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Life Onboard |
LAST UPDATE
May 18, 2006
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| site design imagesparkle.com |
| April 25, 2006 |
The Power of Documentaries – Kamanaka Hitomi |
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| Filmmaker Hitomi Kamanka talks about why she made the film “Hibakusha.” |
Filmmaker Hitomi Kamanka found out the hard way that mass media is afraid of addressing the world's most pertinent issues. She had worked at NHK Japan Broadcasting as a television documentary director for several years. However, when it came time to make a documentary about depleted uranium (DU), her producer told her that NHK would never air such a show. She didn’t let that stop her. Knowing that the affects of depleted uranium needed to be shared with the public, she pursued the topic by making an independent film. |
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| The film poster for “Hibakusha” |
A few years later the documentary “Hibakusha” was born. Though “hibakusha” is a Japanese word referring to atomic bomb victims, Hitomi used it to include all people suffering from nuclear radiation. In the film, Hitomi travels from Iraq to Japan to United States, examining the way each of these countries have been affected by various form of nuclear radiation.
The film begins with a visit to a children's lukemia ward in Iraq post-Gulf war. There she meets a young girl by the name of Rasha suffering from depleted uranium-related leukemia. Heavily used in Iraq during the first Gulf war, depleted uranium is ammunition made from the byproducts of nuclear fission. Microscopic radioactive particles contaminated the water and food system causing many forms of cancer. Affected children from families unable to afford the medicine die from the common cold. Rasha died within a year, and left Hitomi a note: “Don’t forget me”
Hitomi returns to Japan and meets with a Japanese atomic bomb survivor, Dr. Shuntaro Hida. For sixty years, he researched the long-term effects of radioactive exposure and continues to give talks on the experience of atomic bomb survivors. Together, Hitomi and Dr. Hida travel to the small agricultural town of Hanford, United States. In the 1940's, the government secretly sprayed radioactive iodine throughout the countryside. In a particularly unsettling scene, Hitomi and local resident Tom Baily drive around his neighborhood. He points out the window at each passing house, naming family after family affected by some form of cancer. The film is a reminder of the adverse side-effects of nuclear power. |
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| Hitomi shares her passion for film and politics with the audience. |
The day after the screening of the film, Peace Boat participants set up a mock classroom. Posed as students, they raised their hands and asked Kamanaka Sensei (Ms. Kamanaka) many questions about radiation and the filmmaking process. “It’s important to have discussion after the documentary,” Hitomi said, “instead of people just watching the film and walking away.” From participants' questions, it was evident that the film had gotten them to think about how nuclear power and radiation affects their lives.
With each film she makes, her message is the same. “In this world, there are so many invisible or unheard people and stories, and I want to make them visible and heard. I want the world to develop empathy for them.” Hitomi strives to makes films free from political bias and personal perspective. In her latest documentary “Rokkasho Village's Rhapsody”, she interviews people in the village of Rokkasho on the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant recently built in their town. She hopes to return in a few years and see how the power plant has changed the town. “I chose to make documentaries over feature films or animation because documentaries depict the real life, real experience of people.” |
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