User:Softlavender/draft16

Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings is a one-hour 2012 documentary film about ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, focusing on his life, career, and performances. The film was directed, filmed, and edited by Tadashi Nakamura. Life on Four Strings is a production of the Center for Asian American Media, co-produced by Pacific Islanders in Communications in association with Paliku Documentary Films with support by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Director Tadashi Nakamura, who had previously created three award-winning documentary shorts on Asian-Americans, was approached in 2010 by the Center for Asian American Media, requesting him to direct an hour-long documentary on Shimabukuro. Nakamura tracked the virtuosic musican for 2-1/2 years of his performance tours and personal life. He also documented his youth, family relationships, and rise to success. Of particular poignancy is Shimabukuro's relationship with his mother and his manager: Shimabukuro's mother taught him ukulele, was divorced when he was 13, and worked three jobs to support him and his brother. His manager Kazusa Flanagan, a native of Japan who moved to Hawaii in 1992 and who launched Shimabukuro's solo recording career, had her home town of Sendai unexpectedly demolished in the March 2011 tsunami.

A compelling portrait of an inspiring and inventive musician whose virtuoso skills on the ukulele have transformed all previous notions of the instrument's potential. Follow ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro over the course of a musical season. Enjoy dynamic performances before sold-out crowds, intimate moments of life on the road and visits to Shimabukuro’s native Hawai’i, where he has risen from local hero to international star.

The film received its world premiere at the San Francisco Asian American Film Festival, under its working title, Jake Shimabukuro Documentary, on March 14, 2012. The single screening was accompanied by a concert by Jake which included his brother, who also plays the ukulele, and his mother, who is a fine singer and was Jake's first ukulele teacher.

Broadcast, online viewing, and DVD
Life on Four Strings received an exclusive Hawaii broadcast premiere on March 12, 2013 on PBS Hawaii, two months prior to its national broadcast. It was aired nationwide on PBS in May 2013, and in many venues received repeat broadcasts.

The film is currently viewable online by U.S. residents on the PBS site through August 8, 2013. It will be released on DVD July 2, 2013.

Awards
The film won the Audience Award for Best Documentary at the Ashland Independent Film Festival. At the Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival, it won the Audience Award for Best Documentary Film, and the award for Best Editor (Tadashi Nakamura). At the Urbanworld Film Festival, it received the Honorable Mention for Best Documentary Feature. At the DocuWest International Documentary Film Festival it garnered the Best Medium Length/Essay Award.