Nuclear-themed movies to be shown in Tokyo for Chernobyl anniversary

Mark Roberts mroberts37 at mail-central.com
Tue Apr 12 21:21:25 EDT 2011


Nuclear-themed movies to be shown in Tokyo for Chernobyl anniversary
TOKYO, April 13, Kyodo News

http://www.cinematoday.jp/page/N0031569
http://www.mmjp.or.jp/pole2/426.pdf

A theater in Tokyo's Nakano Ward will screen more than a dozen nuclear-themed movies later this month to mark the 25th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster which took place on April 26, 1986 in the former Soviet Union.

Officials at the theater said they had been planning to screen movies about atomic bombs in conjunction with a similar-themed exhibition scheduled for early April at the Meguro Museum of Art. But the plan was abandoned after the museum canceled the exhibition in the wake of the accident at the Fukushima nuclear plant saying it may spread excessive fear or possible misunderstanding about radiation, according to organizers.

''We hope that the screening event will provide an opportunity for people to discuss why we need nuclear power stations now that a level 7 accident has occurred in Japan,'' said Shohei Ishikawa, one of the organizers, referring to the maximum severity level applied to the ongoing crisis at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, putting it on a par with the Chernobyl accident.

The special screening at the theater Polepole Higashinakano between April 23 and May 6 will feature both Japanese and foreign films on nuclear power and nuclear accidents. They include a documentary on the construction of Japan's first commercial reactor at the Tokai nuclear power plant in Ibaraki Prefecture.

A total of 17 movies will be screened during the two-week event, including ''Nadya's Village,'' which depicts a family staying on in a beautiful Belarusian village even after it was contaminated by radiation following the Chernobyl disaster.

The movie was directed by the theater's owner Seiichi Motohashi, who came up with the idea of creating the film after he was moved by the words of an elderly man in the village expressing his decision to remain on the contaminated land.

Organizers at the theater said they are aiming to screen movies on atomic bombs jointly with the museum in the future.

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Mark Roberts
Research Fellow, University of Tokyo Center for Philosophy
http://utcp.c.u-tokyo.ac.jp/members/data/mark_roberts/index_en.php

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