Film tells story of islanders' battle to preserve way of life
Mainichi,20-2-10, Director Aya Hanabusa recently finished filming her first production "Hori no Shima" (Island of Shinto Priest) on a small island in the Seto Inland Sea. The documentary portrays the struggle of the islanders against the construction of a nuclear power plant nearby.
The documentary was filmed on Iwaishima Island off the coast of Kaminoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, where the plant is set to be built. An old legend tells that the island is named after hori -- a type of Shinto priest dedicated to praying for safe maritime voyages -- that once existed on the island (and can also be pronounced "iwai.")
"The sea is the lifeblood of the people here. The residents say they don't need a nuclear plant because they want to protect their way of life, rather than because they are against the use of nuclear power," said the 35-year-old director, who traveled back and forth between Tokyo and Iwaishima to record their campaign against the project.
The nuclear plant project first emerged 28 years ago, and most residents have since been campaigning against the proposed construction. Hanabusa visited the island for the first time in 2003, when a film company she was working for screened a documentary film on the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear accident for the Iwaishima residents. After the screening, one of the audience members said: "We are all the same. We are all humans," which Hanabusa says she could not forget, even after she left the production company in 2007.
Hanabusa changed jobs, but could not give up her hope of working on a movie again. It was just around that time that she happened to see a photograph collection of Iwaishima residents campaigning against the nuclear plant project. She returned to the island in the summer of 2008 and started recording people's lives, and recently finished filming.
"I love this island more than anywhere else. I would die if I was forced to leave my hometown," one resident said. Hanabusa hopes that her documentary will explain why.
Accepting the nuclear plant means compensation money for the local fishery industry. Fish catches and their prices have dropped in recent years. However, local people say: "We love the island and want to protect it just the way it is now. We cannot exchange the sea for money."
The film will be released in April in the Setouchi area and in June in other regions.
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