At HIFF46, AAPI FILMMAKERS IN FOCUS, presented by the Daniel K. Inouye Institute, celebrates the power of AAPI filmmakers to preserve, reclaim, and pass down histories that should never be forgotten.
This special program brings together two new short films—Brian Tee’s ENOUGH and Chris Naoki Lee’s THUMBPRINT—that examine the Japanese American experience during World War II and the legacy of incarceration, displacement, and discrimination that continues to reverberate across generations.
More than eight decades later, the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans remains an essential chapter of American history. Through two very different stories, ENOUGH and THUMBPRINT remind us that history is not something confined to textbooks or archives. It lives within families, communities, and the generations who inherit both the stories that were told and those that were left unspoken.
ENOUGH — Directed by Brian Tee
In ENOUGH, two young women separated by time are drawn toward a history buried beneath generations of silence.
When Ashley discovers a forgotten past in the archives of her school, that history begins to breathe again, revealing a family’s wounds, a community’s fractured memory, and a father forced to reckon with the truth. As the past reverberates through the present, generations collide in a search for voice, belonging, and justice.
Best known for his work as an actor in Chicago Med, Expats, The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, and The Wolverine, Brian Tee steps behind the camera as director of ENOUGH, exploring the incarceration of Japanese Americans through the eyes of a younger generation discovering what has been buried.
At its heart, ENOUGH asks what happens when history is allowed to fade from collective memory. What do we inherit from those who came before us? What is lost when painful experiences remain unspoken? And what responsibility does a new generation have to uncover those stories and carry them forward?
The film reminds us that remembrance can itself be an act of resistance—and that breaking the silence is necessary to ensure the lessons of history survive.
THUMBPRINT — Directed by Chris Naoki Lee
While ENOUGH examines how history is inherited, Chris Naoki Lee’s THUMBPRINT takes audiences directly into the turbulent years surrounding World War II.
Based on a remarkable true story, THUMBPRINT follows Midori Shimoda, a Japanese photographer who was among the small percentage of Japanese and Japanese Americans able to leave California before the mass forced removal and incarceration of people of Japanese ancestry during World War II.
Midori had traveled alone to America at only nine years old from Hiroshima, pursuing an American dream that would eventually lead him toward photography. But following the United States’ entry into World War II, his aspirations collided with a country gripped by wartime fear and anti-Japanese discrimination.
As Midori attempts to build a life for himself, he is pursued by the FBI and eventually sent to a camp. Yet through displacement and incarceration, he refuses to surrender his lifelong dream of owning a photography studio in New York City.
Adapted from a book and a feature screenplay, THUMBPRINT transforms one man’s extraordinary journey into an intimate story of perseverance, identity, and the complicated promise of belonging in America.
STORIES THAT MUST NOT BE FORGOTTEN
The incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II affected approximately 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry, most of whom were American citizens. Families were uprooted, homes and businesses were lost, and communities were fractured. The repercussions extended far beyond the war itself, carried quietly by families for generations.
For Hawai‘i, this history carries particular resonance. Hawai‘i’s Japanese American community lived through martial law and wartime restrictions, while thousands of young Nisei ultimately served in the U.S. military. Among them was Daniel K. Inouye, who served with the famed 442nd Regimental Combat Team before embarking on a historic career in public service.
That legacy makes the Daniel K. Inouye Institute a meaningful presenting partner for this HIFF46 program. Senator Inouye belonged to a generation whose lives embodied the contradictions of this period in American history—Japanese Americans asked to prove their loyalty to a nation that had questioned the loyalty and rights of their families and communities.
ENOUGH and THUMBPRINT approach this history from opposite directions. One looks backward, as a younger generation uncovers a past that has been obscured by silence. The other places us alongside a Japanese immigrant struggling to survive as that history unfolds around him.
Together, the films demonstrate the vital role that AAPI filmmakers play in preserving these experiences through cinema.
As the generation that experienced World War II passes from living memory, storytelling becomes even more important. Films can carry these histories forward, transforming names, photographs, documents, and memories into human experiences that new generations can encounter and understand.
Because remembering the Japanese American experience is not simply about looking backward. It is about recognizing how easily fear and prejudice can shape the lives of ordinary people—and ensuring that the stories of those who endured it are never erased.
A SPECIAL CONVERSATION WITH THE FILMMAKERS
The first screening of AAPI FILMMAKERS IN FOCUS: ENOUGH + THUMBPRINT (October 25, 1:45pm), presented by the Daniel K. Inouye Institute, will be followed by an extended after-film discussion featuring cast and crew from both films.
Joining the conversation from ENOUGH will be star and director Brian Tee and co-star Amy Hill. Representing THUMBPRINT will be director Chris Naoki Lee, actor Yuji Okumoto, and additional members of the filmmaking team.
Bringing the artists behind both films together provides a unique opportunity to continue the conversation beyond the screen—exploring the real histories that inspired these stories, the personal connections behind their creation, and the role AAPI filmmakers can play in preserving Japanese American experiences for future generations.
