Come see “Amache Rose,” a film by Billy Kanaly

Join us for this special viewing!
Tuesday February 4 at 5:30 pm
Carla Madison Recreation Center
2401 E. Colfax Avenue
Free Parking behind the Center
In 1942, the United States Government established the concentration camp Camp Amache in the high desert of southeastern Colorado near the town of Granada. Japanese American citizens were confined there because of the paranoia and fear generated by Japan’s aggression during  World War II. These citizens were incarcerated at the camp until 1945. Today, the action is seen as one of the great tragedies of misjudgment in U.S. history.
Site of Camp Amache concentration camp
Credit: Denver Botanic Gardens Films
Housed in stark barracks, having been stripped of most of their belongings, the internees endured their imprisonment with courage, resiliency and by practicing the tradition of Wabi Sabi, the Japanese art of finding beauty in imperfections. The internees planted trees and gardens in the hostile high, dry, windy environment around them. They used discarded concrete for rock gardens. They used native cactus and rabbitbrush shrubs in their garden designs.
The Amache rose
Credit: Denver Botanic Gardens Films
The ”Amache Rose” film by Billy Kanaly tells the poignant story of a wild rose discovered at Amache that was not native to the area. It could never have grown there. An Amache prisoner on work release must have found the rose in another region and brought it back to Amache to be planted there. 80 years later, the rose has endured. Denver Botanic Gardens is caring for clippings of the rose in their greenhouse.
Billy Kanaly
Credit: Denver Botanic Gardens Films
“Amache Rose,” directed by Billy Kanaly is the first film produced by the new film department of Denver Botanic Gardens (DBG), Denver Botanic Films. It has been featured at film festivals across the country, including the Denver Film Festival.  Billy Kanaly is heading up Denver Botanic Gardens Films and its mission to connect people to plants through film.  A former performer for the Irish Dance Troupe Riverdance, Kanaly brings a range of creative perspectives to his role. He is committed to telling the abundance of unique stories that plants have to tell, not only how they grow but who grows them and why. The film “Amache Rose” is the unique story underlying the important connections between people and plants, how nature illuminates the human experience, and how humans rely on plants and nature to make sense of and complete their world.
Mike Bone, Curator of Steppe Collections at Denver Botanic Gardens inspects a rose at Amache
Credit: Denver Botanic Gardens Films

Please join us for this amazing, free in-person program. Billy Kanaly will show his film and talk about its production and how the Amache experience affected him. Survivors of Amache are among those interviewed in the documentary. Dr. Bonnie Clark, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Denver, whose work at Amache is a focus of the film, is also featured.

A City Park Friends and Neighbors Board meeting will follow the presentation and the public is invited to join in. As always, we look forward to hearing your insights and any questions you may have about City Park.

Amache Concentration Camp
Credit: Japanese American Museum (2015.100.172a)