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CREATED:20200211T093800Z
DESCRIPTION:\n2/16 Berkeley Screening Of "Fukushima Speaks" By Journalist and 
 Videographer Toshikuni Doi‘\n\nFUKUSHIMA SPEAKS’ EXPLORES LIVES OF 
 SURVIVORS \n\n\n2/16 Berkeley Screening Of "Fukushima Speaks" By Journalist 
 and Videographer Toshikuni Doi\n\nSunday, February 16th, 2020 1:30 
 PM\nBerkeley Main Library\n2090 Kittredge St, Berkeley, CA 94704\n\nOn 
 Sunday, February 16, No Nukes Action will host the Bay Area premiere of 
 “Fukushima Speaks,” a compelling feature-length documentary by 
 award-winning director and independent journalist Toshikuni Doi.\n\n“It 
 is not enough for a journalist to report facts and news of what is 
 happening, but rather it is the journalist’s duty to expose the 
 ‘human’ underneath it all,” Doi stated. “If we fail to shed light 
 on [universal themes]and just succeed in reporting on facts and news, to 
 the audience, it will come across as just a matter that is happening 
 somewhere far away, unrelated to them.”\n\nFour years in the making, Doi 
 has created a heart-wrenching look into the lives of Japanese residents 
 whose lives were devastated by the 2011 Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. 
 Haunting images and video footage of the aftermath are reinforced by 14 
 personal stories of despair, guilt, and outrage.\n\n“I lost the 
 cornerstone of my life,” Yoko Watanabe, a self-evacuee, said in her 
 interview. “I was determined to bury myself in Katsurao village. That was 
 taken away from me. The reason to live, volunteering, everything was taken 
 away from me in a flash. Now I don’t know anymore what I live for. I 
 wonder if I am really needed in this life, and I don’t know 
 anymore.”\n\nThe suffering of Fukushima survivors continues to this day. 
 While the mourning of lost life is obvious, the film also explores the dire 
 realities that are often overlooked: the loss of livelihoods due to the 
 contamination of land and ocean, the life-threatening risks caused by 
 radiation exposure, the emotional turmoil of families being torn apart by 
 the decision to stay or evacuate, and the discrimination that residents now 
 face because they are from Fukushima.\n\nAnother self-evacuee, Hikaru 
 Hoshi, expressed indignation: “They want to blame it on us and say it was 
 our responsibility. Whether to leave or stay…. I do not allow them to 
 shift the burden of the accident of enormous scale to individual 
 choices/individual responsibilities…. We lived in an area that needed to 
 be evacuated right away. That fact was concealed from us, and some of us 
 left on our own, or like me, some did not have time to think it through but 
 left anyway. I felt outraged that this country was putting us against each 
 other. The root of the matter lies somewhere else.”\n\nDoi pointed out 
 the urgency of releasing this documentary in 2018: “Eight years since the 
 accident, ‘Fukushima’ is being made into the thing of the past,” he 
 said. “As more people focus on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, the victims are 
 silenced and their suffering is hidden away behind the news of 
 ‘revitalization.’ However, the wounds of the victims whose lives have 
 been destroyed by the accident are still raw.”\n\nEnglish subtitles for 
 the documentary were translated and edited by event organizer Tsukuru 
 Lauritzen with the help of fellow activists in Los Angeles.\n\n“I 
 contacted the director and heard that the English subtitles won’t be 
 ready ’til 2020,” Lauritzen recalled. “I asked him if there is any 
 way that I could take over the translation. Looking back on it, it was an 
 insane idea, but I was compelled to take it on, because these 14 voices 
 begged to be heard.”\n\nAbout the Filmmaker\n\nToshikuni Doi, born in 
 1953, is a Japanese independent journalist. He has published numerous 
 articles in many first-class journals and has made scores of documentary 
 films for news programs. He also has many books published in 
 Japan.\n\nSince 1985, he has visited the occupied territories many times 
 and almost lived there for months, extensively reporting from Palestinian 
 villages and refugee camps. He also has covered Asia, notably atomic bomb 
 victims in Korea who were in Hiroshima or Nagasaki in 1945, Korean women 
 who were forced to become sex workers/slaves by the Japanese army, and 
 street children in Thailand and Vietnam.\n\nSince April 2003, he has 
 visited Iraq under occupation four times, focusing on civilian victims of 
 war, women’s rights and prisoners’ mistreatment, or torture.\n\nThis 
 event is free but donations for the filmmaker are accepted\n\nSponsored by 
 No Nukes Action\nhttp://nonukesaction.wordpress.com/\n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/11/18830602.php
SUMMARY:Berkeley Screening Of "Fukushima Speaks" By Journalist and Videographer Toshikuni Doi‘
LOCATION:Berkeley Main Library\n2090 Kittredge St, Berkeley, CA 94704
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2020/02/11/18830602.php
DTSTART:20200216T213000Z
DTEND:20200217T003000Z
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