If Chris Iijima had known that an entire film would be dedicated to him and his work, he probably never would have agreed to be interviewed in the first place. But at the time, Tad Nakamura believed he was making a film about the larger Asian American Movement, and as always, Iijima was always more than happy to give what he could to the Movement.

"He didn't feel like his life was any more significant than anyone else," said Nakamura. "But I learned a lot from him, so I wanted to make a film to share those lessons and that perspective with people who weren't able to know him in his lifetime."

Nakamura's final installment in his trilogy of Japanese American documentaries, A SONG FOR OURSELVES, is playing in a program of short documentaries at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival on May 2, at 2:30 p.m. at Laemmle's Sunset 5. He's excited about the screening because he considers Visual Communications his home base—his parents were both working there when he was born, so the connection runs deep. His parents, both filmmakers, also served as producers for the film, and Nakamura feels like the project helps to translate their experiences as part of the Asian American Movement to a younger generation.

"Growing up, I saw a lot of films about Japanese American history and it had a huge impact on me, so I wanted to increase the entertainment value and make it a bit more modern for a younger audience to watch and be engaged with in addition to learning," he said.

A SONG FOR OURSELVES tells the story of Chris Iijima, who collaborated with Nobuko Miyamoto and Charlie Chin to essentially write the soundtrack for the Asian American Movement. With lyrics like "We are the children of the migrant worker, we are the offspring of the concentration camp," Iijima helped to politicize the Asian American struggle for identity and civil rights.

Nakamura first learned about Iijima while listening to his parents' record collection, and he later studied Iijima in his American Studies courses at UCLA. When he spent a summer at the University of Hawaii, Iijima became like an uncle to him. Nakamura was impressed by his diverse career as a musician, activist, middle school teacher, lawyer, and law professor—all without sacrificing his devotion to civil rights and justice for the disenfranchised.

"I think a lot of people present community work as one thing or the other, either you sell out or you're a poor starving artist. But he's a good example of how to balance both career and community work and how you don't have to stick with one thing your whole life," said Nakamura. When he heard that Iijima was sick with amyloidosis, he and some friends flew back to Hawaii to interview him.

"It was a great interview and he ended up passing away later that year," said Nakamura. "Initially we weren't going to do a film on him specifically, but for his memorial we put together a video with the interview and that evolved into the documentary."

When friends and relatives heard that Nakamura was preparing the memorial video, photographs and tapes of live recordings started pouring in. Miyamoto, Iijima's former singing partner, contributed her own collection of photos and music sheets. Nakamura also mined the pages of Gidra, a radical Asian American newspaper from the 1960's, for images and articles about Iijima.

To bring this collection of static documents to life, Nakamura enlisted the help of graphic artists Daryn Wakasa and Michael Velasquez. He hopes that their unique style of animating the still images and other materials will help bring something new to the screen, as Velasquez did with PILGRIMAGE, Nakamura's documentary about the first organized pilgrimage back to Manzanar Internment Camp.

"I feel that there's a lot of stories in all communities that need to be told," said Nakamura. "For me, I feel the most familiar with stories from my own community."

In addition to screening A SONG FOR OURSELVES, Nakamura will also be speaking on a panel with filmmaker Spencer Nakasako called, "What's the Matter with Asian American Film?" The seminar, which is on May 3, at 2:00 p.m. at the Directors Guild of American Atrium, will begin a dialogue about the past and future of Asian American film.

"I don't know how it's gonna go, but Spencer is a real character—probably one of the most talented and smart filmmakers I've ever met. He has a really good perspective on where the film movement as a whole has been, what it is, and where it could go," said Nakamura. "Basically, I think there are certain things that aren't talked about publicly that everyone talks about amongst themselves. Everyone has this love-hate relationship with Asian American film and our goal is to get those critiques out in a productive way."