ARTicle Films

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The documentary about the people of Hirono, a city located 20 km away from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station. Immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake, the whole town was forced to evacuate. In 2019, 80% of the population at the time of the earthquake is back in town…

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“A Story Where Three Timelines Cross”

This is a movie that alternates between three-time axes. First one is a document of high school students creating a play. Second is a record of the life of the citizens of Hirono. And the third is the history of Hirono. These three different time axes intervene, asking us what the meaning of life is.

 

 “In Between Reality and Fiction” 

Futaba Miraigakuen’s theater department acts as a hub of this movie. The students work day and night to create a play for the recital. Their play creation is done in a unique way. They gather and each shares their experiences to create a scenario. Their stories consist of bullying, love, family, and their experiences of the earthquake when they were elementary students. The story begins with a female student’s experience when the earthquake struck Japan while she was living in the United States because of her father’s work.

“The People Living in Hirono”
Ryohei Niizuma, a rice farmer in Hirono, returned to his home immediately after the earthquake to restart his rice crops. As a farmer in Fukushima facing many difficulties such as land pollution and rumor damages, he continues to plant rice together with TEPCO employees.
Katsuyuki Watanabe, who is a local firefighter, continues to do activities to revive the Japanese traditional Bon Odori and the New Year’s rooster cabin event. He has three children, and he struggles to revive these activities so that his children can experience the traditions he experienced as a child.
Koichi Tatewaki, who works at the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station, came to this town from Yamagata Prefecture. He left his wife and his four kids back home to work alone in Hirono. There was a traditional event in Hirono which was discontinued before the disaster. Tantan Peropero was a festival by the beach, wishing for the rich crops. Even though this festival had disappeared before the earthquake, the Hirono citizens stood up to resume this tradition once again. However, mixed feelings and complications stand in front of the people of Hirono.

“Eternity that once Resided in Hirono”
Hirono once prospered from coal mining in the early Showa era. Before the war, there were many colonists. They came to Hirono seeking for a better life. However, these settlers left the land one by one as the coal mines were shut down. Only a few stone walls, old warehouses, and semi-ruined houses were left. These have become the ruin of the forgotten lifestyles.
During the mining of coal, many dinosaur fossils were excavated in Hirono. Noboru Watanabe, who still mines the dinosaur fossils in Hirono, wonders about the eternal times that once resided in this land hundreds of thousands of years ago. He says that our lives and the fact that this world is present, all depends on luck.