanese ancestry while purpose-built incarceration camps were being constructed. After the war ended, few traces of the detention facility remained. Today it is the only temporary detention facility in California that has no memorial or marker. Over the past nine years, inspired by their teacher, students from Mission Oak High School’s Culture History class have worked to meet with survivors and descendants, educate their community, and fundraise to create a memorial honoring the families confined at Tulare. Kioku documents their ongoing efforts, and the impact it has had on the community.
Filmmakers
Koji Lau Ozawa
Producer
Koji Lau-Ozawa is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Anthropology at UCLA whose research focuses on the archaeology, history, and memory of Japanese American Incarceration. His great grandparents, grandparents, and multiple aunts and uncles were all incarcerated at Tulare and Gila River.
