Japanese

HIRONO

(Haru o tsugeru machi)

JAPAN / 2019 / Japanese / Color / Digital File / 130 min

Director, Photography: Shimada Ryuichi
Assistant Director, Sound: Kunitomo Yugo
Editing: Hata Takeshi
Sound Editor: Kawakami Takuya
Music: Inamori Yasutaki
Production: Hirono Town, JyaJya Films
World Sales: TOFOO, LLC.

Since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, the landscape of Hirono in Fukushima has been in a state of constant flux. This film depicts the thoughts and emotions of Hirono’s myriad past and present inhabitants, in an endeavor to make a filmic record of the long-lasting effects on the town of both the natural disaster and the ensuing nuclear one. Through the film, we come to see the state of present-day Japan itself.




Over The Sky

(Kono sora o koete)

USA, JAPAN / 2019 / Japanese / Color / Digital File / 42 min

Director, Photography, Editing: Shiiki Toko
Sound, Sound Editor: Erik Santos
Source: Toko Shiiki Imagery
www.tokoshiiki.com

While struggling with the damage brought by the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami and ensuing nuclear accident, the brass band of Minamisoma-city Haramachi Daiichi Junior High School in Fukushima resumed practicing a month later. This documentary weaves together their music and emotions, out of which emerges a picture of the students’ passion for music, and their teacher Abe Kazuyo’s hard work to support them. In 2017, they depart for a music festival held in Tokyo choosing to play “Lucky Dragon,” based on the true story of a fishing boat contaminated by nuclear fallout from a hydrogen bomb test.




Fight for the Future

(Mirai ni tsunagu tameni: Akahama, shinsai kara 7 nen)

JAPAN / 2018 / Japanese / Color / Digital File / 52 min

Director: Konishi Haruko
Photography: Konishi Haruko, Furuto Hidehiko, Yamauchi Daido, Tsujii Kiyoshi
Editing, Sound Editor: Hamaguchi Fumiyuki Memorial Studio / Yasuoka Takaharu, Kawakubo Naoki
Production Company: So-net Entertainment
World Sales: Documentary Eyes

Otsuchi town in Iwate was devastated by the more than 22-meter-high tsunami and fire caused by the Great East Japan Earthquake. Both national and local governments suggest the construction of an enormous 14.5 meter seawall to protect against future tsunamis, but residents in the Akahama district refuse. Though buffeted by political winds, they continue to fight for the future of the place where they were born and brought up—their love for it shines through their work to protect it.