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DESCRIPTION:<strong>Eight years after the Fukushima Daiichi tragedy:\nFree 
 documentary screening\, &ldquo\;Fukushima Speaks&rdquo\;</strong>\n<strong
 > </strong>\n<strong></strong>On <strong>Saturday\, March 9\, 1 - 5 p.m.\,
 </strong> the Fukushima Support Committee will host <strong>the North Amer
 ica premiere of &ldquo\;Fukushima Speaks\,&rdquo\;</strong> the compelling
  feature-length documentary by award-winning director and independent jour
 nalist\, Toshikuni Doi. <strong>The free screening will take place at Art 
 Share Los Angeles.</strong>\n\n&ldquo\;It is not enough for a journalist t
 o report facts and news of what is happening\, but rather it is the journa
 list's duty to expose the &lsquo\;human&rsquo\; underneath it all\,&rdquo\
 ; Doi stated. &ldquo\;If we fail to shed light on [universal themes] and j
 ust succeed in reporting on facts and news\, to the audience\, it will com
 e across as just a matter that is happening somewhere far away\, unrelated
  to them.&rdquo\;\n\nFour years in the making\, Doi has created a heart-wr
 enching look into the lives of Japanese residents whose lives were devasta
 ted by the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. Haunting images and vi
 deo footage of the aftermath are reinforced by fourteen personal stories o
 f despair\, guilt\, and outrage.\n\n&ldquo\;I lost the &lsquo\;cornerstone
  of my life\,&rsquo\;&rdquo\; Yoko Watanabe\, a self-evacuee\, said in her
  interview. &ldquo\;I was determined to bury myself in Katsurao village. T
 hat was taken away from me. The reason to live\, volunteering\, everything
  was taken away from me in a flash. Now I don&rsquo\;t know anymore what I
  live for. I wonder if I am really needed in this life\, and I don&rsquo\;
 t know anymore.&rdquo\;\n\nThe suffering of Fukushima survivors continue t
 o this day. While the mourning of lost life is obvious\, the film also exp
 lores the dire realities that are often overlooked: the loss of livelihood
 s due to the contamination of land and ocean\, the life-threatening risks 
 caused by radiation exposure\, the emotional turmoil of families being tor
 n apart by the decision to stay or evacuate\, and the discrimination that 
 residents now face because they are from Fukushima.\n\nAnother self-evacue
 e\, Hikaru Hoshi\, expressed indignation: &ldquo\;They want to blame it on
  us and say it was our responsibility. Whether to leave or stay. [...] I d
 o not allow them to shift the burden of the accident of enormous scale to 
 individual choices/individual responsibilities. [...] We lived in the area
  that needed to be evacuated right away. That fact was concealed from us\,
  and some of us left on our own\, or like me\, some did not have time to t
 hink it through but left anyway. I felt outraged that this country was put
 ting us against each other. The root of the matter lies somewhere else.&rd
 quo\;\n\nDoi pointed out the urgency of releasing this documentary: &ldquo
 \;Eight years since the accident\, &lsquo\;Fukushima&rsquo\; is being made
  into the thing of the past\,&rdquo\; he said. &ldquo\;As more people focu
 s on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics\, the victims are silenced and their sufferin
 g is hidden away behind the news of &lsquo\;revitalization.&rsquo\; Howeve
 r\, the wounds of the victims whose lives have been destroyed by the accid
 ent are still raw.&rdquo\;\n\nEnglish subtitles for the documentary were t
 ranslated and edited by event organizer Tsukuru Lauritzen with the help of
  fellow activists in Los Angeles.\n\n&ldquo\;I contacted the director and 
 heard that the English subtitles won&rsquo\;t be ready till 2020\,&rdquo\;
  Lauritzen recalled. &ldquo\;I asked him if there is any way that I could 
 take over the translation. Looking back on it\, it was an insane idea\, bu
 t I was compelled to take it on\, because these fourteen voices begged to 
 be heard.&rdquo\;\n\nScheduled days before the eighth anniversary of the c
 atastrophe\, this screening is a grassroots effort to ensure that the vict
 ims of Fukushima Daichi and its aftereffects will not be forgotten.\n\nHar
 vey "Sluggo" Wasserman\, author and radio host of Solartopia Green Power a
 nd Wellness Hour\, will speak on shutting down Diablo Canyon Power Plant. 
 Libbe HaLevy\, host/producer of Nuclear Hotseat and author of "Yes\, I Glo
 w in the Dark!: One Mile from Three Mile Island to Fukushima and Nuclear H
 otseat\," will offer closing thoughts.\n\n<strong>Art Share L.A. is locate
 d at 801 East 4th Place\, Los Angeles 90013.</strong> This is a free event
 \, but donations are greatly appreciated. For more information\, please co
 ntact Tsukuru Lauritzen at forfuturefukushima@gmail.com or visit <a href="
 http://bit.ly/fukushimaspeaks" target="_blank">http://bit.ly/fukushimaspea
 ks</a> (Facebook event page).\n\n<strong>About the Filmmaker\n</strong>Tos
 hikuni Doi\, born in 1953\, is a Japanese independent journalist. He has p
 ublished numerous articles in many first-class journals and has made score
 s of documentary films for news programs. He also has many books published
  in Japan. Since 1985\, he has visited the occupied territories many times
  and almost lived there for months\, extensively reporting from Palestinia
 n villages and refugee camps.He also has covered Asia\, notably atomic bom
 b victims in Korea who were in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945\, Korean wome
 n who were forced to become sex workers/slaves by the Japanese army\, and 
 street children in Thailand and Vietnam. Since April 2003\, he has visited
  Iraq under occupation four times\, focusing on civilian victims of war\, 
 women&rsquo\;s rights and prisoners' mistreatment\, or torture.\n\n<strong
 >About Fukushima Support Committee\n</strong>Founded in 2017\, Fukushima S
 upport Committee is a grassroots group of citizens who seek justice for th
 e victims of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The purpose of the gr
 oup is to inform the American public in Los Angeles and beyond of the real
 ities of Fukushima\, to raise awareness for the dangers of all things nucl
 ear\, and to engage in political activism to bring forth a nuclear-free fu
 ture.
DTSTAMP:20240419T194632Z
SUMMARY:Fukushima Speaks - Free Documentary Screening
URL:/en/events/2019/03/09/fukushima-speaks-free-documentary-screening/
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