Third Act

U.S. Documentary Competition

Generations of artists call Robert A. Nakamura “the godfather of Asian American media,” but filmmaker Tadashi Nakamura calls him Dad. Robert’s diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease leads to an exploration of art, activism, grief, and fatherhood.

Director Tadashi Nakamura was in many ways born into filmmaking and his father’s career, appearing as a crying baby being sent to a Japanese American concentration camp in Robert’s landmark film Hito Hata: Raise the Banner (1980). In Third Act, Tad tells the story of his father, his life and career, and the profound influence it has had on Tad’s sense of self, artistry, and citizenship. With Robert in the last stage of his life and Tad a father himself, Tad looks to the past and the future with a searching curiosity of what legacy means and how it can be lived. With a poignant relevancy to this moment in American history, Third Act is an intimate and emotional story of the Asian American experience in its political, historic, personal, and artistic fullness.

Run time: 93 minutes

Language: English