ASAHIZA (Asahiza, Ningen wa Doko he Iku) trailer

ASAHIZA (Asahiza, Ningen wa Doko he Iku)
International Premiere at Japan Society
Mon, Apr 20 at 6:30pm

ASAHIZA(Asahiza, Ningen was Doko he Iku)
2013, 74 min., Blu-ray, in Japanese with English subtitles. Directed by Hikaru Fujii, Music by Otomo Yoshihide

Asahiza, a cinema and a former kabuki theatre in the city of Minamisoma, 15 miles from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, is a prime example of the economic and political development of Japan in the post-war period. As the economic activities became highly concentrated in urban areas, provincial areas become desolate. As shopping malls were constructed in the provincial areas, the commercial part of small towns started to lose its purpose. The Asahiza, built in 1923, had its heyday starting in the '50s. It was the place where many couples spent their first date or where children saw the popular animated films. Due to decline in the number of visitors, Asahiza was closed in 1991. Since then, Asahiza has been used sporadically for screenings by the “Asahiza Appreciation Club”. The film by Hikaru Fujii collects the memories and personal experiences of people who grew up with Asahiza as part of their daily lives. The film hardly touches on the calamity that was brought to the community as a result of the nuclear power plant accident, which nonetheless makes the viewer feel the huge loss and void in the community that was inadvertently exacerbated after March 11, 2015.