Today, the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan (FCCJ) hosted a screening of my film ‘A2-B-C’, which documents the health of children living in contaminated areas of Fukushima after the nuclear meltdown on March 11, 2011. The screening was followed by a press conference focused on the cancellations of the screenings of the film in Japan (INFO).Before the press conference began, I struggled with how I was going to explain something which I am still finding difficult to understand. I also see the issue of the cancellations of ‘A2-B-C’ as a symptom of a much larger problem affecting press freedom in Japan, and I was hoping that the screening and press conference could also be an opportunity to speak about this much larger issue.[…]The attendees at today’s press conference were there not only to see ‘A2-B-C’ but also to hear why the screenings of ‘A2-B-C’ had been cancelled.The A2-B-C Screening Committee cancelled all domestic screenings of the film after learning that one of the mothers in ‘A2-B-C’ was rumoured to be a member of Chukaku-ha, a communist political group whose tactics in the past have included violent confrontations with the authorities. The medical clinic that appears in the film, where children are seen receiving thyroid examinations, was also said to be tied to this group.
It should be noted that in Japan the two main accusations that are hurled at someone to discredit them are that they are either ethnically Korean or communist; accusing someone who is speaking out of being Korean or a communist is a rhetoric often employed in Japan when no other logical argument can be found.
Watch press conference.
