Robert A. Nakamura

'''Robert Akira Nakamura''' (July 5, 1936 – June 11, 2025) was an American filmmaker and teacher, sometimes referred to as "the Godfather of [[Asian American]] media".<ref>{{cite web |title=JANM Announces Honorees and Theme for 2016 Annual Gala Dinner |last=Unger |first=Leslie |date=January 11, 2016 |url=http://www.janm.org/press/release/391/ |publisher=Japanese American National Museum }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Tribute Reel to Robert Nakamura: Godfather of Asian American Media |url=http://caamedia.org/blog/2012/05/24/tribute-reel-to-robert-nakamura-godfather-of-asian-american-media/ |date=May 24, 2012 |publisher=Center for Asian American Media }}</ref> In 1970, he cofounded [[Visual Communications (VC)]] the oldest community-based [[Asian Pacific American]] media arts organization in the United States.

==Early life== Nakamura was born in [[Venice, California]],<ref name=densho3>{{cite web| title=Densho interview segment 3: Robert A. Nakamura| url=https://ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-densho-1003-4-3/|date=2011-11-30|access-date=2021-06-15}}</ref> to an [[Issei]] father and [[Nisei]] mother. He was a graduate of [[Art Center College of Design|ArtCenter College of Design]] (B.A., 1956)<ref>{{Cite news |date=December 23, 2025 |title=Robert Nakamura, 'Godfather' of Asian American Film, Dies at 88 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/movies/robert-nakamura-dead.html |access-date=December 24, 2025 |work=The New York Times}}</ref> and the [[UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television]] (M.F.A., 1975). He left a successful career in [[photojournalism]] and advertising photography to become one of the first to explore, interpret and present the experiences of [[Japanese American]]s in film.

==Filmmaker== Nakamura's personal [[Documentary film|documentary]] ''Manzanar'' (1972) revisited childhood memories of incarceration in an [[Japanese American internment|American concentration camp during World War II]] and has been selected for major retrospectives on the documentary form at the [[San Francisco Museum of Art]] and Film Forum, [[Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles]]. In 1980, he co-directed ''Hito Hata: Raise the Banner'', considered to be one of the first Asian American feature films, produced by and about Asian Americans. He is the recipient of more than 30 national awards. He was the first to receive Visual Communications' Steve Tatsukawa Memorial Award in 1985 for leadership in Asian American media. In 1994, the Asian Pacific American Coalition in Cinema, Theatre & Television of UCLA instituted the "Robert A. Nakamura Award" to recognize outstanding contributions of other Asian Pacific American visual artists. In 1996, he founded the UCLA Center for EthnoCommunications.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/ethno/ |title=UCLA Center for EthnoCommunications |publisher=Asian American Studies Center, UCLA |access-date=2020-09-23}}</ref> In 1997, the [[Smithsonian Institution]] presented a retrospective of his work. Also that year, he created (with Ishizuka) the Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center at the [[Japanese American National Museum]]. In 1999, he was named the Japanese American Alumni Professor of Japanese American Studies at [[UCLA]]. Nakamura's film ''Manzanar'' was preserved by the [[Academy Film Archive]] in 2011.<ref>{{cite web |title=Preserved Projects |url=https://www.oscars.org/academy-film-archive/preserved-projects?title=manzanar |publisher=[[Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences]] |access-date=2020-09-24}}</ref> ==Personal life and death== Nakamura was married to writer and media producer [[Karen L. Ishizuka]]. The couple had two children, one of whom is filmmaker [[Tadashi Nakamura (filmmaker)|Tadashi Nakamura]].

Nakamura died in [[Culver City, California]], on June 11, 2025, at age 88.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Obituary |first=Rafu Shimpo |date=2025-06-20 |title=Robert Akira Nakamura |url=http://rafu.com/2025/06/robert-akira-nakamura/ |access-date=2025-07-03 |website=Rafu Shimpo |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Filmography== *''Manzanar'' (1972) *''Wataridori: Birds of Passage'' (1975) *''Hito Hata: Raise the Banner'' (1980) *''Fool's Dance'' (1980) *''Moving Memories'' (1993) *''Looking Like the Enemy'' (1995) *''[[Toyo Miyatake]]: Infinite Shades of Gray'' (2002)

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * {{cite book |chapter=Robert A. Nakamura |title=Encyclopedia of Japanese American History: An A-to-Z Reference from 1898 to the Present |editor1-first=Brian |editor1-last=Niiya |location=New York |publisher=Facts on File |date=2001 |oclc=469757570 |isbn=9780816040933 |chapter-url=http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/people/rnakamura.asp |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100708004032/http://www.aasc.ucla.edu/people/rnakamura.asp |archive-date=2010-07-08 }} Biography of Nakamura at the UCLA Asian American Studies Center based on an encyclopedia article. * {{IMDb name|id=1098960|name=Robert A. Nakamura}} * {{cite web |title=Robert Nakamura Films |work=Vimeo |date=24 May 2022 |url=https://vimeo.com/channels/1445603}} Several films directed by Robert Nakamura can be viewed on a Vimeo channel. * {{cite web| title=Densho interview links: Robert A. Nakamura| url=https://ddr.densho.org/interviews/ddr-densho-1003-4-1/|date=2011-11-30|access-date=2021-06-15}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Nakamura, Robert A.}} [[Category:1936 births]] [[Category:2025 deaths]] [[Category:American documentary filmmakers]] [[Category:Japanese-American internees]] [[Category:American film directors of Japanese descent]] [[Category:UCLA School of Theater, Film and Television alumni]]