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    Heart Mountain offering free admission October 27th; Also a special film screening

    Heart Mountain Interpretive Center will host a public screening of the Academy Award-winning documentary film “Days of Waiting” at 1 p.m. on Saturday, October 27. A short Q&A session with the center’s Interim Executive Director, Dakota Russell, will follow the film. Admission to the center, including the film screening, will be free all day.

    “Days of Waiting,” directed by Steven Okazaki, focuses on the fascinating, and often very difficult, life of Estelle Ishigo. Ishigo’s art is currently featured in the center’s exhibit The Mountain Was Our Secret. A white woman, Ishigo voluntarily chose to accompany her Japanese American husband to Heart Mountain when the government incarcerated him there during World War II.

    Using her memoirs, original artwork, and photographs, Okazaki worked with Ishigo–then at the end of her life–to create his film. Okazaki’s father was incarcerated at Heart Mountain, and he is devoted to highlighting and exploring Asian American history through cinema. His films include “All We Could Carry,” a short documentary created specifically for Heart Mountain Interpretive Center. “Days of Waiting” won the Academy Award for Best Documentary, Short Subject in 1991.

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    Russell says that the “Days of Waiting” is one of the best tellings of Ishigo’s life story. “Because Steven had such close access to Estelle,” he says, “there’s something very intimate and raw about his film. I recommend bringing tissues.” Russell added that it was important to Heart Mountain to make this a free event, so that the largest number of people can see the film and The Mountain Was Our Secret exhibit. “I feel like this is one of the best exhibits we’ve ever done,” says Russell, “and there’re only a few weeks left to see it. I don’t want anyone to miss it, for any reason. That’s why admission will be free all day for this event.”

    Heart Mountain Interpretive Center tells the story of some 14,000 Japanese Americans unjustly incarcerated in Wyoming from 1942 through 1945. The center is currently open Wednesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and located between Cody and Powell on Highway 14A. For more information please call (307) 754-8000 or visit www.heartmountain.org.

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