Community Fundraiser for CATS: Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust – Special Screening on May 26

The Onyx Downtown is excited to partner with the Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra (CATS) in presenting the award-winning documentary, Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust on Sunday May 26, 2024 at 7pm at the Onyx Downtown, at the Nevada Theatre located at 401 Broad Street in Nevada City. This important documentary has been screened at 28 film festivals and director Ann Kaneko has been featured at the Redford Center “Films That Move” filmmaker spotlight. Numerous awards and recognition include a nomination for Best Music Score by the IDA Documentary Awards. Manazar, Diverted offers visually stunning images, immersive music and a tale of evolving intergenerational reckoning with history.

This screening will be followed by a virtual Q&A with Emmy-winning documentary filmmaker, Ann Kaneko.

WATER, NATIVE TRIBES, AND JAPANESE INTERNMENT

“We all need to learn about where our water comes from. I think that water is a resource that is very precious,” states Kaneko. Filmmaker Kaneko combines the stories of tribal history, Japanese internment and the ever thirsty Los Angeles Water and Power District to provide an unexpected perspective on this breathtaking landscape.

In combining these stories, Manzanar, Diverted creates a more complete record of Payahuunadü (Owens Valley), “the land of flowing water.” This history reaches back to the 1860s when Nüümü (Paiute) and the Newe (Shoshone) were forcibly marched away from their homelands to allow for the export of water to Los Angeles, without which Los Angeles could not have developed.

Environmentalists examine the impact of this wholesale removal of water on the land and the chronic issues with dust and biological extinctions while third generation tribal members and WWII incarcerees’ families work together to rectify and sort through the possibilities for a future in this remote, poetic and beautiful landscape at the foot of the Eastern Sierra.

“The outsiders came into this valley and renamed it. We call it Payahuuna, which means the place where water always flows.”—Kathy Jefferson Bancroft, Lone Pine Paiute Shoshone Tribe

COMPELLING NEW WAY TO SEE A MORE COMPLETE STORY

Like the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, Kaneko reconnects the defining boundaries and corner pieces to frame a puzzle that is a longer breath in time and space. In doing so, the Owens Valley comes into a new, much more sharply focussed story. Rose Masters, Manzanar Historic Site Manager observes, “Manzanar is one little tiny square mile of land that has a deep history of forced removal. That can be forced removal to this place—like the government did with Japanese Americans—or from this place—like the government did with the Owens Valley Paiute.”

A FILM TO EDUCATE, EMPOWER AND HEAL

Filmmaker Kaneko was raised with family members who spoke about “camp”. It was many years later when she realized that it wasn’t just a fun camp where her parents had been for a few years.

“This film is an attempt to make sense of this history and share with audiences an understanding of how this valley so far from Los Angeles, which I now acknowledge are Tongva, Chumash and Kizh land, has such profound connections to me and to my community. My family was unwittingly swept into a dark chapter of American history, and this film has become a platform for me to unravel how our story is entwined in the formation of the West and LA’s development as a megalopolis.”—Ann Kaneko

Documentary films hold an important space in the media today. They preserve history from a first-person perspective and by expanding our concepts, allow us to find new unexpected allies through these stories. Learn the longer history of the Owens Valley and how women from varied backgrounds are coming together to look forward and seek both healing and empowerment. At a time of cultural polarization, documentary film demonstrates there is room for conversation, camaraderie and change.

“I wanted to make sure this documentary felt inspiring, hopeful, and left the audience with a cinematic experience with evocative images and immersive sound.”—Ann Kaneko

TICKETS ON SALE NOW

This is a fundraiser for CATS – Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra. This movie screens at the Nevada Theatre, 401 Broad Street, Nevada City one time only, Sunday, May 26 at 7pm. ALL AGES. Tickets are $13. Virtual Q&A w/Filmmaker. Visit theonyxtheatre.com for tickets and details. 

ABOUT COMMUNITY ASIAN THEATRE OF THE SIERRA (CATS)

The Community Asian Theatre of the Sierra (CATS) was founded in 1994 and  is dedicated to promoting cultural diversity through quality multicultural theater, events, and workshops. Through these avenues, CATS seeks to enrich the cultural climate of the Sierra Foothills, Nevada County, Sacramento County, and other regional communities in northern California with works on Asian-based themes. Its mission is artistic and educational. Manzanar is a theme in its production of Snow Falling on Cedars, playing until May 18 at the Nevada Theatre.  Learn more about CATS at https://catsweb.org/.