FREE SCREENING!
THE CATS OF MIRIKITANI will screen at Liberty Hall 2/20/26 in Lawrence, Kansas! FREE! Panel discussion with Director Lin…
“Vibrantly human”
– The New York Times
20th Anniversary Edition of the
award-winning documentary film
An intimate exploration of the lingering wounds of war and the healing power of community, art, and cats.
Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani by Hiroko Masuike, 2003
“Make Art Not War” is the motto of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani.
This 80-year-old Japanese American artist survived the trauma of WWII incarceration, the loss of family and friends in his ancestral city of Hiroshima, and a harsh life on the streets of New York by making art.
Intrigued by Mirikitani’s drawings of cats, a Soho filmmaker befriends him. The fall of the World Trade Center on 9/11 suddenly changes both their lives, and together they embark on a journey to confront the past.
Winner of The Audience Award at its premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival, and more than two dozen awards at festivals around the world.
TRAILER
“Deeply moving”
–Andew Sarris, THE OBSERVER
“Startlingly timely”
– Ronnie Scheib, VARIETY
“A sweetly unsentimental charmer”
– Maitland McDonagh, TV GUIDE
“His art, unrelenting, serves as a faithful watch for rare hope.”
– Lucia Enriquez, The Seattle Times
STREAM IT
UPCOMING SCREENINGS
REQUEST A SCREENING
STREET NIHONGA:
The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani
THE SPENCER MUSEUM OF ART
February 19, 2026–June 28, 2026
Street Nihonga sheds light on Mirikitani’s creative practice, intertwining artmaking, life narration, and street activism through the largest assembly of his works to date.
THE ART
The artwork of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani has been exhibited
on street corners in Soho, in galleries in Japan, and at
The Smithsonian American Art Museum.
News
STREET NIHONGA opens 2/19/26!
Street Nihonga: The Art of Jimmy Tsutomu Mirikitani sheds light on Mirikitani’s creative practice, intertwining ar…