We can tell the story of the American children and teachers who were in the Japanese Internment Camps here in the U.S.A. during World War 2

My name is Joel McDonell. I am a filmmaker, a former college teacher, and someone with a deep interest in telling the stories of World War II.

My documentary, Teaching Manzanar, was inspired by someone very close to me: my Great Aunt Rita. During World War II, she taught for a time at Manzanar Japanese American incarceration camp here in California. Her experience always stayed with me and inspired me to tell the story of the children and teachers who lived and worked in the Japanese American incarceration camps during the war.

I interviewed my Great Aunt many years ago and was able to take a trip to Manzanar with her. I brought along a camera team, and we walked around the site together as she remembered her time there and shared her memories of what it was like.

I later returned to Manzanar for one of the annual Manzanar Pilgrimages, where I had the opportunity to meet and interview people who had actually been students there during World War II. Hearing their experiences firsthand, in the very place where they happened, made me even more determined to tell this story.

The experiences of the children are often overlooked. Yet children under the age of 18 made up roughly a third of the population in the camps. They were sent there with their families, their education disrupted, and their childhoods profoundly changed by circumstances they had no control over.

When my Aunt began teaching at Manzanar, all she had for her grade level was a chalkboard for approximately 80 students.

That simple image has stayed with me. It represents both the sudden and difficult conditions these teachers and children faced and the determination of the people who continued to teach, learn, and build a sense of community under extraordinary circumstances.

There is much to learn from their experiences, and the questions raised by their stories remain relevant today.

Sadly, my Great Aunt Rita passed away in 2025, just short of her 105th birthday. There are also not many people left who experienced life in the camps firsthand.

I am making Teaching Manzanar because I believe these stories deserve to be remembered—and because I believe the voices of the people who experienced this history firsthand can teach future generations something important.

Please consider joining me in bringing this story to audiences. Every donation, large or small, will help me move Teaching Manzanar closer to completion through Creative Visions Foundation, our fiscal sponsor.

Thank you for helping keep these stories alive.

Teaching Manzanar Pitch Video