This is a blog documenting me, Thomas, who documents the lives of other people. I'll write a lot about life in Japan post 3/11 and also link videos from my YouTube Channel. 有り難う for stopping by.
The Global Peace Film Festival (website) begins in just a few days (Sept 18-23), and I am busy preparing for the trip to Orlando. More good news is coming in daily, among which was an invitation to speak with students enrolled in the "Media, Peace and Justice" course at Rollins College. It is such an honour to be a part of the Global Peace Film Festival and the greater outreach programs it has established in the wider community.
new postcards for "In the Grey Zone"
In the beginning of October, the European premier of "In the Grey Zone" will take place in Camera Japan (website) in Rotterdam, Holland (October 4-7). Camera Japan has just announced its full line-up of films (here), and it is truly humbling to be included in such a beautifully curated lineup.
***** updated ****
There was a nice mention of "In the Grey Zone" in the September 13th edition of the Orlando Sentinel (here).
When my friend Kazuko found out she was dying, there was nothing I could do. We would just sit and talk for hours. Early on, I realized the things she wanted to talk about were changing, as was the way she was talking about them.
I asked her if she wanted to document her journey, and she said yes.
So I began filming Kazuko that day, and I filmed her until the day she died.
The film we made is called "minus1287", and the title refers to the number of days Kazuko lived from the first day we filmed together.
On April 25th, I posted this blog (here) about the filming I had been doing quietly in the background during the past four years. I had just finished editing the trailer for the film that I was tentatively calling "-1287".
I realized this could also be read as "negative1287", so to eliminate confusion, I've since decided to call it "minus1287".
The 'fine cut' of the film is now finished, and I have begun the long process of submitting "minus 1287" to festivals. The website for the film, created by my friend Katsuyoshi Ueno, is now up and running as well (here). Ueno-san is also the amazing photographer behind the breath-taking photograph "little girl with face mask" that I am using in the promotional materials for my documentary "In the Grey Zone" (the photograph can be seen here).
We don't know which will be our last words until they are spoken.
National Azabu supermarket (website here) with its wide selection of imported foods has been in the centre of the foreign community in the Hiroo neighbourhood of Tokyo since the 1960's.
National Azabu is so much a part of the foreign community, that when I decided to film the evacuation of the expat population after last year's earthquake and nuclear disaster, the Hiroo neighbourhood, and specifically around National Azabu, is where I went. That documentary, where I even met and interviewed an ambassador's wife while she ventured out for supplies, can be seen here:
National Azabu's already aging building was damaged further in last year's earthquake, and it was subsequently closed, demolished, re-built and has just held its grand re-opening. I received the flyer in Friday's paper and one thing in particular caught my eye: Total Greek Yogurt. I LOVE Greek yogurt, and it is one of the things that you just can't find here and for which there is no real replacement.
But wait! A quick look at the fine print reveals that... the yogurt costs ¥1,750 ($22 US dollars). Surely that must be a misprint, I thought. So I went to National Azabu today to find out.
First, the building is now a boring, modern pre-fabricated looking thing just plunked down next to the street. Where before it had character and the complex housed a lovely little flower shop with a tree growing right through the roof that you walked past, now it is just the Tokyo-business-version of a double-wide trailer. The decorations at the flower shop at Halloween and Christmas had been such a nostalgic joy to walk past and part of the "National Azabu Experience". Now, an unimaginative flower shop has been incorporated directly into the grocery store itself.
With so many more stores (both physical and online) offering foreign foods and products, the thing that had set National Azabu apart, its ambiance, is gone. Modern, yes. Still worth a day trip for the "National Azabu experience"? No.
Inside, the aisles seem more narrow than before (is that even possible?), the food selection seems more limited (did they decrease floor space in order to have more parking? It appears that way.) and the prices seem even higher (and they weren't cheap to begin with).
I ventured over to the dairy aisle to find the Greek yogurt and to give National Azabu a chance to redeem itself by proving that the $22 price was a misprint.
I quote my tweet from today: "It's true. ¥1,750 for Greek yogurt or ¥218 for domestic! I wouldn't buy $22 yogurt even if it was my f'ing b-day."
Way to go, National Azabu! You completely sanitized, pasteurized and modernized one of the institutions of ex-pat life in Tokyo. You took away what used to be turned into a Christmas village in December, something that made us so warm and fuzzy that we didn't even mind paying exorbitant prices for Christmas treats and decorations.
In its place, you have given us $22 yogurt in a pre-fabricated double-wide trailer. Genius.
******** update September 4 ********
My sister, Amanda, just sent me this photo from her local grocery store in the US. The yogurt is $3.99! I know it must cost a lot of money to import perishable goods, so one might expect an imported product to cost 2 or 3 times as much as "back home". But more than 5 times?!
The screening dates and times have just been confirmed for the participation of my doc "In the Grey Zone" (website) in the 2012 Global Peace Film Festival (September 18-23 in Orlando, Florida).
Filming "In the Grey Zone" taught me a lot, and it continues to bring me new experiences. The Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF) was the first time for one of my films to be shown in the country where I was born, the USA!
Since this is the first time one of my films has dealt so specifically with an issue of human rights, the Global Peace Film Festival (GPFF) will be the first time for one of my films to be invited to one of the many human rights-themed festivals (here).
And October will bring yet another first. When "In the Grey Zone" screens in the Camera Japan Festival (website) in Holland, it will be the first time I will be recognized as the director of a Japanese film and have my work shown in a collection of films made solely by Japanese directors.
I got back home to Tokyo from my trip to the US and hit the ground running: within 48 hours I was on a bullet train to Tochigi to film episode 3 of my cooking show "Ian's Kitchen" (website).
The first part of each show is a short documentary where we go to the farmer's market and ask them to introduce us to the farmer who grew whatever fruit or vegetable we are featuring in that episode. Then we go to meet the farmer and film with them in their field.
We have so much fun with this part of the show and always meet such wonderful people! Then we get the FRESHEST produce available (picked right then and there):
For the second part of the show, I am joined in the kitchen by MC and co-host, Daichi Takanezawa. Here we are about to start filming:
After the cooking, which is usually a mess and always hilarious, comes the eating part!
The Rhode Island International Film Festival has come to a close in style at the beautiful historic theatre The Vets.
With so many films wonderful films, it was exciting to learn which films would receive honours and to hear the names of new friends being called out and awarded.
Among my new friends that were awarded are:
BEST EXPERIMENTAL
GRAND:Fraction | Alain Delannoy, Canada, 2012
DIRECTORIAL DISCOVERY AWARD
Presented to a
director whose outstanding work on a first short or feature film
represents a new unique and compelling vision that will resonate well
into the future
• Calcutta Taxi | Vikram Dasgupta, Canada/ India, 2012
“HELPING HAND” INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AWARD
Given annually to a film or filmmaker that inspires social change, community outreach and strives for
bettering the world in which we live.
• StandUp | Louis McCullagh, Ireland, 2012
And I was deeply honoured to hear my name called as the recipient of the "2012 Filmmaker of the Future Award"!
FILMMAKER OF THE FUTURE AWARD
Presented
to a filmmaker whose vision excites audiences and judges alike about
the potential to produce compelling and successful films in the future Gurei Zoun No Naka (In the Grey Zone) | Ian Thomas Ash, Japan, 2012
It
feel so honoured to simply have been screened at the RIIFF, and to
receive an award as well is truly humbling. In addition, I am thrilled
that some of my family was able to attend the screening as well.
Including short films, I have seen over 40 films at RIIFF this week! RIIFF is curated beautifully, and there is no hit or miss; all the films are amazing!
A very big thank you for the shout out (click the banner below) that the Providence Journal has given the RIIFF screening of "In the Grey Zone". I can't wait for their screening "Coming Home" tomorrow!
And in today's Watertown Daily Times (the paper of the town in Upstate New York where I was born) published this article (click the banner below) about my film work in Fukushima.
Not sure why they used the terrible file photo of me. I don't even remember that mug shot being taken...
Driving in the car with my sister on Tuesday on the way to RIIFF, I received an e-mail with some more awesome news: "In the Grey Zone" has been invited to hold its European Premier at the Camera Japan festival in Holland in November!
According to their website (here), Camera Japan is "a Japanese cultural festival with its main focus on film that also dives
into other areas like art, music, dance, fashion, architecture, food
and many more. The annual event takes place each fall in several cities
in The Netherlands."
We arrived in Rhode Island yesterday afternoon for the Rhode Island International Film Festival (RIIFF). Festival registration at the Renaissance (swish!), Opening Night at the Vets (swank!) followed by an after party on the stage of the Vets (chic!).
From time to time over the past year and a half, some people have said to me, "Oh, I wish I could bring the children living in Fukushima over here (the US, Australia, the UK...).
A friend (@kueno44) just sent me this article about a program to bring 30 children from Namie, Fukushima to Prague for two weeks of rest, relaxation and sightseeing.
Namie is where I filmed Part 4 of "In Containment".
An article in today's Japan Times ("Kids' safety key worry in Fukushima" by Natsuko Fukue) describes the continuing fear that Fukushima residents continue to have for their children. They fear for the future health of their children and for the potential discrimination they may receive simply for having been residents of Fukushima.
One of the things that really stood out to me in the article and says something very poignant about the fear of discrimination was that while some of those interviewed declined to be identified at all, others would only allow themselves to be identified by their family name. None were identified by their full name.
As the opening of the Rhode Island International Film Festival nears (August 7-12), the Herald News of Massachusetts published details about the festival in yesterday's edition. Click the screen grab below to read the article:
Today Discovery News published my guest blog, "Fukushima Nuclear Ghost Town's Secrets Revealed". The article and accompanying short documentaries can be found here.
I am honoured to receive this support and encouragement and am grateful for the exposure that this gives not only to my work but also to the issues that continue to plague Fukushima.
I'm off today to the US for a couple of weeks to visit family and friends, and of course, to attend the World Premier of "In the Grey Zone" at the 30th annual Rhode Island International Film Festival (August 7-11).
More information on the festival screening can be found on the film's festival page here.
Jefferson Community College (JCC) in Watertown, New York, from which I graduated in 1998, has just published a very nice article about my film work since March 2011 in their quarterly alumni magazine "Jefferson Insider".
A downloadable PDF version of the magazine can be found here, and the article is on page 25.
The article is accompanied by an old photo of me that I have no idea how they got their hands on (why didn't they just ask me to send them a HQ resolution recent photo?). The photo it is uncredited (it was taken in Croatia five years ago during a film festival where one of my previous films was screened), and it appears that they have edited it in such a way as to completely blur out my face (!). Um, should I read something into that?
I just uploaded both the English and French versions of the conclusion (part 5 of 5) of my documentary "In Containment". Will write more about this series as soon as I gather my thoughts.
I have just uploaded the fourth installment of "In Containment", and am now busily editing the final part.
Already part 4 has received a lot of comments- most of which I try to respond to- and it has been interesting to see how different this part in particular is being received.
There will be a preview screening of my documentary "In the Grey Zone" followed by a press conference on Tuesday, July 24 from 18:00 at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo.
Journalists can RSVP directly through the FCCJ, and non-journalists can attend as my guest.
The full press release can be seen by clicking the photo below:
In preparation for the World Premier of "Gurei Zoun No Naka" (In the Grey Zone") at the Flickers Rhode Island International Film Festival next month (film page here), I have just uploaded a new trailer for the film:
The original trailer was uploaded on May 30 of last year (!), before I had even finished the assembly of the film. As happens with trailers that are edited before the film is finished, the original trailer contains scenes and interviews with some people that didn't end up making it into the final film. Not to mention that the original working title was "Killing the Darlings of Minamisoma"... very glad we didn't end up going with that one! I won't re-post that version of the trailer here, but for anyone who is interested, it is hidden away somewhere on my YouTube Channel.
I have just posted the 3rd installment of "In Containment". I look forward to reflecting here on what I have learned through the making of this documentary and some of the stories surrounding the filming of it, but first I must just keep plugging away at the editing of the final two sections.
Part 3 STORY: Hiroshi takes Ian into Odaka, the southern-most part of Minamisoma which is between 10 to 20 km from the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima. After the nuclear meltdown Odaka was evacuated and became part of exclusion zone, and since access has only recently been allowed, much of the destruction remains exactly as it was after the earthquake and tsunami. Ian speaks with a resident of Odaka about the current state of limbo they are in and their fears for the future. Later, on his way to the exclusion zone, just 10 km from the nuclear plant, Ian meets a woman and her father who are also heading to the no-go zone to visit their home for the first time since the disaster.
I was born in Watertown, NY, USA, and although I moved around a LOT as a child (Ohio, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and many other towns in New York State), I eventually found my way back to Watertown where I graduated high school and attended community college.
My friend's parents from those college days just sent me a link to this short documentary about Watertown, NY. The emphasis is on the city's relationship with Fort Drum, but the images and people are what really warms my heart.
I have just uploaded part 2 of "In Containment", about the current situation in Minamisoma, Fukushima.
When I was in Minamisoma last month filming this series, I heard that National Diet member Shinjiro Koizumi (son of former Japanese prime minister Koizumi) was in town to conduct an inspection of the evacuation zone. He was also visiting some temporary shops set up for the evacuees of the March 11 disaster, so I went there to meet and interview him. While there, I felt he was displaying questionable demeanor towards the victims, so later I went to interview the evacuee who was chosen to give Koizumi flowers during his visit and was on the receiving end of his brand of humour to ask her what she thought of his visit.
At the end of Part 2, Hiroshi, whom some of you may recognize from the documentaries I filmed in Minamisoma last year, prepares to take me into the 10km evacuation zone.
Shortly after I published Part 1 of "In Containment" yesterday, ENENews.com published a link to it. The editor, Grant, did what editor's do and headlined the most shocking details revealed in the documentary:
Each of the two days since the article was published, literally thousands of people have read it. To date there are nearly 90 comments, and trust me, the debate going on there is not for the faint-hearted.
I am grateful for the opportunity to have my work viewed, discussed, and above all, to be one of the resources letting people know that the situation in Fukushima is far from over.
In addition to filming in Iitate Village last month (see: "Nuclear Refugees") I also spent a week in Minamisoma documenting the ongoing crises there 15 months after the nuclear meltdown. I am still editing the footage, but it looks like it will be a 5-part series, with each part between 6-8 minutes.
Part 1 (uploaded late last night) opens with people in the city of Minamisoma, Fukushima remembering the victims of the tsunami fifteen months after the March 11 disaster. I then visit the former site of the 20 km exclusion zone where I am questioned by a police officer. Later, citizens of Minamisoma share the personal struggles they continue to face.
It is this last section, where a group of young people get together and are talking about some of the things they are going through, that was the most disturbing for me. Until now, I haven't really had a chance to talk with 20-somethings, particularly women, as many of them had been evacuated, and those that remained were unwilling to talk about the difficult decision they had made to continue to stay.
What I found the most shocking was what the women were thinking and doing, given the lack of information from the central government about their safety. It is truly disturbing.
On May 11, 2011, I read this article (originally in the Irish Times) by David McNeill about the evacuation of the village of Iitate, Fukushima, two months after the nuclear meltdown. As soon as I read it, I knew I needed to go Iitate to try to help document what was happening. I called David and he kindly put me in touch with Shoji-san (the farmer he interviewed for his article) so I could set up an interview.
Iitate lies some 40 km from the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima and was therefore outside of the official evacuation zone (within 20 km of the plant). However, because of wind direction, it quickly became clear that the radiation had spread far beyond the original evacuation zone and was posing a threat to the villagers of Iitate.
Yet it took the government two months to act. Two months of the villagers believing they were OK because they were outside of 20 km. Two months that their children were not evacuated and exposed to dangerous levels of radiation.
In May of last year, my Japanese cameraman, Koji, and I filmed in Iitate for a week, and it was a hectic, scary and confusing time.
We documented many
difficult and important stories, but the footage
somehow lacked the context it needed to make sense to outsiders. I,
myself, didn't have the knowledge to fully understand some of the things we
witnessed at that time.
As a result, I decided to not use the footage from Iitate right away. I
simply allowed it to stay in the background of my brain (and heart)
until the right time when it would speak to me and I would understand.
This month I spent time in the city of Minamisoma, Fukushima, working on the story of the
children living there, and on the way back the village of Iitate, now
deserted, called to me. It was when I went there this month, one year
after the evacuation, that I was able to process what I had witnessed
last year.
The result is my new short documentary, "Nuclear Refugees", that I posted yesterday. Shoji-san, the farmer interviewed in David's article, is the farmer who appears at the very end of the film.
scene from "Nuclear Refugees: the people of Iitate"
I am just back from another trip to Fukushima to document the ongoing situation following the nuclear disaster. While I wish I could find a way to write more updates here as I am experiencing and filming, I generally find it too difficult to put into words what I am witnessing as I am witnessing it.
Even after I am back, I seem to retreat into a cocoon as I edit; for it is only after I finish editing that I have begun to process what I have witnessed and can then begin to talk about it.
"Nuclear Refugees: the people of Iitate Village" is the first of the short documentary films I shot last week, and I will posting several more over the next couple of weeks. The link and a short description can be found below:
"Nuclear Refugees, the people of Iitate Village, one year later" (2012/ Japan/ 18 minutes)
producer/ camera Koji Fujita 藤田 浩二 director/ editor Ian Thomas Ash
STORY: In May 2011, two months after the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, the entire village of Iitate was evacuated. This documentary combines interviews with the villagers as they are preparing for evacuation, along with footage of the village filmed one year after evacuation.
BACKGROUND: For two months after the nuclear meltdown in Fukushima, the people of Iitate Village, 40 km from the damaged nuclear plant, were exposed to high levels of radiation due to the wind direction. The village was outside the official evacuation zone (20 km from the plant) and the villagers were not put under orders to stay indoors (such as the area 20-30 km from the plant). As a result, the villagers, and their children, remained in Iitate until the government eventually ordered them to evacuate two months after the meltdown.
A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to show my film "In the Grey Zone" in international competition later this summer. I have been holding off letting people know about it until I have more details, but knowing that we have at least one screening confirmed has made the continuing process of festival submission somewhat less stressful.
I will be posting more as soon as I receive the details of the World Premier of "In the Grey Zone", my feature documentary about the children living in the radiation zone 20-30 km from the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima (website here and trailer here).
Since finishing "In the Grey Zone", I have continued to travel to Fukushima to film updates on the continuing situation, with Discovery News publishing my guest blogs at six-months (here) and one-year (here).
This week, I am again in Fukushima to film an update. This time, however, my focus is markedly different. While my main focus has always been (and continues to be) what is happening to the people, this time I am filming in a place where there are no people: in the exclusion zone itself.
There is a connection between this no-go area and the people who live right on its border. The border itself is well-marked and the crossing of it by people is well-monitored (it is illegal to cross it without special permission). Yet radiation flows unmolested across this line, not stopping for the laws made by men.
How is crossing the border going to help me to understand this continuing problem and the affects on those living so close to it? I look forward to discovering and sharing with you that answer.
I never thought I would be blogging about an American reality television show (even though reality TV is non-fiction and technically part of the documentary family). However, I have just learned that I have personal connection to the upcoming reality TV show "The Glass House" (premiering on June 18 on ABC in America).
My cousin, Erica, has been chosen as one of the 14 contestants on the series premier. I can't wait to hear all about the experience (from a documentary stand point, of course) after she is back.
I have never found myself recommending a reality TV show, but Erica is hilarious, smart and beautiful so for those of you in the US, I have a feeling that this show is going to be good!
As I continue to work on the film festival submissions for my film "In the Grey Zone" and the editing for my new film "-1287" (working title), there isn't much news to report.
However, I would like to share with you a short documentary that I come across today via The BBC World Service's Global News Podcast. Called "Caine's Arcade" and directed by Nirvan Mullick, it is eleven minutes of pure joy to watch.
If you need a good cry (the good kind that comes from happiness), then I highly recommend it. It's a wonderful example of how film can be used for good; the college scholarship fund for the little boy featured in the film has already reached over $200,000 (here).
Last year, I directed a documentary series for cable TV called "It's Ian. I'm home!" (it sounds much better in Japanese). Season 1 ran from July 2011 and finished last month.
Fortunately, we were commissioned to do a second season... but with a catch: it would be turned into a cooking show called "Ian's Kitchen" (that story is here).
Season 2 Episode 1 premiers this week on cable TV in a prime time slot during the Golden Week holidays (a great time to air, second only to the New Year holidays).
More information on the program and schedule can be found on the TV station website, here:
Over the past year, my work has been mainly trying to help tell the story of what was happening in Japan surrounding the events of March 11.
I started filming soon after the disaster, and in addition to my early short documentaries about Tokyo (here), I traveled to the tsunami-ravaged city of Ishinomaki (here) and to the radiation-affected city of Minamisoma (here) where I also filmed the feature documentary "In the Grey Zone".
Six months after the crises, I traveled back to Minamisoma to film an update (here), and then went back a year later to film another follow-up documentary (here).
IN THE BACKGROUND
Quietly in the background, I have been working on another documentary film for the past four years. The film began when my friend, Kazuko, told me she was dying. Her doctor had told her that at best she had three or four years left to live. She struggled with knowing that she was going to die, but knew that she had no time to waste.
We talked often, and I eventually asked her if we could film her story. For four years, we discussed love, life, marriage, raising children, money... and of course, life and death. I was fascinated by the way Kazuko's description of the things she was thinking changed over time. And I was deeply moved when she shared with me what the process of making the film itself had meant to her, particularly in the last months of her life.
Kazuko died two weeks ago.
A NEW FILM
Since Kazuko's death, I have been working almost exclusively on editing the film about her, and I have found that the process of editing has helped me to sort through difficult feelings of sadness. I learned so much through my friendship with Kazuko and through the making of this film. I feel honoured to have been able to record her story and my hope is that it will hold deep meaning for those who watch it.
The film is tentatively called "-1287", and I am now working on the post-production. I don't know what the overall length will end up being, but it looks like it will be feature-length (over an hour). In the meantime, I have just finished the trailer (below).
My recent documentary “In the Grey Zone” will be available for viewing in the Doc Outlook International Market at this year’s Visions du Reel film festival in Nyon, Switzerland (April 20-27).
The market “ensures excellent working conditions for producers, buyers, decision-makers and distributors supported by optimum facilities and cutting edge tools. It fosters contacts for the funding and promotion of films, as well as for networking and for acquiring film rights.”
The listing can be seen by clicking the screen grab below.
I am very honoured that my alma mater, Plattsburgh State University of New York, has featured me in this month's issue of their alumni newsletter, "Calling Card". Please click on the photo below for the article.
Sometime during the night, my DocumentingIan channel registered its 50,000th view. It is so humbling to have received such support and encouragement during this past year.
From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. 心から本当に有り難うございました。
Earlier this month, I went back to the city of Minamisoma to film an update about how the people I filmed last year were doing, and Katsuyoshi Ueno, a writer for PAPERSKY, traveled with me.
It was both the first time for me to have someone watching me film and also the first time for me to see a writer working in the field. We each had our own interests and topics we wanted to focus on, and this added an interesting dynamic to the experience.
As Ueno-san and I worked, we interacted with the people we were interviewing on different and complementary levels, and it created a really interesting atmosphere. At first I was a little concerned that the people we interviewed might feel slightly overwhelmed having two of us asking them questions, but I needn't have worried. Ueno-san and I worked together, sometimes interviewing people separately and sometimes passing the "director baton" back and forth. It was not something we decided before we started working; it just sort of seemed to develop, and interestingly, our style naturally changed to suit each person we interviewed.
This also provided me the unusual opportunity to see and compare how Ueno-san, as a writer, and I, as a filmmaker, would approach the same subject. How would we each present the powerful, important and very personal story of a woman we had both interviewed?
What would each of us choose as the main focus of her story, and in what style would we choose to tell it? How would we edit her interview (nearly 50 minutes) into a story that could be read or a short documentary that could be watched in several minutes?
Alison Nemoto appeared at the end of the second part of my recent three-part documentary series, "In the Zone: One Year Later" (full series here and part two, in which Alison appears, here). Ueno-san's story about Alison was published yesterday in PAPERSKY under the title, "Alison Nemoto: Still in the Gloom" (picture below linked to the article).
When I am filming and editing, I am always aware of how a person's facial expressions and non-verbal cues add depth to an interview, and I wondered if I would miss that in a printed article. After reading and re-reading Ueno-san's article, I have been fascinated to find and examine how these also exist in writing; how the emphasis is changed as the topics are re-ordered, how the choice of words emphasizes certain ideas, how cues in the written word help us to conjure up images in our brains. Perhaps I always instinctively knew this, but it has been a wonderful learning experience to see it at work in a direct comparison.
If pictures are worth a thousand words, then I am certain that written words are worth a thousand moving images.
Since last year, I have been filming a cable TV documentary program called (loosely translated) "It's Ian. I'm Home!" (the character they originally drew to represent me in the opening credits is below). Since our filming schedule is dictated by the financial year (which ends in March), the series was funded through this month. In total, there were 9 episodes in Season 1, and more information on those episodes can be found here.
We recently found out we were recommissioned for Season 2, but with a catch: the producers at TochiPro wanted to turn our documentary series into a cooking show(!). There is still a documentary component to the program as I will be interviewing people at the farmer's market where I buy the ingredients and shooting a short documentary featuring the person who has grown the featured ingredient in the main dish. However, other than that, we have had very little time to plan how the actual program is going to be shot, so it is truly going to have a "documentary feel".
We begin shooting episode one of "Ian's Kitchen" tomorrow. A new adventure begins.
Most of the past year has been spent working on helping to tell the story of what has been happening in Japan since March 11, 2011. Rightly so, everything I had been doing up until March 11 was put on hold and all of my energy and time was put into filming in Tohoku.
One of the consequences of that is that I put on hold the promotion of a documentary I finished in 2010 that had just begun to be shown in competition in international film festivals. "Jake, not finished yet" (81 min, UK/ Japan/ 2010) held its World Premier in competition at the Visions du Reel International Documentary Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland in 2010 and its North American Premier at the Montreal International Documentary Film Festival that same year.
Now that we have passed the one-year anniversary of March 11, I feel that a veil has lifted; that a period of mourning has passed; that it is finally OK to continue to do other work as well.
It is not that I have "moved on" or will cease to continue to help tell the story of the victims of March 11. It is simply that I am moving forward, and by doing so I now feel the freedom to take a step back and awaken something that is so personal and close to my heart and has since last year been so quietly, patiently waiting in the background.
After some technical issues yesterday, I have finally gotten up part three of my latest documentary update on the situation in Minamisoma one year after the nuclear meltdown:
The three-part documentary (27 minutes total) can be viewed in its entirety here:
Since Friday, March 9th, Discovery News has carried my latest article for them in their "Human" section, but for the entire day on March 11, my article was the lead banner story on the front page of their website*. I feel very humbled and honoured by this and am so grateful for the opportunity to have as many people as possible see what is still going on Fukushima. Thank you, Discovery News!
* Here is the screen grab of my article on the front page; please click on it to read the article:
I passed the anniversary of March 11 quietly editing, pausing at 2:46...
Fittingly, I have just finished editing the final segment of my documentary on the situation in Minamisoma one year after the quake. It is compressing now, and I hope to have it up tonight.
While I am waiting and letting the computer do its work, I am looking through various articles and videos that friends and colleagues have sent over the past week leading up to the anniversary. I have been so busy working on my own documentary, that I quite literally have not watched any TV coverage or read any articles about it.
A few highlights I am looking at right now:
A BBC documentary (58 minutes) of the children who have been affected by the triple disasters.
"Voices of Organic Farmers After Fukushima" (24 minutes) via @kueno44.
This fascinating article from the Mainichi Daily News (March 4) in which activist Aileen Mioko Smith presents "The 10 Strategies Taken by the State, Prefectural Governments, Academic Flunkies and Companies in the cases of Minamata and Fukushima." via @kueno44.
At one point a few weeks ago I had been wondering how I would spend the March 11 anniversary weekend. I certainly hadn't envisioned it would be in my edit suite, but somehow I think that is the most fitting.
I am here organizing the dozens of hours of footage and trying to make sense of what has happened during the past year. It has given me time to process and reflect, and I have been thankful for having something useful to do.
Here is Part 2 of the documentary update on Minamisoma one year after the nuclear disaster.
This week I have been filming an update about the children being affected by the radiation in the City of Minamisoma in Fukushima Prefecture. Almost 11 months after filming a documentary about the children's return to school in the radiation zone, I wondered how they were getting on.
As the one year anniversary of March 11 approaches, I return to this blog to reflect on how I am processing this past year.
I have come to realize that filming and editing for me is a way to try to understand what is happening around me. Focusing the camera on what is before me and the subsequent ordering of that experience through editing somehow allows me to process things that may be too difficult to do otherwise. Strangely, I seem to mainly film things that are particularly difficult for me and not things that are fun. For example, I have been filming a good friend who is in the hospital dying of cancer, but I rarely take any footage when I am, say, on vacation. I seem to feel protected by having the camera between me and whatever is happening; and yet, if I have the camera on, I can't seem to fully engage or relax.
Writing for me seems to be somewhat of the opposite. When I am pretty clear about what is going on around me, I write more (in this blog, for example). And when things are stagnant or stuck or worse, writing becomes less and less appealing.
Looking back on all I have filmed and written in this past year, I have realized:
If I am filming, chances are things are difficult for me, but I am trying to understand them.
If I am not filming, chances are things are just going along.
If I am writing, I am actively working towards a goal (and probably working on a film).
If I am not writing, I am probably in some kind of rut.
Since finishing the edit of my documentary film "In the Grey Zone" (trailer can be seen here) three months ago, I have been working on the "business side" of filmmaking; film festival submissions and arranging the website, posters and press materials:
I have also been working on a new website (created by Katsuyoshi Ueno) that will eventually have information for all of my films together in one place.
What I hadn't been doing over these last three months was much writing or filming.
That is until this week.
I have just returned from a trip to the city of Minamisoma near the damaged nuclear power plant in Fukushima. Nearly a year after I documented the children returning to school in the radiation zone, I filmed an update on how the children, parents and teachers are doing now. I am editing that now and hope to have it ready to upload by the end of the week.
