Hibakusha, Our Life To Live
A film (in progress) by David Rothauser
Life is a precious gift. May we live it without fear.
PRESS RELEASE
David Rothauser of Memory Productions is producing, in collaboration with Videosphere and Japanese filmmakers, an 85 minute documentary film about the life stories of Japanese, Korean, and American hibakusha, survivors of the atomic bomb attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945.
There is an URGENCY here as the survivors (Hibakusha) are dying off, victims of radiation poisoning and other a-bomb related diseases. It is equally important to tell the stories on film of people who should never be forgotten. To keep their memory alive is to make an active contribution to a world where peoples of all races may embrace life as a precious gift and no longer live in the fear of nuclear annihilation.
To date, memory Productions has completed over 90 hours of filming, including interviews with Japanese, Korean and American hibakusha and international youth participating in the 60th Anniversary Peace Ceremonies in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Your assistance as individuals, as organizations and corporations is requested. You may participate in this important educational film by making tax-deductible contributions to our fiscal sponsor, the Community Church of Boston. The names of contributors donating more than $ 1,000.00 dollars will be included in the film credits.
Memory Productions has gained the active interest of people and organizations including: WGBH-TV-Boston; Tadatoshi Akiba, Mayor of Hiroshima; John W. Dower, Ford International Professor at MIT (Pulitzer Prize recipient for his book Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II); Mariko Bando, President, Showa Women's University, James N. Yamazaki, Professor Emeritus, UCLA; Faith Nobuko (Araki) Barcus of Showa Boston Institute for Language and Culture; Paul Arenson of Tokyo Progressive and Japan Independent Media; September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows; Professor Robert J. Lifton of Harvard Medical School; Professor Freeman Dyson, Inst. For Advanced Study, Princeton, NJ. Japan Confederation of A-Bomb Sufferers Organizations and Korean Hiroshima Bomb Survivors Association; the Peace Abbey of Sherborn, MA; Brookline PeaceWorks; David Mauriello, www.stagewrightfilms.com. David Mauriello,Executive Producer of Hibakusha,Our Life To Live and The Diary of Sacco and Vanzetti.
David Rothauser is the writer/producer of the docudrama, "The Diary of Sacco and Vanzetti" aired on WGBH-TV in 2004 and 2005.
SYNOPSIS
The film is about the stories of Japanese, Korean, and American hibakusha. Their stories are linked to the relationship between Eiji Nakanishi (the youngest survivor of Hiroshima) and his little friend, Yoko, an eight year old girl he teaches to play the guitar. Little by little she learns about Eiji’s hibakusha experience. She becomes intrigued by colorful pictures and drawings made by the survivors. “Will Eiji take me to the Peace Festival in Hiroshima?”
They meet with another survivor, Harada-san, to discuss preparations for the journey and to sing folk songs together. The bond between Eiji and Yoko grows stronger through simple rituals of music, making Origami and Buddhist prayer. During a thunderstorm Yoko learns of the Black Rain that has haunted Eiji for sixty years. Just before they embark on their pilgrimage to Hiroshima, Eiji suddenly and unexpectedly dies from radiation poisoning he has lived with since 1945.* Yoko’s reaction is heartfelt. “Eiji-san has passed on. I miss him. Who will take me to the Festival?”
Harada-san offers to take Yoko to the Peace Festival. Their journey to Hiroshima parallels Stonewalk 2005 where 9/11 Families For Peaceful Tomorrows pull a 4,000 pound memorial plaque from Nagasaki to Hiroshima. During their trek over mountains and country trails Harada relates his own story of A-bomb survival. In counterpoint to Yoko we introduce a little boy growing up in America during World War II. He learns about the war from Life magazine and Hollywood movies. Interviews with other hibakusha and young people are woven into the film as Harada, Yoko and Stonewalk converge upon Hiroshima. A bond is formed between hibakusha and younger generations when children and adults work together to bring art, music and dance to the 60th anniversary peace festival in Hiroshima. The festival builds from solemn commemoration to a frenzy of song and dance. Just as it reaches a crescendo, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima happens in the film. By having it happen during the 2005 Festival brings the gruesome reality of the bombing into the present time. That evening thousands of people participate in launching their rice paper lanterns into the Motoyasu River near the Peace Dome. The following morning we see Yoko sitting alone on the river bank struggling to play Eiji’s guitar.
The bombing of Nagasaki is shown through the sharp focus of a Shinto wedding ceremony. When the bomb is dropped the only sound we hear is the “pop” of a Sake bottle bursting while the wedding party disintegrates into ashes. Back in America, Davey becomes introspective. He throws down the tin pot and wooden spoon of his Hiroshima-Nagasaki celebrations. A chorale group in Nagasaki’s Peace Park perform Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy, Opus 80 as a backdrop to statements made by survivor children in counterpoint to scientists downplaying the serious effects of the atomic bomb. The combination of choral singing and children-scientist VOICE-OVERS take on the intensity of a life-death dance. The smiling faces in family photos representing nations with deployable nuclear weapons appears. Black Rain falls on the photos. The faces disappear. The Gensuikyo Youth Conference concludes in Nagasaki with 500 members singing a rousing We Shall Overcome in English. Credits roll over Eiji singing “Long and Distant Journey.”
*Eiji Nakanishi passed on half way through filming in 2007.
MEMORY Productions. David Rothauser 39 Fuller Street, Brookline, MA 02446
Tel: 617 232-4150
|
The Filmmaker
WRITER/TEACHER/PRODUCER, David Rothauser co-produced the Blue Ribbon winning docu-drama (American Film Festival, NYC) "A Good Example: Bertolt Brecht and HUAC". He is also a recipient of the Sacco-Vanzetti Social Justice Award and producer of the film "The Diary of Sacco and Vanzetti", broadcast on WGBH-TV, Boston, 2004 and 2005.
Upcoming Event:
This film will be shown at the NPT Conference at the UN on May 19, 2010.