We Said, No! No!: A Story of Civil Disobedience

“We Said, No! No!: A Story of Civil Disobedience” (2022, 74 min.) by Brian Maeda. A story of civil disobedience set against the backdrop of WWII and the incarceration of thousands of Japanese Americans in the most notorious of all the Japanese concentration camps, Tule Lake. The film follows a group of dissidents deemed “disloyal” as they fight for their freedom, dignity and families in an America that had forsaken them. The film features archival footage and dramatic reenactments of incidents in the Tule Lake Segregation Center.

About the Director
Brian Tadashi Maeda was born in Manzanar, a World War II American concentration camp. He graduated from UCLA in Cinematography and has always wanted to show films from a Japanese American point of view. Brian was one of the first Asian Americans to be accepted in the Hollywood International Cinematographers Guild in the 1970s. He’s worked with the likes of Barbra Streisand at the Warner Bros Studio, renowned cinematographer, Haskell Wexler, and on TV shows and features throughout the 70s and 80s such as “Uncommon Valor” with Gene Hackman. Brian started J-Town Pictures in 1990 in order to tell the tumultuous and often untold stories about Asian Americans. His films “Music Man of Manzanar,” “Buddha-Heads,” and “We Said No! No!” have won critical acclaim at festivals and been played nationally.

Plays in

Films of Resistance

FILMS OF RESISTANCE, the theme of this program, typically deals with forms of resistance to oppression as it…