Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement Wins Best Documentary at CAAMFest

LOS ANGELES, CA – The Japanese American National Museum (JANM) announces that Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement, the new documentary by the Museum’s Frank H. Watase Media Arts Center (MAC), won Best Documentary at CAAMFest, the world’s largest showcase for new Asian American and Asian film, food, and music programs.

“We couldn’t be more thrilled for JANM’s Watase Media Arts Center team. Our congratulations to Tad Nakamura, Quyên Nguyen-Le, and Iliana Garcia for this well-deserved honor. It’s a powerful film that movingly captures the life and massive contributions of national treasure, Nobuko Miyamoto,” said Ann Burroughs, JANM President and CEO.

Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement is the first documentary film (running time: 60 minutes) that looks at the life and times of dancer, writer, singer, performer, folklorist, and activist Nobuko Miyamoto. The film was codirected by Tadashi Nakamura, the director of MAC, and Quyên Nguyen-Le, a Daytime Emmy–nominated queer Vietnamese filmmaker; cowritten by Iliana Garcia and Nguyen-Le; and edited by Garcia. Nobuko Miyamoto had its world premiere on May 4, 2024 at the Japanese American Cultural & Community Center as part of the VC Film Fest. It will also be screening at the Chicago Asian American Showcase and the Houston Asian American & Pacific Islander Film Festival.

“It’s a huge honor to receive this award because it was in competition with so many other great films. It is also very meaningful for Quyên and I since it was through a CAAM Fellowship that I was paired up as their mentor which sparked our filmmaking partnership,” said Nakamura.

Nobuko Miyamoto: A Song in Movement is made possible by a National Park Service Japanese American Confinement Sites grant, the Henri and Tomoye Takahashi Charitable Foundation, the Center for Asian American Media, and the Peng Zhao and Cherry Chen AAPI Voices Fund. A co-production with PBS SoCal, the documentary will debut as part of PBS SoCal’s ARTBOUND series later this fall.

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About the Japanese American National Museum (JANM)

Established in 1985, JANM promotes understanding and appreciation of America’s ethnic and cultural diversity by sharing the Japanese American experience. Located in the historic Little Tokyo district of downtown Los Angeles, JANM is a center for civil rights, ensuring that the hard-fought lessons of the World War II incarceration are not forgotten. A Smithsonian Affiliate and one of America’s Cultural Treasures, JANM is a hybrid institution that straddles traditional museum categories. JANM is a center for the arts as well as history. It provides a voice for Japanese Americans and a forum that enables all people to explore their own heritage and culture. Since opening to the public in 1992, JANM has presented over 100 exhibitions onsite while traveling 40 exhibits to venues such as the Smithsonian Institution and the Ellis Island Museum in the United States, and to several leading cultural museums in Japan and South America. JANM is open on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Friday–Sunday from 11 a.m.–5 p.m. and on Thursday from 12 p.m.–8 p.m. JANM is free every third Thursday of the month. On all other Thursdays, JANM is free from 5 p.m.–8 p.m. For more information, visit janm.org or follow us on social media @jamuseum.