As filmmakers with a deep aloha for Hawai'i, Kayo Hatta, Lisa Onodera, and I realized that with surviving picture brides in their 80s and 90s, with sugar plantations closing down throughout Hawai'i, and with historical sites such as Honolulu Harbor experiencing transformation into modern shopping complexes, preservation of this history was not only important, but crucial. The closing of one sugar plantation after another would result in the inevitable fading of Hawai'i's unique plantation culture and society.

In making PICTURE BRIDE we hoped to capture and preserve a cinematic slice of that lifestyle for future generations. We thought that the film might also have value for those generations alive today - as a tribute to our elders, and as a way for younger generations to understand who we are today as a result of the actions of our grand-parents and great-grandparents.

Based upon information gleaned from archival photo-graphs, oral history interviews, and existing research by our scholars and consultants, our production designer Paul Guncheon, props master Leslie Craig, and crew built sets and/or dressed existing structures, while costume designer Ada Akaji, advised by historian/costume consultant Barbara Kawakami, created a plantation-period look for the cast.

Studying old photographs of the period with director Kayo Hatta, cinematographer Claudio Rocha skillfully created a "natural" look for the film, using available light during the day, sepia filters that subdued colors, and lights that replicated kerosene lamps and the moon during night shoots. PICTURE BRIDE was filmed on a shoestring budget in Hawai'i during the very wet summer of 1993, and our crew and cast invented numerous amazing solutions to a host of production challenges. The finished film is the result of the efforts of all these professionals, as well as the hundreds of personnel listed in the film's end credits.

From day one, humanities disciplines, organizations, and scholars played a significant role in the making of PICTURE BRIDE. The research and development, script-writing, and pre-production phases of the project involved broad research in the fields of history, ethnic studies, women's studies, American Studies, literature, religion, language and linguistics, cultural anthropology, and sociology. The Hawai'i Committee for the Humanities and National Endowment for the Humanities provided grant funding that supported the project as it clarified the foundation and historical perspective upon which a dramatic work could be sculpted.

Special thanks to our humanities scholars, who graciously advised and supported us through the years, read script drafts, provided feedback on video cuts during the editing process, and then, having stated their cases, encouraged us to be filmmakers first and make the best film we could make. They include: Teresa Bill, Dr. Alice Chai, Dr. Lawrence Fuchs, Dr. Glen Grant, Barbara Kawakami, Dr. Akemi Kikumura, Dr. Elaine Kim, Dr. Helen Nagtalon-Miller, Michiko Kodama-Nishimoto, Dr. Dennis Ogawa, Dr. Gary Okihiro, Dr. Franklin Odo, Kent Sakoda, and Dr. Ronald Takaki.

We bring you these historical essays to help shed light on "the story behind the story." A number of essays provide background and perspective. Drs. Dennis Ogawa and Glen Grant present the historical framework for the PICTURE BRIDE story, describing major events in Japanese immigration to and settlement in Hawai'i. Teresa Bill examines Japanese immigrant women's labor and contributions to Hawai'i's plantation society. Barbara Kawakami shows us how material culture, e.g. plantation-era clothing, can provide insight into the continuity of tradition and the character of a people.

PICTURE BRIDE offers an introduction to a number of fascinating areas of study. For further information we point viewers to the books listed in the Reference section. There the historical features and issues touched upon in the film are examined in detail. As those who work in the medium of film, however, we've concluded that our best tribute to Hawai'i's picture brides is a compelling story that leaves our audience with a sense of what these pioneers experienced as people, a sense of the sights and sounds of plantation life in the early 1900s, and most of all, a sense of the spirit that made them such an inspiration to us.

Diane Mei Lin Mark

Producer, PICTURE BRIDE

ESSAYS

The Japanese in Hawai'i:
1885 - 1920
by Dennis Ogawa and Glen Grant

Field Work and Family Work:
Picture Brides On Hawaii's Sugar Plantations, 1910 - 1920
by Teresa Bill

Woven Tales:
Early Japanese Immigrant Clothing in Hawai'i
by Barbara Kawakami

Hawaiians And Sugar:
Plantations in the 1800's
by Dr. Davianna Pomaika'i McGregor