by Rob Swindell (The Chronicle Telegram)

OBERLIN – In “AMERIKA: a notebook in three parts,” filmmaker and Oberlin College graduate Mika Johnson seeks to initiate a social and cultural awakening within America while at the same time, present America in its true light – a view that may be contrary to some foreign perspectives.

This complex and thought-provoking film, co-authored with Honey Lapcharoen, is both a journey though the history of America and a powerful critique of American culture.

Johnson, in his travels throughout Japan and Europe, found that people had a lot to say about America – and that often he was forced to defend his country.

“After college, I spent five years living in Japan, Germany and the Czech Republic. I left two days before 9/11, and this gave me an outsider’s perspective on America and everything that happened afterward,” he said.

However, Johnson encountered more than just a political perspective – there were also cultural misunderstandings.

“The exported version of America doesn’t show its diversity,” he said, despite “probably being the most diverse country in the world.”

The election of Barack Obama exemplifies his point, he said.

“I think it proves to the world and to Americans that this is a country that is still evolving, alongside its own ideals, and that the American Revolution is a work in progress,” he said.

At the same time, Johnson recognizes that there needs to be a strong critique of present-day American values.

“People need to see that what’s happening now and what we’ve become are outgrowths of a number of value systems that we inherited,” Johnson said. “The challenge is to create awareness, which has to be like a series of small explosions in the collective unconscious.”

It was these perspectives that inspired his first feature film.

“In the end (the writing of AMERIKA) was my attempt to both understand America and remythologize it from a foreigner’s perspective,” Johnson said. It is “a feature film that glorifies, criticizes and poeticizes the diverse legacies and perceptions about the United States, through the eyes of a Japanese traveler.”

In the film, Kat, a Japanese woman who has “abandoned her coquettish lifestyle in Tokyo,” searches for the “quintessential iconic American excursion.”

Kat’s story encompasses an “exploration of American values. The actualization of dreams” and the “passage to self-awareness.”

In her travels across the country, she is initially seduced by American culture but soon becomes “disillusioned by the inauthenticity of her experiences” and discovers the dark side of American history -one that unveils “a disintegrating society, a tragic culture of extremes, beleaguered with manifestations of nostalgia.”

Although the film will be shot throughout the country, a majority of it will be filmed this summer right here in Lorain County – in motel rooms, cafes and bars.

Johnson, and his international cast and crew, will be using Oberlin College students as production assistants.

In addition, there will be opportunities for others to get involved.

“Foremost, we need people who want to invest, people who might want to donate something, people who want to make tax-deductible donations and people who want to be extras. Anyone can contact me directly through our site,” Johnson said.

He hopes to distribute his film by getting it involved with as many film festivals as possible throughout the world and on the Internet.

Johnson said that the Internet has become the perfect way to distribute films and that he hopes to have it translated into as many languages as possible.

Johnson previously directed the documentary “Lake Street USA” and two short films, “The Mountain of Signs” in 2003 and “Yonder” in 2006.

“Yonder” was shown in several film festivals, including the Victory Media Network Film Festival in Dallas and the European Media Art Film Festival in Osnabruck, Germany.

In the artistic direction of “Yonder,” Johnson notes that he learned a lot as a filmmaker, but that “it’s not my statement in terms of writing.”

In AMERIKA, “more than anything, I want to make a film now that communicates, loud and clearly, what it is that I want to say.”

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