Living on the River Agano

Acclaimed director Sato Makoto committed suicide on September 4, 2007, leaving behind a legacy of socially conscious documentary filmmaking. Released in 1992, Living on the River Agano is his most well-known work. In 1964, a chemical factory in Niigata Prefecture dumped mercury into the Agano River, the beginning of a manmade tragedy that would affect locals for years to come. Mercury poisoning led to high occurrences of Minamata disease, a neurological syndrome that causes severe physical and psychological ailments and death. Sato Makoto and his crew of seven spent three years in Niigata documenting the lives and thoughts of locals. — yesasia.com