KYOTO INTERNATIONAL FILM AND ART FESTIVAL 2020

Notes

After the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011, the town of Tomioka, located about 12 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, was designated as a difficult area to return to. The film begins with the lone presence of Naoto Matsumura, an animal rights activist who continues to protect cats, dogs, cows as well as ostriches and other animals that used to be raised in the area around the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The director, Gilles Laurent, was a sound engineer based in Belgium and working mainly in Europe. He came to Japan, his wife's native country, with his family in 2013. As he has always been interested in environmental issues, he came to know of Naoto Matsumura of Tomioka from being featured in overseas media while he was researching Fukushima, and he decided to advocate for Matsumura’s cause.Laurent chose "the strength of people who have close connections with the land" as his subject matter, and by getting to closely know three families, he was able to weave together their love for Fukushima and their hometown in their everyday lives. The film was shot on two separate occasions in Fukushima Prefecture between August and October 2015.In December, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Gilles temporarily returned to his homeland of Brussels, Belgium, to edit the film. On March 22, 2016, when the editing process was all done and a preview screening was scheduled, he unexpectedly lost his life during the subway terrorist attacks in Belgium.

CAST

Naoto Matsumura
Daisuke Matsumura
Shinichi Hangai
Toshiko Hangai
Tamotsu Sato
Toshiko Sato

Data