Writer/Actor/Director to Screen Academy Award-Winning Film at Cerritos College 

 

 

 

WHAT: Writer, actor and director Chris Tashima will be screening his Academy Award-winning short film, “Visas and Virtue,” at Cerritos College on Saturday, September 15, with a Q&A session to follow. This dramatic short film is inspired by the true story of Chiune “Sempo” Sugihara, Japan’s newly appointed vice-consul to Lithuania, who in 1940, risked possible endangerment to his family and to his diplomatic career by defying his own government’s orders, helping save Jewish refugees with 2,000 transit visas. In 1998, the film won an Academy Award for Best Short Film.

 

The film was originally created as a play in which Tashima starred. It was subsequently presented by numerous organizations, including the Jewish Federation, the Anti-Defamation League and the Japanese American National Museum. Due to its impact, Tashima and several others began production on a film soon after.

 

Tashima has acted in numerous independent films and plays. In addition to “Visas and Virtue,” he also acted in, co-wrote and directed the Emmy-nominated film “Day of Independence” (2003), a tribute to the sufferings endured by Japanese Americans in WWII, which won numerous international awards. He has been honored for these and other efforts by community organizations across the country.

 

Tashima is an active member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences as well as the Directors Guild of America, where he serves on the DGA's Asian American Committee along with Steven Hirohama, film production faculty at Cerritos College. He studied film production at UC Santa Cruz, and with Visual Communications, an Asian Pacific American media arts organization in his hometown of Los Angeles.

 

WHEN: 10:30 a.m., Saturday, Sept. 15

 

WHERE: Teleconference Center (LC 155)
Cerritos College
11110 Alondra Blvd.
Norwalk, CA 90650

 

A map of the campus is available at  www.cerritos.edu/guide.

 

COST: This event is free and open to the public. On-campus parking is $1 per day.

 

CONTACT: For more information, contact Steven Hirohama at shirohama@cerritos.edu or (562) 860-2451 ext. 2637.

 

Cerritos College serves as a comprehensive community college for southeastern Los Angeles County. Communities within the college's district include Artesia, Bellflower, Cerritos, Downey, Hawaiian Gardens, La Mirada, Norwalk, and portions of Bell Gardens, Lakewood, Long Beach, Santa Fe Springs and South Gate. Cerritos College offers degrees and certificates in more than 180 areas of study in nine divisions. Annually, more than 1,200 students successfully complete their course of studies, and enrollment currently averages nearly 20,000 students. Visit Cerritos College online at http://www.cerritos.edu/.

 

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