LIVING IN THE STORY

PATRICK NAGATANI

THE FILM

Living in the Story documents thirty-five years of art-making by photographer Patrick Nagatani. The film portrays an artist deeply concerned with world events, who uses imagery and storytelling to raise awareness about modern anxieties, with an emphasis on the threat of nuclear weapons. Despite the serious content of his subject matter, his innovative images are compelling and entertaining. An engaging raconteur and teacher, Nagatani talks in the film about his projects, his unorthodox photographic techniques, and his subtle weaving together of fiction and fact.

A short version exploring three photographic series dealing with immigration/internment and nuclear issues is available. These issues are particularly relevant today, in light of escalating threats of war, toxic pollution and a growing refugee population worldwide.

Scott Nagatani’s hauntingly beautiful music score provides the film’s soundtrack.

THE FILM

SCREENINGS/AWARDS

AWARDS:
Best Documentary, Japan Film Festival Los Angeles
Best Documentary, Indo-Global International Film Festival
People's Choice Award, Vox Popular Media Arts Festival
Best Documentary, Dalmatia Film Festival
Best Medium Length Film, FIC AUTOR Film Festival
Certificate of Excellence, Dumbo Film Festival
Honorable Mention Documentary Award, Asians on Film Festival
UPCOMING:
Japanese American National Museum, Los Angeles, CA, Postponed. Screening TBA
PAST:
Japan Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
International Social Change Film Festival/ChangeFest, Atlanta, GA & Chicago, IL
SPEMW/FotoFocus, Cincinnati, OH
Vox Popular Media Arts Festival, Thunder Bay, Canada
New York Istanbul Short Film Festival, New York, New York
Social Justice Film Festival, Seattle, WA
Belfast Respect Human Rights Film Festival, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Oaxaca FilmFest, Oaxaca, Mexico
The Women's Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
Japan Cuts Film Festival, New York, NY
Austin Asian American Film Festival, Austin, TX
Windy City International Film Festival, Chicago, IL
Cincinnati African & Asian Diaspora Film Festival, Cincinnati, OH
Streetside Cinema, Winston-Salem, NC
Silver Screen International Film Festival, Tampa, FL
Asians on Film Festival, Los Angeles, CA
Philadelphia Asian American Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
DC Asian Pacific American Film Festival, Washington, DC
Roma Independent Prisma Awards, Rome, Italy
Philadelphia Independent Film Festival, Philadelphia, PA
Dumbo Film Festival, Brooklyn, NY
FIC AUTOR (Author's International Film Festival), Guadalajara, Mexico
Film Festival of Columbus, Columbus, OH
Indo-Global International Film Festival, Mumbai, India
Film Front International Short Film Festival, Novi Sad, Serbia
Benicia Film Festival, Benicia, CA
Cinalfama Lisbon International Film Awards, Lisbon, Portugal
Dalmatia Film Festival, Split, Croatia
Alexandre Trauner Art/Film Festival, Szolnok, Hungary
KNME New Mexico PBS Broadcast
WVPB West Virginia PBS Broadcast
WVIA Pennsylvania PBS Broadcast
Center for Creative Photography, Tucson, AZ
Bruce Museum, Greenwich, CT
Griffin Museum of Photography/Laconia Gallery, Boston, MA
New Mexico Museum of Art, Santa Fe, NM
University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, NM
Los Angeles Center of Photography/dnj Gallery, Santa Monica, CA,
Fred Jones, Jr. Museum of Art, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK
Pittsburgh Filmmakers, Pittsburgh, PA
Vermont Center for Photography/In-Sight Photography Project, Brattleboro, VT
NewFilmmakers @ Anthology Film Archives, New York, NY
Society for Photographic Education (SPE) National Conference, Philadelphia, PA
The Neon Theater, Dayton, OH
Antioch Community Cinema, Yellow Springs, OH
Max Kade Theatre, Colorado College, Colorado Springs, CO
Anderson Center for the Arts, Hartwick College, Oneonta, NY
Duke University, Durham, NC
University of Cincinnati DAAP and Film/Media Studies, Cincinnati, OH
Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, AZ
Tivoli Community Theater, Colorado Univeristy at Denver, Denver, CO
World Makers/Art that Transforms, 37th Annual Literary Festival, Richland College, Dallas, TX
MICA/Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD
University of the Arts, Philadelphia, PA
Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ
School of Art and Design, WVU, Morgantown, WV
Appalachian State University, Boone, NC
Edgewood College, Madison, WI
Otterbein University, Westerville, OH
Wright State University, Fairborn, OH
Ohio Wesleyan University, Delaware, OH
Lycoming College, Williamsport, PA

PRESS/REVIEWS

“I love it – I love that Patrick tells the tale entirely himself; that he steps beyond the front world of the filming to take me into his looping mind. The fun and of the journey comes across beautifully, yet also the political pointedness, punctuated by curt phrases like about becoming Catholic to fit in ‘but that didn't work.’"
– John Rohrbach, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, TX<

/ “It's wonderful to hear Patrick's ideas expressed in his own voice alongside the work. The film is terrific!”
– Mary Statzer, Curator of Prints & Photographs, University of New Mexico Art Museum

“It’s a wonderful and breathless exploration of Nagatani’s diverse body of work and the themes and ideas he opens up. I really enjoyed it.”
– Joel Neville Anderson, NY Japan Society and JAPAN CUTS Programmer