University School of Journalism and Communication professor Daniel Miller’s@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Daniel+Miller+@@ documentary, “What We Could Carry,” was awarded best of competition in the category of faculty short-form documentaries last spring at the annual Broadcast Education Association’s Festival of Media Arts.@@http://www.filmfestivalworld.com/festival/BEA_Festival_of_Media_Arts/@@
The film tells the story of four Japanese-American students who were expelled from the University during World War II following the bombing of Pearl Harbor. A total of 16 Japanese-Americans were forced to leave the University and a few were sent to internment camps along the West Coast.
“My inspiration in doing this documentary was learning about the story,” Miller said. “I think the most important thing about the documentary is that it has a chance to tell people a story that isn’t normally told.”
The University held a ceremony in 2008 awarding honorary degrees to those students who had been unjustly expelled. Over 180 people attended the celebration. At this banquet, Miller filmed various interviews with the Japanese-American students who had been affected by the situation. In these interviews, the Japanese-American students — now in their 80s and 90s — divulged the strife and scrutiny that they faced during these dark hours of America’s history.
To complete his film, Miller employed University journalism student Sam Allen@@http://champions.uoregon.edu/journalism-professor%E2%80%99s-film-wins-best-documentary-award@@ to serve as lead editor on the project. Allen, a 2009 graduate, was a student in one of Miller’s courses in documentary production. Allen had previously worked on projects of Miller’s, including a documentary on the Kent State shootings, and enjoyed working on the film.
“It was a great experience for me, and although it was Dan’s vision, I still got to explore and be creative,” Allen said. “I wanted to edit the story as to highlight the interesting emotional moments that everyone, although internment was unique to Japanese-Americans, could identify with.”
Allen worked for months editing the extensive footage that Miller had collected as well as adding sound and narrations to complete the documentary. Allen has since moved back to Portland and has started his own production company.
Miller and Allen asked University alumni and Oregon poet laureate Lawson Inada@@http://www.oregonpoetlaureate.org/lawson-inada.html@@ to narrate the film. Inada, who is also Japanese-American, has close ties to the University and the story of the students. Growing up in California, Inada and his family were relocated to internment camps in Arkansas and Colorado, making the story of these students familiar to him.
“Two of the students featured in the film, brothers from the Ysui family, pursued their educations elsewhere and ended up becoming physicians,” Inada said. “This documentary gives people a pause to think about what these people did and how inspirational each of them is.”
The editing and polishing process took about 18 months between the efforts of Miller and Allen. They were both thrilled when they received the news that the piece had won such a prestigious award.
“It was a pleasant surprise,” Miller chuckled. “Most of the work I’ve done in my career has been about history, society and culture in Oregon, with the goal of enriching peoples lives and understanding the stories and people in their very midst who have made significant differences in the world.”
Miller is currently in the process of several new ventures and is actively involved in the Oregon Documentary Project, a program he created here at the University 12 years ago. Through this program, he and various students have produced more than 90 films and documentaries of which approximately 60 have been televised on Oregon Public Broadcasting.
The documentary can be seen on the Broadcast Education Association’s website at beafestival.com.