Directed by Robert A. Nakamura and Duane Kubo • 1980 • United States
Starring Mako, Hiroshi Kashiwagi, Pat Morita

The first feature-length film made by and about Asian Pacific Americans, Robert A. Nakamura and Duane Kubo’s HITO HATA: RAISE THE BANNER captures the contributions and hardships of Japanese Americans from the turn of the twentieth century through the story of Oda (Mako), a feisty issei (first-generation Japanese American) living in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo. Through a series of flashbacks, the story traces Oda’s life as a laborer on the transcontinental railroad to his struggle to save the home of Little Tokyo’s residents when the community is threatened with redevelopment. An epic Japanese American drama, HITO HATA draws on the talents and support of Asian American filmmakers, writers, theater professionals, and hundreds of people from the Asian Pacific American community who served as extras and provided locations, props, and moral as well as financial support.