MAHALO!

If you are receiving this, it is because you were part of our sold-out premiere of "Shikata Ga Nai," on Sunday, December 29th, 2024. It went pretty much perfect. In fact, the few who confirmed their attendance but who last minute couldn't make it were replaced by a number of people who turned up unexpectedly as walk-ins and paid on site. So when the dust settles and we eventually reconcile, we'll find that we actually sold more than the available seats we had for people who would pay. This means, we had more than the maximum 694 attend on paper, in fact over 700. With a packed house, we were still able to get everyone in efficiently, the 15-minute slide show looped twice smoothly, and of course the movie played great. As those of you who attended know, there was about two or three seconds during the first 15 minutes or so, when the picture cut out due to something that happened during the playback at the time. In other words, it wasn't the movie - which Denny Hironaga (editor) and Mark Bush (post sound editor), reviewed in detail before the screening. But no problem, it soon went back on. But, we'll admit, it did give Eric Nemoto, Denny, and Mark, and I'm sure the rest of the cast and crew, and all of the Nisei Veterans Legacy members, a near heart attack. Well, it is good to get a good jolt to the system every now and then, eh? Makes you feel alive. Ha! But after the picture quickly restored itself, there were no more glitches (the movie runs a near one hour and fifty minutes). The audience laughed at the parts we hoped they'd laugh, cried at the part we wanted them to cry, and overall gave us great feedback. The photo below is a shot of our talkback session (where many of you chose to stay - mahalo), with Byrnes Yamashita of the NVL (who was our great leader in getting this premiere together), beginning the introduction. All in all, just a wonderful premiere. Going forward, we will have some private showings, as well as screenings on the neighbor islands, during the first half of 2025!