The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo presents a screening of the award-winning documentary film “A2-B-C” on Monday, March 16 at 5 pm in the University Classroom Building Room 100.
The showing commemorates the fourth anniversary of the “triple disaster” that occurred in Japan in March 2011: an earthquake, tsunami and nuclear meltdown. Admission is free, but donations for the Fukushima Kids Hawaii (www.fukushimakidshawaii.com) -- an organization that hosts children from Fukushima visiting Hawaii -- will be accepted.
The film chronicles the lives of families in Fukushima, Japan following the March 2011 nuclear meltdown. Families face uncertainty about evacuation, radiation exposure, decontamination, and children’s health. Citing a lack of transparency in the official medical testing of their children and the ineffectiveness of the decontamination of their homes and schools, the children’s mothers take radiation monitoring into their own hands.
The film has won numerous awards, including best documentary at the 2013 International Rights STEPS Film Festival and the Best of Festival Award at the 2013 Guam International Film Festival.
Yumi Kikuchi will introduce the film. Kikuchi is the co-founder of Fukushima Kids Hawaii and executive director of Aloha Keiki. Born and raised in Tokyo, Kikuchi is a founding member of several NGOs such as Monkey Bay Wildlife Sanctuary and Fund, Clean Up Campaign, Niji no Hebi, Safe Alternative on Food and Environment, Harmonics Life Center, Global Peace Campaign, Tokyo Peace Film Festival, and Japan United for Ministry of Peace. The day after the March 2011 disaster in Japan, Kikuchi left her organic farm in Kamogawa and moved to Kona, where she started creating Harmonics Life Center to promote earth/life-friendly lifestyles.
For more information about the film, visit www.a2documentary.com.
The event is sponsored by the UH Hilo Department of Languages and the International Student Services and Intercultural Education program.
For more information, contact Professor Yoshiko Fukushima at 932-7213.