Impact On An Island
Dir: Nathan Fitch
Micronesia & USA/2011/ Kosuraean with English and Japanese subtitles/Color/34min/documentary
The elders of Kosrae, a tiny island in Micronesia, are the few people in the world today that remember its history. After WWI, Germany gave Kosrae to Japan and thousands of Japanese civilians immigrated there and developed the island’s resources as a result. During WWII, it became an important military base in the Pacific for the Japanese Imperial Army and later became a Japan-US battlefield. From after the war to this day, the island has been under US control. The film also contains the rare archival images of Japanese in Micronesia before and during WWII.
Nathan Fitch is a photographer and filmmaker, who has had his work featured on TIME magazine, ESPN, WNYC and numerous other media outlets. From 2004-06 Nathan volunteered in the Peace Corps in Micronesia, doing historic preservation work. This informative experience resulted in an interest creating media around the contemporary issues facing the Pacific, as well as the importance of community engagement in his film making practice. Nathan is currently in production on his first feature length documentary, ISLAND SOLDIER. Nathan is an MFA candidate in Advanced Studies in Nonfiction Media Making at Hunter College, and a member of the Brooklyn Filmmakers Collective.