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We are thrilled that @silenceddoc is one of the Winners of the #aapirenaissancerally hosted by @goldhouseco and @seedandspark ! Thank you so much!

#aapi #japanese #japaneseamerican #wwii #ww2 #womeninfilm #asiansinfilm #documentary #documentaryfilm #indiefilm #supportindiefilm

SILENCED is a documentary film that follows U.S. internment camp survivor Joni Kimoto as she journeys across continents to document untold stories of Japanese-American and Japanese WWII survivors, unraveling the impact of silence on their identities and bridging generational scars. These are not interviews—they are acts of testimony.

We will be launching a @seedandspark crowdfunding campaign on March 30th as part of the @goldhouseco #aapirenaissancerally ! We’ll need to reach 80% of our goal to be greenlit and 350 followers to be eligible for additional opportunities. You don’t need to donate to follow!

Preview page here: https://seedandspark.com/fund/silenced-documentary?token=50bc1087d24542da47c74233a52c3bfb791aca7accaa746ea32edb8ee3759506 (link in bio!)

#aapi #japanese #japaneseamerican #wwii #ww2 #womeninfilm #asiansinfilm #documentary #documentaryfilm #indiefilm #supportindiefilm

Landscapes tell their own story. Minidoka, Idaho—dry, muted, cracked by history—contrasts sharply with Japan’s deep greens and shifting seasons. Drone shots are rare, used only to capture the vast emptiness of an internment site or to remind us how small a person can feel against the weight of history. The contrast between Idaho’s isolation and Japan’s density mirrors the film’s central question: What does it mean to belong?

Kenji lifts his camera, morning light catching the deep lines on an elder’s face. Their hands rest on a weathered family photo, edges curled with time. For a long moment, they don’t speak. The past is a heavy thing to hold.

The film carries emotional restraint—where time folds in on itself, and past and present coexist in a single frame.

Producer Anaïs met Directors Kenji and Blake through an alumni spotlight for her work in documentary film.Then Anaïs met Producer Julia at the BendFilm Basecamp Fellowship. Their conversations sparked a collaboration. This film exists because of those moments—because stories connect people across time, place, and experience. Each of us brings a different lens, but we share one goal: to ensure these voices are heard before they are lost.

Conversations will move fluidly between Japanese and English, reflecting the film’s cross-cultural dialogue. When one language is spoken, the other follows in subtitles. There is no dominant tongue—only lived experience, shared across generations.

In Japan, silence will take a different shape—stories of wartime suffering often remain locked away, bound by cultural shame. When Joni Kimoto, a survivor and activist, meets her Japanese counterparts, the question becomes: will shared memory bridge the silence, or will it simply echo across it? Neither outcome is right or wrong—they simply exist.

This story has already begun to change us. It is teaching us how to sit with discomfort, how to ask without demanding, and how to honor what may never be spoken aloud. We are listening—with care, without hurry.

Blake and Kenji meet survivors who have never spoken publicly. Some welcome the chance; others hesitate. The film follows those willing to return to the places where they were once imprisoned. Some have spent decades trying to forget. Others have waited a lifetime to remember.

But Silenced isn’t only an American story. Kenji wants to extend the film to Japan, where erasure had also taken root. Using his skills as a translator, Kenji will bridge the language gap and create space for shared healing. What begins as a personal journey becomes a powerful act of transnational solidarity—people separated by borders but bound by memory.

Kenji and Blake began by immersing themselves in Oregon’s Japanese American community, listening and building trust long before turning on a camera. Through that process, they met their central participant, Joni Kimoto—a survivor who has devoted her later years to community building and social justice through storytelling.