Bay Area Premiere of PILGRIMAGE in SF (3/17) and San Jose (3/24)

**SATURDAY, MARCH 17TH @ 12 NOON - SAN FRANCISCO**

AMC Van Ness Theatres
1000 Van Ness Ave. (at O’Farrell)
San Francisco, CA
http://www.amctheatres.com

TICKETS: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=2075&pid=5949104

**SATURDAY, MARCH 24TH @12 NOON - SAN JOSE**

Camera 12 Cinemas
201 South Street (at San Carlos Street)
San Jose, CA
http://www.cameracinemas.com

TICKETS: http://purchase.tickets.com/buy/TicketPurchase?orgid=2075&pid=5949220

PILGRIMAGE tells the inspiring story of how an abandoned WWII concentration camp has been transformed into a current-day symbol of retrospection and solidarity in the aftermath of 9/11. The 22 min. documentary is going to premiere at the 2007 San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival on Saturday, March 17th at 12 noon. PILGRIMAGE will be screened with an amazing feature length documentary THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI, winner of the 2006 Audience Award at the Tribeca Film Festival!

Both films will travel with the festival to San Jose on Saturday, March 24th at 12 noon. The link to the festival website is: http://www.asianamericanfilmfestival.org/2007/films-events/film-detail/?i=16

*For more information about PILGRIMAGE please visit: http://www.myspace.com/pilgrimagethemovie, or contact: tadillac [at] onebox.com

Synopsis of PILGRIMAGE:

Total running time: 20 min.

Pilgrimage tells the inspiring story of how a small group of Japanese Americans in the late 1960s uncovered their lost history and created the Manzanar Pilgrimage, transforming the once-abandoned WWII American concentration camp into a vibrant symbol of retrospection and solidarity for people of all ages, races and nationalities in our post 9/11 world.

Although there are now numerous films on the mass incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II, this dark chapter of American history lay virtually forgotten until 1969 when two young Japanese Americans set out to find a place called Manzanar and ended up creating an annual event that has since attracted thousands of people. Calling it a ?pilgrimage,? it was the first public event in the nation to call attention to the reality of the WWII concentration camp experience that had almost been deleted from public understanding.

With a hip music track, never-before-seen archival footage and a story-telling style that features both old and new pilgrims, Pilgrimage is the first film to show how the WWII camps were reclaimed by the children of its victims and how the Manzanar Pilgrimage now has fresh meaning for diverse generations of people who realize that when the US government herded thousands of innocent Americans into what the government itself called concentration camps, it was failure of democracy that would affect all Americans. As the U.S. is again in tumultuous times, Pilgrimage is a timely and engaging film that brings new and much-needed insight to the lessons of the past for our post 9/11 world.