Barnes Cinema: Strawberry Fields by Rea Tajiri
Saturday, January 9, 1 – 4pm
$15; members and students free
About the Event
Today’s program features Strawberry Fields (1997), directed by Rea Tajiri. The film follows the story of a Japanese American teenager in 1970s Chicago whose grief at the loss of her sister ignites simmering anger about Japanese American internment during World War II and the conspiracy of silence that followed. Scripted with award-winning novelist Kerri Sakamoto, Tajiri’s film deftly blends the poetic examination of family trauma that defined her 1991 documentary History and Memory: For Akiko and Takashige with rich characterization, period evocation, and a soundtrack by Chicago indie rock luminaries Sooyoung Park and Bundy K. Brown.
A discussion with Tajiri and Anne Ishii, director of grantmaking programs at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, will follow the screening, along with an audience Q&A.
Held in the Comcast NBCUniversal Auditorium, this program is presented alongside Noguchi to Asawa: Designing Postwar America and includes access to the Barnes collection.
About the Film
Strawberry Fields (1997)
Directed by Rea Tajiri
Equal parts coming-of-age movie, historical drama, and ghost story, Strawberry Fields explores the lasting impacts of incarceration upon a generation of Japanese Americans born long after World War II. In the 1970s, curious 16-year-old rebel Irene yearns to learn more about camp, but her mother has buried those painful memories. Guided by the ghost of her recently deceased sister and a lone old photo, Irene sets off on a cross-country road trip in a determined search for the truth. With some pivots en route, Irene befriends a young political activist and an older Japanese American woman who aids her on her journey. Watch the trailer.
Duration: 90 min.
Speakers
Rea Tajiri
Tajiri is an award-winning interdisciplinary artist and educator who creates installation, documentary, and experimental films. Her work situates itself in poetic, nontraditional storytelling forms to encourage dialogue and reflection around buried histories. Tajiri is a Sansei who grew up in Chicago and Van Nuys, California. She earned her BFA and MFA degrees from the California Institute of the Arts, where she studied post-studio art.
Anne Ishii
Ishii is the director of grantmaking programs at The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage. She is a writer and editor by trade, with a background in Japanese letters. Her work hinges on issues relating to gender and sexuality. In 2013, she cofounded Massive Goods, a lifestyle brand and arts agency representing queer and feminist artists from Japan. Ishii has been published in Bust, Nylon, Slate, and The Philadelphia Inquirer, among other publications.
Curator
Maori Karmael Holmes
Today’s program is curated by Holmes, chief executive and artistic officer of BlackStar Projects. She has organized screenings at Anthology Film Archives and the Whitney Museum, as well as exhibitions at ICA and Pearlstein Gallery.
Sponsor
Support is generously provided by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and Philadelphia City Fund’s 2026 Milestone Grant Fund, supported by PECO.
Go Further
Daily Gallery Talks
Every day, our gallery specialists offer talks about the Barnes collection. Learn more about our history, founder, and collection.
Deep Dive: Radio Nurse by Isamu Noguchi
An in-depth discussion about the designer’s 1937 baby monitor. Free with admission; Roberts Gallery
Barnes Cinema: Tiguex by Raven Chacon
Our film series continues with the 2026 documentary capturing the Pulitzer Prize–winning composer’s citywide symphony.