view . fall 2014
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ChrisHope stood in front of agroupof
high school students inOsaka, Japan,
lastFebruary, and tried to impressupon
themavaluable life lesson:
learnasmuch
asyoucanabout your familyhistorybefore it’s
too late.
TheUWindsorMBA ’09graduate spoke
fromhisownexperienceof connecting
withhis family’spast and the resulting2012
documentary, “Hatsumi:OneGrandmother’s
JourneyThrough theJapaneseCanadian
Internment.”
It’sacompellingand intensivelypersonal
storyabout hisgrandmotherNancyHatsumi
Okura’smemoriesof the internment of the
Japanese inCanadaduringWorldWar II.
In thefilm,Hope travelswithhis
grandmother,whodied in2013, back to
TelegraphCove, B.C., and the ‘OkuraHouse,’
built byherhusband,Ken,whowas separated fromNancywhenhe
was sent towork in the roadcampsof Albertaat that time.
The twoalsomadea sojourn toJapan tovisit herbrother,
TadaoHashimoto.During the internment, he’dgoneblindandbeen
“repatriated” toJapanby theCanadiangovernment after thewar after
cuttingoff hismedical treatment.
Thedocumentarybrings such stories to life through the testimony
of hisgrandmother andotherwitnesses, photos, hisgrandparents’
diaries, and familyhomemovies.
Inaddition to telling the storyof hisown family, thedocumentary
also includesarchival footage that recountshow23,000B.C. residents
livingalong thecoastlineweregivenonlyhours’ notice topack their
bagsandbe taken toa “resettlement centre”.Considereda threat
after thebombingof PearlHarbour, theirpropertywas seizedby the
government and theneither soldor left to rot.
By the time thedocumentarywas released tocoincidewith the
70thanniversaryof theJapanese-Canadian internment,Hopehad
invested12yearsandconsiderablefinances into theproject.
Thefilmhasgarneredpraiseand theattentionof AcademyAward-
nominatedfilmmakersAtomEgoyanandDeepaMehtaaswell asGiller
Prize-winningauthorVincentLam.
It alsocaught theeyeof theJapanese
high school teacher,whowould lateroffer to
translate thefilm intohis languageand invite
Hope to talk tohis students.
The students lit upwhenHope spoke, he
says, and later confided to their teacher that
theyhadgonehomeafterward toask their
familiesabout theirownexperiences.
“Thekidswereabsolutely shockedbecause
thegrandparentshadnever reallyengaged
thembefore,” saysHope. “And, suddenly, the
grandparentshadcomebackwithpre-war
photos that [thekids] never knewexisted
because theJapanesepost-warhistory is really
markedby shi kataganai”.
That Japanesephilosophy translates to
mean “it can’t behelped”and represents the
culture’s reserve in the faceof adversity.This
also servedas thedocumentary’s theme.
The talkat thehighschoolwascoveredbyJapan’smainnews
serviceandseenbymillions, saysHope,whowas in thecountryona
leadershipprogramsponsoredby theJapanesegovernment. “Inever in
amillionyearscouldhavepicturedmyself in theearlydayshere inJapan
andhavingmyexperience resonatewithabunchof highschool students
fromhalfwayaround theworld,”hesays. “Thatwasabsolutelyamazing.”
Hewaswell into theprocessof gatheringmaterial andfilminghis
grandmotherwhenhebeganhis studiesat theUniversityof Windsor.
Abusiness lawyer atCasselsBrock&Blackwell LLP inToronto, hehad
previouslyworkedasaproducer at theCBC,CookieJarEntertainment
andAllianceFilms Inc.
Whenhe’snotbusyworkingatCasselsBrockwherehe focuseson
entertainment, intellectual propertyandmedia law,Hope’s latestfilm
project isworkingasaproduceronadocumentaryaboutagroupof
widelyheardbut largelyunknownstudiomusicians,TheWreckingCrew.
They recorded from the1950s to the ’70sandhadmorenumber
onehits thananyother group inhistory, playing themusicon records
byartists likeFrankSinatraandNatKingColeandgroups like the
BeachBoys, SimonandGarfunkel andTheMonkees.
Meanwhile, there’shisday job. “Myprimary focus in life is tobe the
best copyright andentertainment lawyer that I canbe.”
n
v
ALUMNI PROFILE
BYCLAUDIOD’ANDREA
ALABOUROFLOVE
ChrisHope
Opposite: AlumnusChrisHopewithhis grandmotherNancyHatsumi Okura
