West Coast premier of Hiroshima Nagasaki Download in San Diego Asian Film Festival, Oct 27, 5:20PM
The film Hiroshima Nagasaki Download will premier at San Diego Asian Film Festival on Wednesday, October 27 at 5:20 pm. The film festival is taking place at UltraStar Mission Valley Cinemas at Hazard Center, 7510 Hazard Center Drive (off the 163 and Friars Road), San Diego, CA 92108.
Hiroshima Nagasaki Download (72 min)
Directed by Shinpei Takeda
Language: English and Japanese with English subtitles
Genre: Documentary, History, Japan
Production Company: Atopus Studio
Upon the end of World War II, several hundreds Japanese who survived the atomic bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki immigrated to the US.
With the physical trauma and psychological scar of the atomic destruction, these survivors have lived quietly in a country that was once considered their "state's enemy."
64 years later, two young Japanese expatriates began their journey from Vancouver, Canada to Tijuana, Mexico to seek the meaning of 'Hiroshima' and 'Nagasaki' deeply ingrained in the collective psyche of modern Japan.
As the two drove down the American West coast visiting 18 survivors as well as a holocaust survivor, they would hear the most intimate moments of their lives and come to realize the cruel nature of atomic bombing survivors' psychological trauma.
Characters in Hiroshima Nagasaki Download
Shinpei Takeda
Independent filmmaker and artist based in Tijuana. He has been collecting the oral stories of atomic bomb survivors living the Americas for the last five years. He appears in the film with his high school friend as a guide to the stories of atomic bomb survivors and shares his dilemma of trying to understand, and yet not being able to understand the truth behind this horrific event.
Eiji Wakamatsu
A friend of Shinpei Takeda, who comes to help him with the survivors' interviews. In search of his identity, he confronts his psychological dilemma typical of the young generation of Japan - wanting to connect, but afraid of connecting.
Takeo Yamashiro (Vancouver, Canada)
He was at two-year-old at the time of bombing in Hiroshima. He struggles to make sense of what it is that he experienced and share his emotions for the city on the verge of reconstruction in the post-war period.
Miyuki Broadwater (Spokane, Washinton)
Having struggled from nightmares of what she saw in Nagasaki when she was at eight-year-old for a long time, she shares her experiences for the first time in depth. Miyuki shares her process of opening up herself to others.
May Yamaoka (El Cerrito, California)
Born in America, she found herself in Hiroshima as a 16-year-old student at a tobacco factory when the bomb fell. She emotionally shares her stories of finding her sister on top of a pile of corpses.
Mizuho Stevens (San Jose, California)
She recalls losing two of her siblings and her father in Nagasaki. Being a witness to such a tragedy as a 11-year-old child, she has struggled for so long to confront her anger and sadness. To this day she still has to take sleeping pills.
Takashi Tanemori (Berkeley, Californa)
Having lost most of his family including his beloved father as a 8-year-old child, he recalls his memory of the day as well as hardships he had to go through since the day, such as his experience in a mental hospital, and his shift in vengeance to forgiveness.
Gloria Lion (San Francisco, California)
A survivor of Auschwitz concentration camp, Gloria Lion, is an owner of the bed and breakfast in San Francisco where Shinpei and Eiji stayed. She provides her account of confronting the traumatic memory and how one can go about facing one's scars.
This film Hiroshima Nagasaki Download is co-presented by San Diego Latino Film Festival.
For more info and to purchase advance ticket, visit http://sdaff.bside.com/2010/films/hiroshimanagasakidownload_sdaff2010_sdaff2010
Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_o9aEzskVM0
Hiroshima Nagasaki Download is the first feature film by Shinpei Takeda who has been collecting over 50 oral stories of atomic bomb survivors living in North and South Americas since 2005.
Japan-born Takeda is a filmmaker, visual artist, and musician based in Tijuana, Mexico. His works includes a wide range of themes regarding memories and history in various mediums: documentary films, multi-media installations, video projection, public installations, community-collaborative projects in various public and non-public contexts.
His recent films include "El Mexico mas Cercano a Japon" (2008) about Japanese photographer in Tijuana in 1920s.
The San Diego Asian Film Festival is an annual event of the San Diego Asian Film Foundation. The mission is to connect audiences to the human experience through the Pan Asian media arts. The film festival has been around since 2000, premiering films from around the world.
The 11th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival is taking place from October 21-28.
Most screenings and panel discussions October 21-28 are at the UltraStar Mission Valley at Hazard Center, located off the 163 and Friars Road in San Diego. Hazard Center has plenty of free parking, shops, restaurants, and is accessible by the trolley.
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