Hitomi Kamanaka

Hitomi Kamanaka (鎌仲ひとみ, Kamanaka Hitomi) (born 11 June 1958, Toyama Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese documentary filmmaker known particularly for her films on nuclear power and radiation.

Hitomi Kamanaka
Born (1958-06-11) 11 June 1958
Toyama Prefecture, Japan
NationalityJapanese
OccupationDocumentary film director
Known forRokkasho Rhapsody

Career

Graduating from Waseda University in 1984, Kamanaka began working as an assistant director for documentaries at Group Gendai, Iwanami Productions, and other companies.[1] She directed her first film in 1990 and between 1990 and 1995, worked and studied in Canada and the United States, first on a grant from Japan's Agency for Cultural Affairs.[1][2] Returning to Japan, she worked as a freelance director for television and film. Her film, Hibakusha at the End of the World (also known as Radiation: A Slow Death), was the first of several she has made on the problems of nuclear radiation. It won several awards, including one from the Agency for Cultural Affairs for excellence in documentary.[3] Her next film on nuclear issues, Rokkasho Rhapsody, covered the problems surrounding the Rokkasho Reprocessing Plant.[4][5] Her most recent work, Ashes to Honey, about residents fighting the construction of a nuclear power plant in Yamaguchi Prefecture, opened in theaters only a month before the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster.[6] After the disaster, her work has garnered increased attention and she has been asked to present her work at numerous venues at home and abroad.[7]

Selected filmography
  • Hibakusha at the End of the World (ヒバクシャ 世界の終わりに Hibakusha, sekai no owari ni) (2003) (also known as Radiation: A Slow Death)
  • Rokkasho Rhapsody (六ヶ所村ラプソディー Rokkashomura rapusodī) (2006)
  • Ashes to Honey (ミツバチの羽音と地球の回転 Mitsubachi no haoto to chikyū no kaiten) (2010)
  • Little Voices from Fukushima (小さき声のカノン－選択する人々Chisaki koe no kannon - sentaku suru hitobito) (2014)

References
  1. "Kawanaka Hitomi purofīru". 2009 Āsudē in Chōfu. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  2. "Tanaka Yū kōen, Kamanaka Hitomi kantoku taidan". Earth Garden. Archived from the original on 15 September 2014. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  3. "Heisei 15 nendo Bunkachō Eigashō ni tsuite". Agency for Cultural Affairds. Archived from the original on 17 October 2012. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  4. White, Philip. "Kamanaka Hitomi: making films that inspire people to take action". CNIC. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  5. Tsuchimoto, Noriaki; Hitomi Kamanaka (23 December 2007). "Rokkasho, Minamata and Japan's Future: Capturing Humanity on Film". Japan Focus. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  6. Kennedy, Dana. "Japan's Own Erin Brockovich Laments: 'I Wish I Could Have Done More'". Aol News. Archived from the original on 19 September 2011. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  7. Field, Norma; Hitomi Kamanaka. "Complicity and Victimhood: Director Kamanaka Hitomi's Nuclear Warnings". Japan Focus. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
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