"Ashes to Honey" [Mitsubachi no haoto to chikyū no kaiten]

Year: 2010

Film Length: 115 minutes

Subtitles: English
Trailer: YouTube
Director: Kamanaka Hitomi, Group Gendai

Discussant: David McNeill, Sophia University

Description

While the weekly anti-nuclear demonstrations now taking place in Japan mark a new chapter in local citizens' action, they may also be understood as part of a longer history of popular protest, and an ongoing debate about political transparency, democracy, and grassroots action in Japan. In the spirit of understanding the current debates and some of the deeper questions they raise, UTCP has organized a screening and discussion of Kamanaka Hitomi's film Ashes to Honey (2010).

Filmed before the 3/11 disaster, Ashes to Honey takes both a local and global perspective on questions about energy policy, sustainable society, and non-violent protest. At the local level, it depicts the situation on Iwaishima, an island on the Seto Inland Sea, where the residents have been locked in struggle for almost three decades to protect their lives and livelihood from the construction of a nuclear plant by Chugoku Denryoku. To bring this into a global perspective, Kamanaka travels to Sweden, to assess the results of two decades of alternative energy policy, and whether parts of the North European model could be successfully implemented in Japan.

Taking the debate around energy policy as a point of departure, Ashes to Honey prompts us to reflect on how we imagine a future, sustainable society, and the efforts required to realize it.

We are pleased invite you to join us for this special screening, to be followed by a discussion and Q & A with the director.

Kamanaka Hitomi is a documentary filmmaker, working extensively on the issue of nuclear energy. Following ten years at NHK, Kamanaka-san today works as an independent filmmaker. Her previous films include Hibakusha — At the End of the World (2004), and Rokkashomura Rhapsody (2006).

David McNeill teaches with the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Sophia University, Tokyo, and writes as a journalist for international media, including the Independent, Irish Times, Japan Times, and The Economist. His new book on the 3/11 disaster, Strong in the Rain (co-authored with Lucy Birmingham), is out next month.

Language: English; Admission Free; No Registration Required (Capacity: 40).