Toyo’s Camera

While cameras were prohibited in California’s Japanese-American internment camps during World War II, there was one photographer who smuggled in a lens and built a camera with it to capture life behind barbed wires. That photographer was Toyo Miyatake. Toyo’s photographs of camp life depict the compelling stories of Japanese Americans during WWII in this feature documentary. The works of Toyo’s mentors and companions, Ansel Adams and Edward Weston, are also featured in this film.

Music is Grammy and Golden Globe Award wining artist, Kitaro. The film ends with “Kenji” a song by Mike Shinoda from Linkin Park. Shinoda, of Japanese American decent, wrote this song based on his grandfather’s internment.