Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on September 2012

Documentary films can hit close to home. Sometimes very close. That was the experience when director Atsushi Funahashi joined residents of Futaba Town, Fukushima for a moment of silence on the first anniversary of the March 11 earthquake, before the Japan premiere of his film Nuclear Nation—featuring the same people. The screening did not take place in Futaba, at the center of the Fukushima exclusion zone, but at Kisai High School in Kazo, Saitama. Over 1,200 nuclear refugees from the town, home to Fukushima Daiichi Power Plant, were transferred to the defunct school following the disaster, and over half were still there one year later. The documentary was featured at the Berlin Film Festival in February. “I wanted show the world the reality of people living here,” Funahashi said to the audience in Saitama, which included the town’s indefatigable mayor Katsutaka Idogawa [pictured with the director]. Although mass media were forbidden to enter the evacuation shelter, Funahashi and his crew were given carte blanche to film the daily lives of the residents. Musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, a prominent voice in the anti-nuclear movement, contributed to the soundtrack. The result is a moving depiction of people struggling to make ordinary lives for themselves amid extraordinary circumstances.

Nuclear Nation is at Auditorium Shibuya (1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku; http://a-shibuya.jp/auditorium), Oct 13-26, with screenings at 6:50pm including English subtitles. For details see www.nuclearnation.jp