Special Screenings

Japan / 2017 / 215 min. / Director: HARA Kazuo

The first documentary in 23 years from HARA Kazuo since his “A Dedicated Life” (1994) is an eight-year record of asbestos victims in Osaka’s Sennan district who sue the government for compensation. Sennan’s asbestos industry flourished from the late Meiji period and had over 200 factories in close proximity at the height of its prosperity, which led to it being called “Asbestos Village.” The substance can cause lung cancer and mesothelial tumors when inhaled, but despite the government being aware of the risks it posed to health, economic development was prioritized and countermeasures were negligible. In 2006, former factory workers and their families file a lawsuit against the government seeking reparation for the damage done to their health. HARA follows the activities of the plaintiffs’ legal team and investigations by a citizens group, documenting the court battle as well as the plaintiffs themselves. They are victorious in their first trial, but the government continually appeals, and the protracted legal struggle takes a discernible physical toll on the ailing victims...