the press kit

WORLD PREMIERE @ BERLINALE 2012
NUCLEAR NATION
Director:
Atsushi Funahashi
Genre:
Documentary
Country:
Japan
Language:
Japanese
Length:
145 minutes
Format:
HDCAM (24p), Color
Producer:
Yoshiko Hashimoto
DoP:
Atsushi Funahashi, Yutaka Yamazaki
Music
Haruyuki Suzuki, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Production Company:
Big River Films (Japan)
Documentary Japan (Japan)
CAST (APPEARANCES):
Residents of Futaba, Fukushima:
Susumu YANAI; Yuuichi NAKAI & Ichiro NAKAI; Shizuo SUZUKI & family; Katsutaka
IDOGAWA (Mayor of Futaba); People of the greater Futaba area; Banri Kaieda
(Japan's Economy, Trade & Industry Minister); Goshi Hosono (Japan's Nuclear
Energy Minister); Emperor Akihito & Empress Michiko
SYNOPSIS
A documentary about the exile of Futabaʼs residents, the region housing the crippled
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant.
The day after the magnitude 9.0 earthquake on March 11, 2011, Futaba locals heard
the hydrogen explosion at Reactor Number 1 and were showered with nuclear fallout.
In response, the Japanese government designated the whole town as an "exclusion
zone" and 1,400 of the town's residents fled to an abandoned high school 250
kilometers away. The entire community, including the Town Hall office, was moved
into the four-story building, making the residents nuclear refugees.
The film portrays the evacuees as the nuclear disaster situation changes over time.
One of them is Ichiro Nakai, a farmer who lost his wife, his home, and his rice fields
in the massive tsunami. Doing his best to cope with the monotony of life at the
evacuation centre, he struggles to wipe away the haunting memories and start a new
life with his son. The two finally get an official permit to enter the exclusion zone to
visit their hometown. There, they see that their worst fears have become reality...
Katsutaka Idogawa, the Mayor of Futaba, who was an active supporter of the
government's nuclear policy, was lobbying to build two additional reactors. But after
realizing his constituents were exposed to significant amounts of radiation and that
the situation at the TEPCO plant is still unstable, his beliefs begin to change.
Since the 1960s, Futaba had been promised prosperity with tax breaks and major
subsidies to compensate for the presence of the power plant. The town's people
have now lost their homeland. Through their agonies and frustrations, the film
questions the real cost of capitalism and nuclear energy.
PROFILE
Atsushi Funahashi
Director, Writer, and Producer
Atsushi Funahashi was born in Osaka, Japan, and graduated from Tokyo University with a
B.A. in cinema studies. He moved to New York in 1997 and studied film directing at the
School of Visual Arts. His debut feature echoes (2001) was well received by critics and film
festivals, winning three jury and audience awards at Annonay International Film Festival in
France. The film has been theatrically distributed in the USA and Japan. His second film, Big
River (2006), starring Jo Odagiri, was selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market and
PPP (Pusan Promotion Plan) at its project stage. Produced by Office Kitano, the film was
shown at various film festivals (including Berlin, Pusan, Karlovy Vary, Sao Paolo, and
Shanghai) and was released worldwide by Celluloid Dreams Director's Label. Funahashi has
also directed several HDTV documentaries on social issues and New York ethnic culture for
NHK, Japanʼs public broadcasting network. One of these documentaries, "For the Joyful
Moment of Life" (2005), won a Telly Award. Funahashi moved back to Tokyo in 2007 and
has started directing films in Japan.
FILMOGRAPHY
FEATURE FILMS
2012
NUCLEAR NATION (HD, 150 min, Big River Films + Documentary Japan)
Official Selection: Berlin International Film Festival, the Forum of New Cinema 2012
2009
Deep in the Valley
(HD, Part Color, Drama, 135min, Big River Films, Japan)
Official Selection: Berlin International Film Festival, the Forum of New Cinema 2009
2005
Big River
(35mm cinemascope, Color, Drama, 105 minutes, Office Kitano, USA/Japan)
Official Selection: Berlin International Film Festival, the Forum of New Cinema 2006,
Pusan (New Currents competition, 2005), Karlovy Vary, Sao Paolo, Shanghai, Durban
Theatrically released in Japan, Korea, France, and the USA
2002
echoes
(16mm, B&W, drama, 72 min, USA/Japan)
Awards: Special Jury Prize, Audience Award, Special Jury Prize of All Time (Annonay,
France, 2003). Official Selection: Munich, Karlovy Vary, Tokyo.
Theatrically released in the USA and Japan
TV PROGRAMS
2011
2007
2006
2005
2003
2002
“Nishimura Kyotaro Suspense Series, Murder Express KUSATSU”
(TBS, Japan, Detective drama)
“Stop Global Warming –the First Step”
“The Unforgettable -5th Anniversary of September 11-“
“Dialogue with a Terroristʼs Mother”
For the Joyful Moment of Life ~Treatment of Alzheimer's Disease~
(NHK, USA/Japan, HDTV documentary, 20 min)
AWARDS: Telly Silver Award 2005 (USA)
Jazz on Sundays (NHK, USA/Japan, HDTV documentary, 20 min)
On Marjorie Eliot, the great jazz pianist of New York City's famed Harlem.
One Year from the Day - Annual Commemoration of September 11
(NHK, USA/Japan, HDTV documentary, 50 min)
On American families who lost their loved ones on September 11, 2001.
CONTACT
Big River Films
2-33-12-107, Nezu, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0031, JAPAN
p:+81-90-5575-7679 e: atsushifunahashi@gmail.com
atten: Atsushi Funahashi
Documentary Japan
8-12-20-1F Akasaka, Minato-ku, Tokyo 107-0052, JAPAN
p: +81-3-5570-3551 e: y.hashimoto@documentary.jp
atten: Yoshiko Hashimoto