View-widening

Awake.  The view from my bed took took away my breath.

Downstairs, a breakfast of eggs, cheese, papaya, watermelon juice, and homemade breads and jams waiting.

A walk around the neighbourhood.

Sunday morning in Rio.  Peaceful.  So grateful to be alive.

Yellow

Saying goodbye to Edmonton, I closed my eyes and woke up in Rio (OK, it actually took four flights and many hours to get here, but who's counting?!).

The 4th Uranium Film Festival is taking place in the Modern Art Museum of Rio de Janeiro (MAM) from May 14th to May 25th (WEBSITE).  The museum and theatre complex is gorgeous, and the weather here is perfect.  Norbert G. Suchanek, Festival General Director, and Marcia Gomes de Oliveira, Executive Director, (PHOTO below) along with a crew of young and energetic volunteers, have created a friendly and fun atmosphere, despite the difficult topics documented in the films that are being screened here.

Among the participants at the festival, there was one familiar face: Matsubayashi Yoji, director of "The Horses of Fukushima" (WEBSITE), whom I had met when I was screening 'A2-B-C' at the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival last year (INFO).

with director Matsubayashi

with director Matsubayashi and Marcia,  Festival Executive Director

Perhaps General Director Norbert was inspired by the festival's yellow-theme when taking this photo.

Also in attendance at the festival this evening was Kamil Ergin, a Turkish journalist who was writing about the film "The Cloud Has Passed Over Us", a documentary about areas in Northern Turkey that were affected by radiation following the accident at Chernobyl and the first Turkish film the festival has screened.  Kamil and his colleagues interviewed us about the festival, our films and the issue of nuclear policy in general, while offering some insight on the very important nuclear debate currently taking place in Turkey.

'A2-B-C' screens tomorrow night!

Secrets and Screenings

Yesterday, I was honoured to learn that Opposition Lawmaker Yamamoto Taro had not only gone to the cinema in Tokyo to see my film 'A2-B-C', but he had also posted about it on his Facebook page (HERE).  I am extremely grateful that he made such a public statement about going to see the film, and know that this will help to raise its profile and thus the plight of the Fukushima families it depicts.

Last autumn, I wrote about Yamamoto-san's opposition to the then-proposed "Secrecy Law" (PHOTO below, STORY HERE).  The law eventually passed, causing great concern among journalists (and filmmakers).  In March of this year, I wrote THIS article about the new law for the German publication IPPNW Forum.

Back at the film festival in Edmonton, I have had an awesome week at Global Visions (WEBSITE).  Great films, new friends, and fun talk over good wine. 

Here's to new friends and colleagues!

with Jennifer Leitham from 'I Stand Corrected' (STORY)

A rare site: two right-handed bass players (STORY), with Global Visions Board President Brad Ambury and Festival Director Guy Lavallee

Brad and Guy with wives Tammi and Tammy ("i" and "y" for short!), with Andrea and Jennifer from 'I Stand Corrected' (STORY)

After a wonderful closing screening and debriefing over diner, this morning I am at the airport again; this time on my way to Brazil for a screening of 'A2-B-C' in Rio de Janeiro's Uranium Film Festival (INFO). 

But first, despite the late night, I was up 4, packing my suitcase and getting ready for a 5am Q&A via Skype with the audience in the Tokyo theatre where the film was released last week (INFO).  I am just so extremely grateful for this opportunity to share this story with people all over the world.

I think I'll sleep on the plane...

Unreplicable

Film festivals are not just about watching films; if they were, everyone could just stay home and watch DVDs in their pajamas.  Festivals are about a coming together, a shared experience that can only happen when people get out of their homes (and often out of their comfort zones) to take part in something so special that it can never be repeated.  And if you miss it, then, well, you miss it.

The past two days at Global Visions Documentary Film Festival have been highlighted by these amazing "can-only-happen-here-and-now" experiences.

One such event was Tuesday night's screening of "When I Walk" at the Royal Alberta Museum.  The film tells the extremely personal story of filmmaker Jason DaSilva, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis at age 25 (festival page HERE).  After each of the two back-to-back screenings of this award-winning documentary, the filmmaker conducted a Q&A via Skype from his home in New York.  The audience, so touched by Jason's film, erupted into thunderous applause and cheers when he popped up onto the cinema screen.

Bright and early yesterday morning found me on CBC radio speaking about my screenings in the festival and the continuing problems in Fukushima.  (Listen to the interview HERE.)

Coincidentally, the woman who was interviewed before me was there to talk about palliative care, a topic that is related to my new documentary '-1287', which will be premiering later this year (WEBSITE).

photo by Tami Ambury

Last night was the screening of award-winning documentary, 'I Stand Corrected', by Andrea Meyerson (festival page HERE).  It would be difficult to describe the film any better than the description in the catalog: 'I Stand Corrected' charts Jennifer Leitham’s extraordinary rise to the top as a virtuoso of the upright bass and reveals how she risked it all when she publicly transitioned to her true self at the height of her career.

Not only was the director of the film, Andrea Meyerson, in attendance, but the film's subject, Jennifer Leitham, was there as well, both having flown in from California for the screening.  As she walked up to the stage, the audience gave Andrea a standing ovation, and after the Q&A, she graciously played for the crowd.  However, this almost hadn't happened: suddenly realizing on the morning of the screening that she was unable to bring her travel bass due to strict new import laws (her vintage bass apparently contains some now-protected materials), it wasn't clear if a replacement bass could be found in Edmonton.  Andrea is one of the few left-handed bassists in the world, and the instruments are all custom made.  Miraculously, however, a left-handed bassist in Edmonton was located, and he graciously lent his instrument to Andrea to play.  As he walked out on stage with his bass, Andrea remarked that having two left-handed bass players together was as rare as seeing two great white whales.  During her riveting performance, Steve, the owner of the instrument, could apparently be heard saying in awe and delight, "I can't believe she's playing my bass".

(Global Vision's press release "JAZZ VIRTUOSO JENNIFER LEITHAM COMES TO EDMONTON!" can be found HERE.  Andrea Meyerson, director of 'I Stand Corrected' speaks about the film on the Global Edmonton morning news: watch the VIDEO.)

Oh, Canada

Last night, I was picked up at the airport in Edmonton by Brad Ambury, the president of Global Visions, Canada's longest-running documentary film festival (WEBSITE).  Once upon a time, Brad, like me, was on the JET program teaching English in Japan, and in the car on the way to the hotel we traded stories about our experiences.

Checking into my room, I found a beautiful welcome basket from the festival waiting for me.  At nearly one in the morning, and after three flights and a weather delay (snow in May!), it was exactly what I needed: chocolate and a glass of wine!  There were also DVDs, a knit cap, a cool water bottle, and a lovely note from the festival organizers. 

This morning I hit the ground running: the festival had arranged for me to visit classes within the University of Alberta's Department of East Asian Studies, one of the festival's sponsoring organizations.   It was an honour to visit four Japanese language classes to talk about the film and my life in Japan, and to be invited to a lunch hosted by Ryan Dunch, chair of the Department of East Asian Studies, and attended by instructors from the department.

In the afternoon, I was invited to speak to Dr. Ashley Esarey's class about Taiwan.  I shared about my recent trips to Taiwan and the nuclear debate that is currently taking place there.  The students asked great questions, and it was an honour to discuss some aspects of my recent experiences that I am not often asked about.

In the evening, we headed over to the Art Gallery of Alberta, one of the Global Visions venues, for the double-feature screenings of 'A2-B-C' and 'In the Grey Zone' (INFO).

This was the Canadian premier of both films, the first time for these two films to be screened together, and the films were shown in reverse-chronological order.  Depicting the current situation in Fukushima with 'A2-B-C' (2013), this was followed by 'In the Grey Zone' (2012), which documents some of the confusion and bad decision-making by the local and national governments one month after the nuclear meltdown.  

Although I generally don't watch my own films, I did this time as I was interested to experience the films in this order.  It was the first time in a long time for me to see 'In the Grey Zone', and I found several new details in the film which mean something different now with the perspective of time having passed.  Perhaps the most striking one for me was how everyone in the film was talking about health effects 20-30 years into the future.  'A2-B-C' was filmed just 18 months later.

The Q and A was held between the two films, with time after the screenings to talk informally with audience members in the lounge area outside the screening room.

After the screenings, I also filmed messages from audience members to the families in the film.  I have been collecting messages from people all over the world, and recently posted THIS collection of messages, which follows THIS one from last year.

The very beginning

There are many things happening, too many to process.

Following last night's opening of 'A2-B-C' in Tokyo (INFO), I went for a walk in a Japanese garden this morning to clear my head before heading to the airport on my way to the Canadian and South American premiers (INFO).

I am tired.  It is not the "bad kind of tired" that is accompanied by the dreading of getting out of bed and having to face another day.  Nor is it the "good kind of tired" that comes with the feeling that one has after working hard but sensing that it was somehow all worth it. 

This is the tired one has when turning back is unimaginable, how to move forward is yet unknown, and staying where one is is not an option.

Someone recently commented to me that with all that has happened over the past year, I am finally standing on the "start line".  I was taken aback at first,  thinking "how can I have come this far and only just now be approaching the starting line?".

But I know now they were right.  Everything I have done up until now has been in preparation to begin the work ahead.  And that work is about to begin.

"Yes, there is draft beer."

Yesterday, 'A2-B-C' opened in Tokyo, and I was so humbled by the number of people who supported the film by attending.  The second screening sold out, and the cinema staff had to scramble to set up folding chairs in the back of the theatre to accommodate the overflow.

"Yes, there is draft beer."

Following the 10:30am screening, the messages to the mothers from people all over the world who have seen the film was screened (VIDEO), and I also conducted a short Q&A with the audience.  After the 7PM screening, a so-called "talk show" was held by Tokyo National University of Arts Professor Mouri Yoshitaka (who also held THIS symposium about the film in March) and Dr. Shimizu Tomoko from the University of Tsukuba's Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, who both shared their perspectives about the meaning of the film within the greater context of the current coverage of the disaster by the mass media in Japan.  I can only describe their remarks as over-whelming and undeserved, and I look forward to watching the footage from the event when I have time to sit down and process all that was said.

I was surprised to see several freelancers and citizen-journalists Tweeting and Tweet-casting (broadcasting video live in real time) the event.  Those Tweets and videos remain captured and can be viewed again at any time (link HERE), offering a kind of time-capsule look into the audience's reaction to the film as well as how far that reaction spread. 

The Calm Before

In just a few hours, 'A2-B-C' (website ENGLISH/ 日本語) will open in Tokyo.  For the next three weeks, the film will be screening twice a day in Tokyo (subject to change, INFO).  Yet although this is the first time for one of my films to be screened theatrically, it will not find me pacing in the lobby of a cinema, checking in with the box-office about ticket sales every 5 minutes; tomorrow I will be on a plane to Brazil (via Canada) for the Canadian and South American Premiers of 'A2-B-C' (INFO).

Leading up to today's opening, I have been over-whelmed at the broad and in-depth coverage the film has received, although this has been notably limited to independent and foreign media.  Stories include:

This 4-star review of 'A2-B-C' in the Japan Times HERE.

This VIDEO interview published by Japan Docs:

映画 「A2-B-C」イアン・トーマス・アッシュ監督インタビュー by Japan Docs:

Last week, I was a guest on the internet-based DemoCra TV (Democracy TV).  Originally allotted 15 minutes to speak about the film, due to technical problems with the commercials I was on the program for nearly 30 minutes!

「ドキュメンタリー映画「A2-B-C」のアッシュ監督にスタジオにお越しいただき、お話を伺っています」 (リンク)

And it was a huge honour to appear on the Tokyo FM radio show Time Line, hosted by Uesugi Takashi, while also receiving a shout-out on the show's Facebook page (PHOTO).

「福島の子供たちに、今何が起きているのか？ 映画「A2-B-C」が描き出す現実」(リンク)

Today, this article on NeoNeo (日本語) written by Suzuki Noriko, a young journalist I met for the second time last week, was published.  Ms. Suzuki was apparently rather traumatized the first time she interviewed me last autumn during the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (photo HERE).  After that interview, she wrote very honestly on the NeoNeo blog (日本語) about how I had become quite annoyed with her questions, causing her to become so flustered that she was unable to continue the interview, forcing her colleague, Sato Hiroaki, to take over asking me questions.

For Ms. Suzuki, interviewing me for the second time had evidently become a kind of personal challenge for her.  Yet although she was apparently quite nervous about meeting me again, it didn't show, and the resulting story shows her adeptness at getting a subject to speak; I revealed things that I had never told anyone before about my work, and even my distributor, who has been my "handler" during these recent interactions with the press, was surprised at some of the details.

And for the record, Ms. Suzuki's first story about the film (during the interview for which she had become traumatized) was extremely well-written.  The English version (HERE) was actually translated from the interview conducted in Japanese (日本語).  This being the first time for me to read an interview I had given in Japanese translated into English, I found myself thinking, "Now that's how you would say that in English" (!).

The film's distributor has also been busy promoting the film, with a Facebook page (HERE) and Twitter account (HERE).  I also recently published a VIDEO of messages to the families in the film (HERE), and the distributor published this report from the recently held press conference (日本語).

Now, off to the cinema...

******************** UPDATE May 11 ***********************

These stories just in:

An article in Cinema Today about the Tokyo release:
「福島で暮らす子供たちが直面している現実　アメリカ人監督が捉えた福島のドキュメンタリー映画公開」(LINK日本語)

And THIS review in Tokyo Weekender, an English-language publication:

Video Messages for Fukushima on Children's Day

Today, May 5, is Children's Day in Japan (INFO).

For the last six months I have been on a world tour with my documentary 'A2-B-C', visiting Germany, England, Poland, Ukraine, Taiwan and many others (SCREENINGS).  Along the way, I have been collecting messages from people who have seen the film to the mothers and children of Fukushima, and today, on Children's Day, we would like to share them with the world:

I returned today from Fukushima where I shared these messages with the families who appear in 'A2-B-C'.  They cried as they watched, touched by the words from people all over the world who were moved by their story, especially when they can so often feel forgotten even by their own country.

picture from Facebook with permission

This was the second set of messages the families have seen, and the second time to see this one.  The first set of messages was taken at the World Premier of 'A2-B-C' last May in Germany (VIDEO), and the first time to see this set of messages was after a private screening of 'A2-B-C' in Fukushima last November (STORY).  Since they saw that version, however, I have been to several more film festivals, and so they were seeing many of these messages for the first time.  

After watching the messages that were intended just for them, one of the mothers said that we should share them publicly.  The reason, she explained, was that she wanted everyone in Fukushima to feel the happiness she had felt when she heard from people all over the world that they had not been forgotten.

Leaving Fukushima this evening, I waved goodbye from the window of the train to the mother and children who had walked me to the station.  They were standing outside eating ice cream, just like children in countries all over the world do; yet I found myself feeling a sadness, one that was not about having just said goodbye.