Beloved photographer Frank Matsura moved from the biggest city in Japan to Okanogan County.
In 1903.
A man of few written words, he spoke with his camera.
One hundred thirteen years after his untimely death, Vancouver-based filmmaker Beth Harrington’s film Our Mr. Matsura has won accolades. The film recently won top awards at the Spokane International Film Festival: Best of the Northwest Feature Film, Best Feature Documentary and (in a tie) the Audience Award for Best Documentary.
Our Mr. Matsura has travelled the country: Denver, British Columbia, Savannah, Cleveland, Portland, Ashland, Spokane. Plans are underway for a tour in Japan.
The film will gain a national audience when it comes to public television in 2027.
“Everywhere we’ve gone, people have been embracing our documentary about the beloved community-building immigrant photographer in the American West,” said Harrington.
Who knew that the “little man” who was “one of the most popular men in Okanogan” would one day be known nationally?
Matsura was a third-party commercial photographer capturing early images of settlers and Native Americans, sometimes with an undertone of light-heartedness or absurdity.
Other photographs captured changing times, like a haunting photograph of Chiliwhist Jim, Chief of the Okanogan Indians, maintaining his dignity despite a foreign backdrop.
Matsura built trust with Native Americans, who were suspicious of cameras, and captured shyness, humor, intimacy, fear, apprehension. Their descendants cling to Matsura’s portraits.
He was also well-liked by settlers. An article published June 20, 1913 in the Okanogan Independent on Matsura’s untimely death read, “…Frank Matsura was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He held the highest esteem of all who knew him. He was one of the most popular men in Okanogan and was known from one end of this vast county to the other….”
Matsura died from complications of tuberculosis while running an errand for the Okanogan town marshal. Three hundred people attended his funeral, a number never seen before in the county.
After its premier in Omak last year, the film is returning to Washington. It will be screened in Walla Walla at the Gesa Power House Theatre on May 20 and in Ridgefield at the Old Liberty Theater on May 21.
For a background about Frank Matsura, visit The Light He Left Behind: Rediscovering Frank S. Matsura.
For more information about the film, visit ourmrmatsura.com.
This article has been corrected to reflect that “Our Mr. Matsura” premiered in Omak, not Okanogan.
