The Open City Docs Fest includes several film and discussion events exploring nuclear concerns. Three films will be screened on Saturday 22 June followed by the 'Nuclear Imagination' panel chaired by Quentin Cooper on Sunday 23 June (see poster and photo above).

On Saturday Toxic Camera, a short film by Jane and Louise Wilson, will be screened as part of the 'Reflections On The Lens: Films about Film' at 12noon. Followed by No Man's Zone by Toshi Fujiwara, and Nuclear Nation by Atsushi Funahasi (listed below). Ele Carpenter will be in conversation with film director Atsushi Funahashi after the 'Nuclear Nation' screening. Funahashi will also be speaking at the Japan Foundation on Friday 21st June.

No Man's Zone, Toshi Fujiwara, 2011, France/Japan, 105'

Sat 22 June, 14.00 SOAS

The 40-year-old nuclear power station on the coast of Fukushima fell into catastrophic crisis after the tsunami struck on 11 March 2011. Within 24 hours, a 20km wide evacuation zone was ordered. Filmmaker Toshi Fujiwara went into this zone meeting residents as they prepared for evacuation. This is a powerful document of a place in time of crisis, and a poetic meditation on the disruptive relationship of man and nature.


Nuclear Nation, Atsushi Funahashi, 2012, Japan, 96'

Sat 22 June 16.30

Futaba is a small town in the shadow of Fukushima. Since the 1960s, Futaba had been promised prosperity with tax breaks and major subsidies compensating for the presence of the power plant. In the aftermath of the 2011 tsunami, residents of the town were relocated to an empty school in the Tokyo suburbs. From this place of exile, Nuclear Nation follows the people of Futuba as they try and adapt to their new environment, and come to terms with the loss of their homeland. Through their agonies and frustrations, this film questions the real costs of nuclear energy.

Director Q&A with Ele Carpenter (Lecturer in Curating, Goldsmiths College), chaired by Griseldis Kirsch (Lecturer in Contemporary Japanese Culture, SOAS).