Congratulations to Women Make Movies filmmaker and Production Assistance Program Alum Rea Tajiri, who has been selected to be in the 2025 cohort of USA Fellows, a program of the national arts-funding organization United States Artists. Tajiri is an award-winning, longtime WMM filmmaker. Her groundbreaking film HISTORY AND MEMORY, a view into Japanese internment camps through personal stories of her family’s experience, has been distributed by WMM since its release in 1991 and has been distributed to more than 1,000 cultural and educational institutions, including at the Whitney Museum of Art in their Biennial and the Museum of Fine Arts-Boston, and has been viewed by tens of thousands of students and individuals. Her latest film,, WISDOM GONE WILD, was supported by WMM’s Production Assistance Program, and is a vibrant, tender “cinepoem” that follows Tajiri’s 16-year caregiving journey for her mother, Rose Noda, a Japanese-American woman incarcerated in U.S. concentration camps during WWII and was broadcast on PBS’s POV.
As a 2025 USA Fellow—an influential honor granted by United States Artists—Rea receives an unrestricted $50,000 grant. This accolade adds to her impressive list of supporters, including JustFilms (Ford Foundation), Pew, CAAM, Chicken & Egg, the NEA, and the Rockefeller Foundation. A Chicago native and CalArts MFA alum, Tajiri’s early video work appeared at the Whitney Biennial, MoMA, and the Guggenheim. Now, with her upcoming project NON-ALIEN on the horizon, she continues her signature fusion of history, poetic storytelling, and personal narrative.
Congratulations again!
