Moorpark teens win international movie contest
By Sylvie Belmond belmond@theacorn.com

A historical documentary produced and directed by 13 Moorpark High School juniors won first place in the student film category of the oldest continuously running film festival in the world.

The 2007 American Motion Picture Society's International Film & Video Festival, held in Buena Park, featured the work of amateurs from throughout the world.

The local students created "A Test of Strength," a chronicle of Japanese Americans interned in camps during World War II, when the U.S. government ordered more than 110,000 individuals to leave their homes and detained them in remote, military-style facilities.

The film features interviews with several of those interned as well as historical footage that illustrates what occurred during that period.

"Students rarely do such a professional job," said Audrey Bishop, member of the American Motion Picture Society.

The film premiered to a packed house at the Moorpark United Methodist Church this past spring.

"The quality of the work was very good, especially for students who are just starting out," said AMPS secretary and treasurer Roger Garretson, an Oak Park resident. He attended the premiere and encouraged the students to participate in the international festival.

Both Bishop and Garretson are members of the Thousand Oaks Videomakers Club.

The idea for the movie came from Amy Akashi, a service learning teacher for the Moorpark Unified School District.

The 30-minute documentary began as a community service project that took more than two years and about 1,000 hours to complete. Students interviewed former camp detainees and filmed, edited and produced the feature.

The goal was to share the movie with history classes at Moorpark High so that future students could see it, but other school districts have now requested copies, Akashi said. Her daughter, Tracy, was part of the filmmaking team.

"They wanted to use this as a teaching tool because a lot of young people don't know about World War II and the internment camps," Bishop said.

"There are a lot of things out there that aren't explained in the high school curriculum, so learning about the internment of Japanese Americans and talking to them on a personal level is fascinating," said Kevin Sitek, a former Moorpark High student and team member who now attends UC Berkeley.

Although thousands of people were affected by this event, few talk about it because it's shameful to the American history, said Sitek. "But it's important to highlight it so people know about it and they learn from it so they don't repeat it," he said.

Copies of the documentary were provided to the Japanese American Museum and to the Manzanar War Relocation Center, one of 10 camps where Japanese Americans were interned during the war.

Sitek said that Tracy Akashi and Ryan Panaro, who did most of the technical work at his home, also edited the original 35minute feature to fit it into the required festival format.

The young filmmakers overcame many stumbling blocks to complete the project because "they just kept at it," Akashi said. All 13 are now college students.

Torrance, Calif.-based Go For Broke Education Foundation and the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center in Los Angeles assisted the students during the creation of the film.