Three years ago today.

It was three years ago today that the March 11, 2011, triple disasters changed our lives forever. 

© Edd Jhong 2014 INFO

People often ask me, "Why did you decide to make films about Fukushima?".  But the truth is, I didn't decide to; it was simply something I was compelled to do.  I don't make films about the nuclear disaster because I want to, I make them because I must.  I've never wanted to do this work, and I wish we lived in a world where I didn't have to.  I wish I could go back to that place of ignorance and selfishness I was in before this disaster, but I cannot; for we cannot un-see what we have seen, un-know what we have come to know, return to who we once were.

And the famous George Santayana quote warns us: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”

© Edd Jhong 2014 INFO

"I am not an activist.  I am not an activist,"  I hear myself say as I slowly become one, those seeds planted three years ago today taking root.  And like a tree that has not been intentionally planted in one's yard but rather has sprung up through the miraculous power of nature, a choice must be made: should the tree be cut down simply because it was not my intention for it to be planted here, or do I allow it to grow in the trust that the universe knows more than me about where the trees should be?

With renowned Taiwanese actor/ director Leon Dia and film director Cheng Yu-chieh  © Edd Jhong 2014

Afterward

The journey I have been on during the past three years has changed my life in ways both professional and deeply personal.  It began on March 11, 2011, which I wrote about HERE.  I then reflected on this on this journey in a short documentary I edited for the 2nd anniversary of March 11 in 2012:

The above photographs were taken by award-winning photographer Edd Jhong for his "No Nuke" project (INFO).  Taken in Taipei when my film 'A2-B-C' was screened there earlier this month (INFO), the photographs were published in the lead-up to a large anti-nuclear demonstration and rally in Taiwan on March 8 (INFO), timed to coincide with the anniversary of the March 11 disaster.