(2013) TRT: 56 Min.
Director/Editor: Tadashi Nakamura
Producer: Donald Young
Executive Producers: Stephen Gong & Ruth Bolan
Directors of Photography: Jim Choi & Nā’ālehu Anthony
A production of the Center for Asian American Media and Pacific Islanders in Communications in association with Palikū Documentary Films, Jake Shimabukuro: Life on Four Strings is 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.
Through intimate conversations with Shimabukuro (she-ma-BOO-koo-row), Life on Four Strings reveals the cultural and personal influences that have shaped the man and the musician. On the road from Los Angeles to New York to Japan, the film captures the solitary life on tour: the exhilaration of performance, the wonder of newfound fame, the loneliness of separation from home and family.