NYS Writers Institute to screen pair of Japanese-American films Friday, October 26

The award-winning documentary GREAT GRANDFATHER'S DRUM shown in association with a Nov. 10 performance by the San Jose Taiko drum ensemble

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GREAT GRANDFATHER'S DRUM

ALBANY, NY (10/12/2018) (readMedia)-- The award-winning documentary GREAT GRANDFATHER'S DRUM, an intimate and joyful portrait of the contemporary Japanese-American drum ensemble Maui Taiko, will be screened Friday, October 26, at Page Hall, 135 Western Avenue on the University at Albany Downtown Campus.

Through dynamic performances on giant drums, Maui Taiko travel on a heartfelt journey back to rural Japan to seek their ancestral roots.

NOTE: The documentary is shown in association with a performance by San Jose Taiko, a California drum ensemble celebrating its 45th anniversary, on Saturday, November 10, at the UAlbany Performing Arts Center, 1400 Washington Ave. on the Uptown Campus.

For San Jose Taiko ticket information, contact the Performing Arts Center at (518) 442-3997 or visit www.albany.edu/pac.

Following the screening of GREAT GRANDFATHER'S DRUM (United States, 2011, 57 minutes, color), the full-length film PICTURE BRIDE will be shown.

PICTURE BRIDE (United States, 1994, 94 minutes, color) won the Audience Award at Sundance, and was nominated for the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Set in 1918, the film explores the experiences of a couple- a Japanese city girl and a Japanese-American plantation worker- who meet and marry through long-distance matchmaking, a practice necessitated by U.S. anti-miscegenation laws.

The screenings are presented free and open to the public. The events are cosponsored by the NYS Writers Institute, the State Education Department's Office of Cultural Education, and Friends of the New York State Library.

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