Film Screenings

The screening of "Voices Behind Barbed Wire" at the Honolulu Museum of Art in 2025.

Photo courtesy of Kinetic Productions

In partnership with Kinetic Productions and sponsored by Pacific Historic Parks and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, Honouliuli National Historic Site will be showing screenings of Voices Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of Hawi‘i across the Hawaiian Islands in honor of the 80th anniversary of Honouliuli Internment Camp's closing.

A special screening of the film will take place in August on O‘ahu accompanied by members of the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra.

The film was screened in 2025 at the Honolulu Museum of Art as a part of Honouliuli National Historic Site's 10th Anniversary Celebration which commemorated 10 years since being established as a unit of the National Park Service.

The film made an impact on audiences on O‘ahu, telling the often unknown story of the Japanese incarceration period in the Hawaiian Islands during WWII.

 

A still from the film "Voices Behind Barbed Wire".

Photo courtesy of Kinetic Productions

Neighbor Island Film Screening Schedule

All film screenings will be followed by a panel hosted by film director Ryan Kawamoto, Carole Hayashino, President Emeritus of the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai‘i, and Christine Ogura, Superintendent of Honouliuli National Historic Site.

In conjunction with the movie being shown, Honouliuli NHS' traveling pop-up exhibit will also be on the same island at one of the public libraries for the month. Please visit the Pop-Up Exhibit page for the list of libraries where the exhibit will be.

Hawai‘i Island

Kailua-Kona

Japanese Cultural Center of Kona, Elks Lodge 75-170 Hualalai Rd
June 21, 12:30-3:00pm

• 12:30-1:30pm doors open; talk story/refreshments
• 1:30-3:00pm film screening and panel

Hilo

East Hawaiʻi Cultural Center, 141 Kalakaua St
July 11, 4:00-5:30pm

Please email [e-mail] to RSVP to the Hilo screening.

* Panel includes descendant Shelley Yasuhara

Kaua‘i

Kauai Community College's Performing Arts Center, 3-1901 Kaumualii Hwy, Lihue, HI 96766
July 25, 4:00-5:30pm

Moloka‘i

Mitchell Pauole Center, 90 AINOA ST, Kaunakakai, HI 96748
August 29, 4:00-5:30pm

*Note: Carole Hayashino will not be on the panel for this screening.

Maui

Nisei Veteran's Memorial Center, 665 Kahului Beach Rd, Wailuku, HI 96732
September 12, 1:30-3:00pm

Lana‘i

Date, time, location TBD

 

O‘ahu Screening (featuring members of the Hawai‘i Symphony Orchestra)

Pearl Harbor National Memorial Theater

Date and Time: August, TBD

Click here for the map to find the theater and click here for directions to the park. Though this event is free to the public, please note there is a $7 parking fee for the Pearl Harbor National Memorial parking lots.

About the Event: In partnership with the Hawai'i Symphony Orchestra (HSO), Kinetic Productions, and the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawai'i, a live musical performance by HSO concertmaster Iggy Jang and cellist Joshua Nakazawa will welcome audiences as part of a screening for "Voices Behind Barbed Wire". A violin that was used at Honouliuli Internment Camp is the inspiration for this special HSO performance. This special film screening will be followed by a panel session, including Ryan Kawamoto, the director of the film, Karen Murashige whose father was incarcerated at Honouliuli and whose violin is featured, and a member of the Hawaii Symphony Orchestra.

Ryan Kawamoto

Ryan Kawamoto is a television and film director based in Honolulu, Hawai‘i represented by Kinetic Productions.

“Voices Behind Barbed Wire: Stories of Hawaiʻi,” presented by the Japanese Cultural Center of Hawaiʻi was awarded a 2020 Preservation Honor Award by the Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation.

His most recent documentary, “Removed by Force: The Eviction of Hawaiʻi’s Japanese Americans During WWII,” received a Gold Telly at the 46th Annual Telly Awards in the category of Film History.

In 2012, he wrote and directed the documentary, "The Untold Story,” the first full length documentary produced about WWII incarceration in Hawaiʻi.

Ryan wrote and directed other documentaries including, “Gannenmono: Hawaiʻi’s First Japanese Immigrants.” And “Honouliuli: Hawaiʻi’s Hidden Internment Camp.”

Ryan Kawamoto is a Yonsei (fourth generation) Japanese American born, raised, and residing in Hawai‘i