My Fukushima doc 'In Containment' to screen in Paris

Post-production on my documentary 'A2' (WEBSITE), about the current conditions in Fukushima affecting the children still living there, continues.  I had been hoping to lock picture last Friday after handing the film off to the post-production team in the UK on March 11 (coincidentally the two-year anniversary of the disaster), but we are still tweaking the film a bit.  As soon as we lock picture, we'll do the colour grading and sound mix and then the film will be finished.

In the meantime, I have submitted the "rough cut" of 'A2' to several international film festivals and have recently confirmed our first two screenings, as well as our participation in a major documentary film market in Europe.  I will publish the details of these screenings soon.

This week I also have the additional honour of my documentary 'En confinement' or 'In Containment' (English version HERE and French version HERE) screening with Paul Johannessen's brilliant documentary 'Women of Fukushima' (website HERE) on Friday, March 22, in Paris.

Editing. Praying. Writing. Reflecting. Gratitude.

Today at 2:46PM it was exactly two years since the March 11, 2011 disaster.

A couple of months ago, I had wondered how I would spend the day.  Coincidentally, today turned out to be the last day I would be editing my documentary "A2" (WEBSITE), about the children living in Fukushima.  I have just now handed the film over to the post-production team in the UK.

It's bittersweet; I suppose like sending a child off to university.

I am honoured that Discovery News' March 11 anniversary coverage includes my guest blog (HERE), the 10th one I have written for Discovery since the earthquake struck two years ago, and it is also linked to the short documentary I compiled for today (HERE).

And today began with the humbling news that "A2" has been accepted in a competitive film festival in Europe in June.

Editing.  Praying.  Writing.  Reflecting.  Gratitude.

Remembering the March 11, 2011 disaster

On March 13, 2011, two days after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan, I described the situation in Tokyo in an open letter to my friends and family (HERE).  I posted it along with a short documentary about panic buying and the following explanation:

I simply couldn’t stay inside today and just watch the news coverage, so I took my brother-in-law’s advice: I took my camera outside to see what was happening in my neighbourhood. The result is (this) ten-minute video about “panic buying”.

I could never have imagined at the time that this would be the first in a series of short documentaries that would eventually evolve into two feature films documenting the nuclear crises in Fukushima spanning the following two years.

As the two-year anniversary of the March 11 disaster approaches, I find myself reflecting on how it all unfolded.  As part of this reflection, I have re-visited my early documentaries and edited them together to see how my journey began.

The short films that I made during the first ten days of the crises document the path I took trying to understand the March 11 earthquake, tsunami and nuclear disasters.  Re-examining this journey is helping me to understand where to go from here; for although we move forward, we must not forget from where it is that we began.

Ian Thomas Ash
March 4, 2013
Tokyo, Japan