"Fukushima: A Nuclear Story" - Press Kit

Page 1

NARRATED BY

WILLEM DAFOE


SYNOPSIS An exclusive journey of four years inside the triple tragedy which hit Japan on March 11, 2011, following Italian Sky News reporter Pio d'Emilia who has lived in Japan for more than thirty years. Pio was in Tokyo the day of the earthquake. After travelling across all the municipalities hit by the tsunami and after illegally entering the so-called “exclusion zone� already established but loosely enforced by the government he actually reaches the gate of the nuclear plant. He would not be allowed inside the plant though: to do this, he had to wait until June 2013 when Tepco, the plant operator, allows the first pool of foreign journalists in. In his quest to unfold Fukushima's still on-going nuclear disaster, he collected over 300 hours of footage consisting of shocking images and interviews with local people, local authorities and officers, focusing on what he calls the social "collateral effects" of past and present decisions by the government and the nuclear community. An in-depth exclusive interview on what really happened at Fukushima with ex-Prime Minister Naoto Kan eventually tells us how Tokyo - and probably Japan - was saved from a much greater catastrophe by chance.


"

Fukushima: a nuclear story" is not (only) a film about Fukushima, but rather Fukushima is its cause, the initiating event of the story that is being told. The issue that lies at the core of the film is whether it is right to produce energy, and if it is, at what cost and risk. Also, whether in evaluating the possible construction of a nuclear plant, this risk should be considered as more important than the economic profits garnered by those who build and manage the plants. It's the story of a broken valve that saved Japan from a much bigger tragedy. Are nuclear power plants really safe? How much do we really know about the safety of power plants? Is the people's safety really kept into account when the vested interests in the production of nuclear energy are so immense? Foreign journalists, together with the rest of the world, had to wait two years before they were even allowed to enter the nuclear power plant and see what was really going on. In Chernobyl this possibility wasn't granted for a long time. People in Japan took to the streets for the first time asking for the truth and for the right to know. The knowledge of what had really happened inside the power plant gave them the chance to decide for their own country and their own safety.

"

"

The stories of Fukushima's mothers and children accompanied me in making the ethical choice which the film implies. Nuclear energy would be the best choice if it were safe, but safe it is not. Hundreds of scientists and many governments are currently working on the decrease in consumption and on the use of renewable energy sources. This documentary is dedicated to them and to the mothers in Fukushima

"

Christine Reinhold


ORIGIN OF THE FILM: THE DIFFERENT LAYERS JOURNALISTIC MATERIALS: MOVIE´S FOUNDATIONS Pio d’Emilia’s reports, which he had gathered in his capacity as correspondent for SkyTg24 - a wealth of information made up of nearly 300 hours of filming starting from the March 11, 2011 up to the present - taken often in situations of urgency and secrecy, were fundamental to the whole project thanks to their immediacy, authenticity and documentary value. The interviews focus particularly on the human perspective of the natural and nuclear disaster that followed the earthquake and tsunami on the 11th of March 2011. The reporter gives voice to the coerced and exploited workers, to the families forcefully divided, to the mothers even now compelled to make dietary choice that could one day constitute a risk for their children's health. Fear, anger and desperation still reign in Fukushima. And at times,there is resignation. MANGA DRAWINGS: THE HISTORICAL ˝LAYER˝ OF THE STORY The European Academy of Manga, partner of Yoyogi Animation Gakuin and Tokyo Designer Gakuin College, has drawn a series of panels for the movie using Manga style, which retrace the history of nuclear power, focusing on the economic, political and militar implications of the disaster. The illusion of movement stems from the static images thanks to the "camera mapping" technique. An insert between Manga (comic strips) and Anime (cartoon animation), which allows to appraise the two most renowned Japanese iconographic traditions, is thus created. FINE ART PHOTOGRAPHY The photographer Kenji Higuchi, who published some of the first images of the nuclear workers toiling inside a reactor in 1977 and took photos that mainly depicted people and situations associated with nuclear issues, contributed with some of his suggestive photos to the production of the documentary. Photos by Pierpaolo Mittica, a "humanist" photographer, one of the first to enter the No Go Zone and already the recipient of awards for his reportage on Chernobyl, were chosen because of their directness and truthfulness. The "camera mapping" technique, which, creating a tridimensional effect, allows us to "move" inside the intense black-and-white shots, was applied in post production to the their splendid photographs. This technique enables the viewer to relive those terrible moments, creating a mosaic of painful tiles.


THE TECHNO-SCIENTIFIC INVESTIGATION Marco Casolino, a physicist at the Italian Institute of Nuclear Physics, researcher at the University of Tor Vergata, Rome and at RIKEN Science Institute's Japanese laboratories, in addition to being a great expert on Japanese culture, was the scientific advisor for the whole documentary. He supervised the scientific soundness of the nuclear energy production processes shown in the film and of the environmental damage wreaked by the incident at Fukushima Daiichi's nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011.

THE HERO'S QUEST The journalist-main character's desk is the intimate centre where all these different paths converge. The reporter undertakes a journey across Japan to search for answers to the ordeal that wreaked havoc in the country. It takes him years of work, he enters forbidden zones, puts his health at risk just to search for the truth behind the incident. His commitment in learning new skills, listening and documenting allows the viewer a better understanding of nuclear energy.


DIRECTION AND EDITING: MATTEO GAGLIARDI MATTEO GAGLIARDI In addition to a degree course in Communication Studies, he simultaneously starts his journey in the world of audiovisual work, curating the script, photography and editing of short movies. In 2007, after attending the New York Film’s Academy intensive cinematography workshop, he creates Brokenbolero, coproduced together with Cinema Fiction in Naples. In 2008 he works as assistant director while shooting Diverso da chi? by Umberto Carteni. In 2010 he is the author, director and 3D animator for the mid-length film Space Opera, video fulldome on the notes of the Op. 32 Suite by Gustav Holste. Being the first movie in fulldome in Italy, Space Opera was bought by many international planetaria. In 2012 he works as co-author and editor for the documentary Fukushame: The Lost Japan, released in Italian theatres in January 2013. In 2013 he was editor and visual effects specialist of 41st Parallel, directed by Davide Dapporto. In 2014 he co-wrote, directed and edited A Nuclear Story.


MAIN CHARACTER: PIO D´EMILIA PIO D´EMILIA Journalist since forever, he focuses on Southeast Asia and Japan, where he has been living for thirty years. He works for various Italian and foreign newspapers (Espresso, Manifesto, TokyoShinbun, Japan Focus). Since 2005 he has been Skytg24's news correspondent for the Far East, acting as a spokesperson in regards to the conflicts in Tibet and Burma, in addition to the Taiwan elections, the Korean crisis from Pyong Yang, and the war in Georgia. After Fukushima's tragedy on March 11, 2011, an experience that left an important mark on him, he writes “Nuclear Tsunami”: a journal describing thirty days spent at the frontline, in which he recounts the events that overturned the destiny of a nation and modified the world's economic order.


Christine Reinhold is Founder and Creative Producer of A World With a View, an independent film and theatre production company founded to develop the work begun in 2004 with Teatro Primo Studio - Film Beyond. Her first production was “Fukushame: the Lost Japan,” following which she wrote and produced “Fukushima: A Nuclear Story,” with journalist Pio d'Emilia. Directed by Matteo Gagliardi it was distributed in over 20 countries and broadcast by Sky Cinema and Sky Cinema Cult in Italy. It also won the DIG Awards among others as best documentary in 2016. Currently Christine is completing the production of the new documentary, “Theaters of War: stories from Ukraine's frontline.” In 2019 A World with a View became partner of '42', an Italian docuseries production company. In 2017 she created the Blog PinterMonAmour dedicated to the British playwright and director Harold Pinter. With A World with a View she is associate producer of the theatre production “The night of the Iguana' by Tennessee Williams, with Clive Owen, Lia Williams and Anna Gun, directed by James MacDonald and produced by David Richental, at London’s Noel Coward Theatre from 17 July 2019.


VOICES: WILLEM DAFOE - VOICE OVER - ENGLISH ORIGINAL VERSION WILLEM DAFOE Willem Dafoe is a two time Academy Award nominated actor and has appeared in over 80 films. Recent and upcoming films include Abel Ferrara’s Pasolini, Anton Corbijn’s A Most Wanted Man, Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel , Lars Von Trier’s Nymphomaniac, Hector Babenco’s My hindu friend and Yimou Zhang’s The Great Wall. He is one of the original members of The Wooster Group, the New York based experimental theatre collective, where he has created and performed in all the group's work from 1977 to 2004, both in the U.S. and abroad. He recently appeared internationally in Robert Wilson’s Life and Death of Marina Abramović and alongside Mikhail Baryshnikov in Robert Wilson’s The Old Woman.


VOICES: MASSIMO DAPPORTO, HAL YAMANOUCHI MASSIMO DAPPORTO (VOICE OVER FOR ITALIAN ORIGINAL VERSION) The son of actor Carlo Dapporto, he followed in his father’s step training at first as a theatre actor, focusing in a second moment on cinema and tv-series. After his cinematic debut in the 1970’s, he played the role of Lieutenant Fili in the successful film Soldati-365 all’alba by Marco Risi. In 1988 he starred in Francesca Archibugi’s Mignon Has Come to Stay and continued his successful career taking part in numerous films, amongst which notably Celluloide by Carlo Lizzani in 1996. At the same time he became a known face to most Italian families, thanks to his roles in many different tv-series. In 2007 he was the first Italian actor to ever receive an Emmy Awards nomination in the US for the title role in Giovanni Falcone. He has had numerous experiences as a dubbing actor, lending his voice to Lucky Lo Ratto in the animated film An American Tail (1986), to Tim Curry in the film Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), to Buzz Lightyear in the animated trilogy Toy Story (1995-2001) and to Auto Buzz in Cars (2006).

HAL YAMANOUCHI Born and educated in Japan, he has lived more than fourty years in Europe. During his university years at the Tokyo University of Foreign Studies, he started taking lessons in miming from H. Oikawa and Walter Mehring, dancing from N. Ando and K. Ogawa, acting from R. Abe. He moved to London in 1972. In 1973 he joined the “The Red Buddha Theatre” directed by Stomu Yamashita, performing at the Round House, the Piccadilly Theatre and in tours in Europe. He acted in almost 70 films. Among them there were Un boss in salotto by Luca Miniero (2014), Wolverine by James Mangold (2013), The girl from Nagasaki by Comte & Yoshida (2013), The Way Back by Peter Weir (2011), Push by Paul McGuigan (2009), La rabbia by Luis Nero (2008), Life Acquatic by Wes Anderson (2004), Nirvana by Gabriele Salvatores (1997), Sotto il ristorante cinese by Bruno Bozzetto (1987). Besides acting for movies and dubbing more than 100 films, created choreographies for opera productions and for stage plays. He dubbed various voices, among which L'intervista (The Interview) by Federico Fellini, Shogun a TV series for Clavel/London and Mishima by Paul Schrader, Ken Watanabe's voice in Batman Begins and Inception. In 2014 he dubbed Naoto Kan’s voice in Italian dubbed version of A Nuclear Story.


EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: CHRISTINE REINHOLD, RENÉ BOURDAGES RENÉ BOURDAGES (ELEVADO MEDIA) He is a veteran entertainment executive with more than 30 years of senior level operating experience. Elevado Media is a boutique executive consulting company based in Beverly Hills, California, providing senior advisory in film financing, distribution and global marketing to financiers, family offices, hedge funds and sovereign funds. He recently published "Investing in films: The 12.5 Secrets Elite Investors Keep for Themselves" (Elevado Media, 2014). Prior to founding Elevado Media in Beverly Hills, he was President of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) merchandising from 2004 through 2011. He has also held Executive Vice President positions at Quebecor and Astral Media Movie Premium networks. Previously, Mr. Bourdages served as Director of the Harold Greenberg Fund, which finances the development and production of Independent feature films. He holds a Certificate in Business and Management of Entertainment from UCLA. He was selected as one of Canada’s Top 40 under 40 and right now is a member of the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences and the American Film Institute.


SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR: MARCO CASOLINO MARCO CASOLINO Physicist, he works at the INFN as first researcher, at the University of Tor Vergata in Rome and at RIKEN Science Institute's Japanese laboratories as a team leader. He took part in the construction and launch campaigns for space stations such as the Russian Mir and the International Space Station, training crews in the use of detectors of radioactive environment. In international partnerships he has published more than 200 scientific articles on international magazines such as Nature and Science. In 2011 he published the essay "How to Survive Radioactivity" and "Grikron", a novel set in Japan.

SHOOTING: GUILLAUME BRESSION, PIO D´EMILIA GUILLAUME BRESSION Having set up home in Japan in 2011, he has monitored the crisis that came after the tsunami and nuclear incident in Fukushima on behalf of various newspapers, magazines and tv channels. His numerous stays in the North of Japan allowed him to gain a vantage point in order to create various documentaries and photographic series that present a more personal point of view.


partnership between Teatro " The Primo Studio – Film Beyond

and the European Academy of Manga will give birth to the first example of Manga made in Italy applied to nationally produced audiovisuals. Nicola Ronci

"


MANGA ARTWORK: NICOLA RONCI, ILARIA GELLI FROM EUROPEAN ACADEMY OF MANGA The idea behind the development of the European Academy of Manga stems from the belief that the Japanese cartooning technique of Manga has shown such versatility and narrative capability that in future it’s going to take up an important part of the comic strip scenario, even in Western world. The educational methods are in line with the study programmes chosen by the Japanese Manga academies and verified and approved by Yoyogi Animation Gakuin’s teaching staff. The Academy’s main aim is to form European manga authors and help grow and spread a narrative method which, enriched by European culture and tradition, can win over present and future readers.


PHOTOGRAPHIES: KENJI HIGUCHI, PIERPAOLO MITTICA KENJI HIGUCHI Born in 1937, he has been a professor of photography at several institutions of Tokyo and an instructor at the Nippon Photography Institute (Nihon Shashin Geijutsu Senmon Gakkō). He is the eldest son of a farmer and at the age of 24 took up photography after viewing Robert Capa’s famous war photos. He published some of the first images of nuclear workers toiling inside a reactor in 1977. Higuchi’s photos mainly depict people and situations associated with nuclear issues and he won a Nuclear-Free Future Award. He has documented the struggles of radiation victims and, over a half-century, has written 19 books, including “The truth about nuclear plants and erased victims”. Since 2011 Fukushima nuclear accident his work has gained more attention.

PIERPAOLO MITTICA Humanist photographer whose photos are currently being displayed in museums such as the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Fondazione Fratelli Alinari in Firenze, Rosenblum Collection in New York and Fotografiska Museum in Stockholm. In 1990 Mittica earns a degree at the Centre for Research and Filing of Photography in Spilimbergo. He studied with Charles-Henri Favrod, Naomi Rosenblum and Walter Rosenblum. He has shot photographs worldwide. The subject of nuclear energy has always driven him to witness what happened after the worst nuclear incidents. Mittica’s work "Chernobyl: the hidden legacy" was chosen in 2006 by the Chernobyl National Museum in Kiev as the official exhibition for the twenty year anniversary of the disastrous events in Chernobyl. He was one of the very first photographers to enter the forbidden zone in Fukushima after the nuclear incident in 2011 and he created the project "No Go Zone".


SOUNDTRACK: FABRIZIO CAMPANELLI FABRIZIO CAMPANELLI Musician and composer, he has written music which has been incorporated in the soundtracks of films such as L'Uomo Perfetto and Un Padre by Luca Lucini, thanks to which in 2009 he was nominated for the David di Donatello, Nastro d' Argento and Golden Graal. “Lovely On My Hand”, the soundtrack for Calzedonia's advertising campaign, earned him the 44th Key Award for best original music. His production ranges from the recording industry to advertising and television, meeting with great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. He has composed the soundtrack for the historical documentaries Storia della Shoah and Storia della Prima Repubblica (UTET), while also creating jingles for Fiat, Farmindustria, Ferrero, Manetti&Roberts, Artsana and the theme song for Sky's CLASSICA channel. He has composed the musical scores for theatrical shows, among which are Design Dance and Meet Design, presented at the Beijing Design Fair.

SOUND EDITING : GIORGIO VITA LEVI GIORGIO VITA LEVI After a twenty year experience as sound editor, he founds the Fono Video Audio Post in 2004, together with his collegue Edoardo Martin. In this context he curated the sound for Italian films which have been the recipients of many awards such as Volere Volare by Maurizio Nichetti (1991 - Win: Montreal World Film Fest., Golden Globes IT, David di Donatello), La Casa del Sorriso by Marco Ferreri (1991 - Win: Berlin International Film Festival) La Freccia Azzurra by Enzo D’Alò (1996 - Win: David di Donatello, Nastro d’ Argento), La Gabbianella e il Gatto (1999) by Enzo D’Alò (1998 - Win: Nastro d'Argento, Montreal Int. Children Film Festival) and Fuori dalle Corde by Fulvio Bernasconi ( 2007 - Win: Locarno International Film Festival)


CGI SPECIAL VISUAL EFFECTS: XAVIER CORBEAU, FRANCESCO SURACE XAVIER CORBEAU After finishing law studies, he decided to work in computer graphics business. After three years working in a company specialized in technical documentation for Defence, he integrated in 1995 in Gribouille, the French company that will invent "the motion capture" for CGI industry and that will win an Award at IMAGINA – Monaco, the first world event dedicated to computer graphics. In 1998 Corbeau decided to move to Canada. There he will work for three years as visual effects supervisor and post-production supervisor at the Artifex Company, Vancouver. In 2004 he left for Casablanca, in Morocco, working for the company Preview, managing all the post-production pipeline about CGI, editing and sound. Returning in France he built his own company in 2013, FX Prod and did work on many projects concerning nuclear industry for IRSN and AREVA. FRANCESCO SURACE Francesco Surace is a Lighting Technical Director with experience working on feature films and commercials. After the bachelor Degree in Digital Communicaton in Milan, he worked for studios across Melbourne, London and Milan on several projects as The Great Gatsby, Wolverine, Frankenstein and, more recently, Torneranno i prati. He's a post-production specialist focused on layout, shading, lighting and compositing of Vfx & 3D animation. Driven by his love for cinematic storytelling Francesco works at the forefront of his industry creating beautiful and emotional images.

POST-PRODUCTION ASSISTANT: MONIER G. QUARTARARO MONIER GAGLIARDO QUARTARARO He starts working as a DJ in clubs in Milan at the age of 14 and produces his first techno album at 17. In the following years he publishes more than 40 albums, reaching the top of the international charts multiple times. Since 1999 he has written the soundtracks for notable names in the international fashion industry such as Anna Molinari, Max Mara, Extè, Ferragamo. In 2004 he founds Contakt Recordings, record label for high quality electronic and experimental music. With Contakt in 2006 he produces “Welcome the Rainy Day” by CQFP, which is then chosen to open the main night at Milan Film Festival. The tv adverts produced as sound designer and soundtracks range from Fonzies, Fiat, Samsung, Sony, Alfa 164, Saiwa, MTV.


DIRECTOR´S NOTES

The feeling of not having said enough, with my participation in "'Fukushame: The Lost Japan', has driven me to add a more mature,

complete and above all more profound chapter on Fukushima's painful story. It has taken me two years of work and research to find my bearings and to develop an objective and more mature personal overview of the situation. I had to enter the realm of the complex debate regarding so called civil nuclear power. I believe this is a theme which each and every one of us, after being adequately informed, can and must express an opinion on. Matteo Gagliardi

"


‘A Nuclear Story’ is an intense and moving film, "a quest to understand the nature of a disaster that

has uncovered the true soul of a territory that is so distant but at the same time so near to and embedded in us.

"

Fabrizio Campanelli

The film touched me so deeply that my aim was " for the music to be not just a simple comment on the events depicted in the film, but rather a message of closeness, understanding and hope for the Japanese people

"

Enrico Goldoni

Conductor of Budapest Simphony Orchestra which played the movie’s soundtrack


we are citizens and human beings, secondly we are journalists. " Firstly And as such we can't help but to become involved in the suffering, the pain,

the injustice. The events that have taken place in Fukushima, amongst the many that I have had the opportunity of covering in my thirty year career , have been without doubt the ones that have struck me the most as a journalist, as a citizen, as a human being. My experience would have been lost if I hadn't met the friends at Teatro Primo Studio - Film Beyond, Christine and Matteo, who had the courage and skills to believe in, and above all create, this beautiful film. Pio d'Emilia

"



A World With a View



A WORLD WITH A VIEW presents “FUKUSHIMA:A NUCLEAR STORY” a film by MATTEO GAGLIARDI loosely based on “TSUNAMI NUCLEARE”by PIO d’EMILIA screenplay CHRISTINE REINHOLD MATTEO GAGLIARDI PIO d’EMILIA executive producers CHRISTINE REINHOLD RENÉ BOURDAGES shootings by PIO d’EMILIA GUILLAUME BRESSION director of photography GUILLAUME BRESSION editing by MATTEO GAGLIARDI music by FABRIZIO CAMPANELLI performed by BUDAPEST SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA additional music by ENRICO GOLDONI voices HAL YAMANOUCHI RACHEL ROBERTS CHUCK ROLANDO sound edit and sound mix GIORGIO VITA LEVI visual fx XAVIER CORBEAU GIOVANNI DE LAURENTIS FRANCESCO SURACE ANTONIO PEPE LEONARDO PAOLINI manga drawings ILARIA GELLI NICOLA RONCI (EUROPEAN ACADEMY of MANGA) scientific advisor MARCO CASOLINO production assistant MARTA GARA a production by A WORLD WITH A VIEW all rights reserved

ITALY/JAPAN - aspect 2:35 - color - 1080p - runtime 85ʼ/56ʼ - official website: www.nuclearstory.com mail to: info@aworldwithaview.it


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