On 11th March 2011, the tsunami sealed the fate of the town of Futaba in the Japanese prefecture of Fukushima. A large part of the town was swallowed up by the sea. The following day, nuclear fallout from the Fukushima Daiichi atomic power station three kilometres away reached what still remained of it. 1400 of Futaba’s inhabitants were housed in a suburb of Tokyo, one of them in the tragic figure of the mayor whose town no longer exists. He desperately attempts to keep the community together, spread optimism, and to understand what happened. Once an enthusiastic advocate of atomic energy, he is now forced to experience how the victims are fobbed off with banalities, insubstantial apologies and directionless policies. We experience such absurdities as a sparsely attended wrestling match aimed at lifting spirits as well as terrible moments such as a painfully hectic farewell ceremony in the devastated town, which can only be visited during a state sanctioned two hour window. In Nuclear Nation, Funahashi Atsushi shows great respect for those he comes into contact with, people whose lives have been put on hold suddenly and indefinitely. –Berlinale
Atsushi Funahashi was born in Osaka, Japan, and graduated from Tokyo University with a B.A. in Cinema Studies. He moved to New York in 1997 and studied film directing at the School of Visual Arts. His debut feature Echoes (2001) won three jury and audience awards at Annonay International Film Festival in France. His second film, Big River (2006), was selected for the Berlinale Co-Production Market and PPP (Pusan Promotion Plan) at its project stage. Produced by Office Kitano, the film was shown at various film festivals (including Berlin, Pusan, Karlovy Vary, Sao Paolo, and Shanghai) and was distributed worldwide. Funahashi moved back to Tokyo in 2007 and started directing films and TV dramas in Japan. Deep in the Valley (2009), his first Japanese film, was invited to Berlin, Hong Kong, and numerous film festivals around the world. His films Nuclear Nation (2012) and Cold Bloom (2012) premiered at the Berlin International Film Festival… read more
