Event

Presenting a free public screening of the documentary film FINDING DOHI by Amber McClure

Date & Time: Wednesday, 13 November, 2024 at 6.45 PM

Venue: Fisher-Bennett Hall, 401

Film Screening: FINDING DOHI (Run-time: 25 minutes, followed by discussion with the director.)

Speaker: Amber McClure, independent documentary producer, filmmaker, genealogist, and a yonsei (4th generation Japanese) from Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi. Discussion moderated by Marina George, Ph.D. Student, History of Art.

The Program: FINDING DOHI is an intimate portrait of a woman separated by culture, language, and thousands of miles from a family she has never met. Daphne, a 3rd generation Japanese-American, holds on to letters sent to her mother long ago. The contents of the letters are a mystery, as they are written in Japanese - and she cannot read or understand the language. Thus begins her decades-long pursuit to fill in the scant details she knows about her Grandfather Dohi, who immigrated to Hawai'i from a rural Japanese village in 1891.

Documented by her daughter, their journey from Hawai‘i to Japan explores the themes of language and culture loss, identity, honoring ancestors, and reconnection, and reminds us that some family bonds cannot be broken no matter the time or distance.

The trailer and more details about the film are available here.

This event is organised and moderated by Lynette Shen (Ph.D. student, Cinema and Media Studies) and Marina George (Ph.D. student, History of Art), with support from the Department of Cinema and Media Studies, The Department of Art History, and the Pan-Asian American Community House at the University of Pennsylvania.