When the Fog Clears [In-Person Only]
Free with RSVP!
About
(Tadashi Ogawa, US & Japan, 2018, 80 min, in English & Japanese with English subtitles)
There are places in this world where you could never return. Among these are Kiska and Attu islands, on the Aleutian archipelago in the North Pacific Ocean. Covered by dense fog almost all year round, these two islands were the only American territory occupied by Japan during World War II. Although more than 6,000 people lost their lives there, not many know about this battlefront. It is the “Forgotten War.” This film traces the ripple effect of the conflict that took place on the islands, bringing to light personal stories of individuals whose lives it changed forever.
Ticketing, concessions, cinemas, restrooms, and our public edit lab are located on Northwest Film Forum’s ground floor, which is wheelchair accessible. All doors in Northwest Film Forum are non-motorized, and may require staff assistance to open. Our upstairs workshop room is not wheelchair accessible.
The majority of seats in our main cinema are 21″ wide from armrest to armrest; some seats are 19″ wide. We are working on creating the option of removable armrests!
We have a limited number of assistive listening devices available for programs hosted in our larger theater, Cinema 1. These devices are maintained by the Technical Director, and can be requested at the ticketing and concessions counter. Also available at the front desk is a Sensory Kit you can borrow, which includes a Communication Card, noise-reducing headphones, and fidget toys.
The Forum does NOT have assistive devices for the visually impaired, and is not (yet) a scent-free venue. Our commitment to increasing access for our audiences is ongoing, and we welcome all public input on the subject!
If you have additional specific questions about accessibility at our venue, please contact our Patron Services Manager at maria@nwfilmforum.org. Our phone number (206-329-2629) is voicemail-only, but we check it often.
Made possible due to a grant from Seattle Office of Arts & Culture, in partnership with Sensory Access, our Sensory Access document presents a visual and descriptive walk-through of the NWFF space. View it in advance of attending an in-person event at bit.ly/nwffsocialnarrativepdf, in order to prepare yourself for the experience.
NWFF patrons will be required to wear masks that cover both nose and mouth while in the building. Disposable masks are available at the door for those who need them. We are not currently checking vaccination cards. Recent variants of COVID-19 readily infect and spread between individuals regardless of vaccination status.
Read more about NWFF’s policies regarding cleaning, masks, and capacity limitations here.
STORY:
Kiska: Torn apart by war, reconnected by the gift of a Kiska flower.
In Japan, Chiyo Shinoda treasured the wilted flower that her husband sent her from far across the Pacific Ocean at the height of WWII. It was enclosed in a letter he sent from Kiska Island, Alaska in the summer of 1942. Her husband, Isamu Shinoda, then 37, was the captain of a crew of 81 aboard submarine chaser Number 27, stationed in Japanese-occupied Kiska. Eight days later, he and his crew were killed there.
Sixty-seven years had passed when, in January 2009, his 98-year-old war-widow Chiyo received another Kiska flower by mail at her home in Gifu, Japan. An attached note read, “From the sons of Catherine Abele.” It was later found that “the sons of Catherine Abele” were the bereaved family of U.S. submarine Grunion, that had sunk Isamu’s ship off the coast of Kiska Island. How did such a thing happen nearly 70 years after the end of the war?
This curious question led to some incredible stories about two families, Japanese and American, whose fate was entwined by the deaths of the men in their families, fighting on opposite sides of a deadly military conflict.
Attu: The photographer’s journey to Attu Island.
In June 1942, Kira Sugiyama, a photographer who landed on Attu Island with the Imperial Japanese Army, filmed the moment of occupation. He had captured the evocative scenery of Attu, such as the beautiful flowers and some of the Aleuts who then lived on this island. The Aleut people from Attu were taken to Japan as war prisoners and after the war were never allowed by the U.S. government to return to their island. In June 2017, Masami Sugiyama, the student of Kira Sugiyama (but no relation), visited Attu Island to take pictures of the Attu flower, just like his mentor did over 70 years ago. We follow this photographer’s journey and shine a light on Aleut people who lost their homeland during this forgotten war in the Aleutians.
In telling these personal stories, the film weaves together accounts of the two islands that were the site of some of the fiercest but least known battles during WWII.