Summary
When filmmaker [Linda Hattendorf] first met "grand master artist" Jimmy Mirikitani in the winter of 2001, he was - at the age of 81 - living and creating a considerable body of work in the streets of her Soho, Manhattan neighborhood. She asked him to make her a drawing; all he wanted in return was to have a picture of the finished piece. That was the beginning of what would eventually become The Cats of Mirikitani," the compelling documentary that won the Audience Award at its premiere in the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
Born in Sacramento, California, Jimmy's family returned to Hiroshima, Japan, when he was three years old. He came back to the States at 18, after refusing to train for the Japanese army. "I am not afraid to die," he said. "I am artist, not soldier boy." Through trial after trial he stayed true to his mission, creating otherworldly renderings of cats, flowers, war and imprisonment - many of them fueled by rage at his three-and-a-half year internment at America's concentration camp at Tule Lake, at war in general and at the American government in particular - and bringing to life pieces of a history that many would prefer to forget.See the full content of this document
Extract
'The Cats of Mirikitani'
"The Cats of Mirikitani"
Directed by Linda Hattendorfreviewed by Jennifer O'LearWhen filmmaker Linda Hattendorf first met "grand master artist" Jimmy Mirikitani in the winter of 2001,...See the full content of this document
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