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| From the Land of Bitter Tears |
| Story |
The father of Liu Min, 27, died in 1995 in an accidental explosion of a bombshell left by the Japanese Imperial Army in WWII. The arms and legs of her father blew off when the bomb suddenly exploded at a construction site. He suffered serious burns over his entire body and died 18 days later.
The money for his treatment left her a huge debt when she was only a teenager. She and her brother had no choice but to leave school and work.
Li Cheng, 59, became victim of poison gas of the Japanese military when he touched a mysterious container while working on a dredge ship at the age of 29. Water blisters covered his body and his genital and internal organs were injured. He still suffers from serious aftereffects. His wife supports their living instead of him. Having fallen to life of extreme poverty, he has attempted suicide twice.
On August 4, 2003, another poison gas was found in Qiqihar city in China, killing one person and leaving 43 people injured. Many still suffer from serious aftereffects. Sixty years have passed since the end of the war. But weapons discarded by Japan remain unearthed in the fields of China. Those remainder of the war still hurt people in these peaceful times. Please take a listen to what they have to say.
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| Director's Profile |
KANA Tomoko
She was born in 1971. She worked for Japanese largest TV, NHK as News director for 7years. Independent in 2000.She made documentary film about sex slaves of Japanese Imperial Army in WWII "Mardiyem/ What happened to her life? " (2001/92min/video) It's screening start from Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2001.This film go around all over Japan and joined IDFA 2001 Docs for sales and Jakarta International Film Festival.
" From the Land of Bitter Tears" is her second film.
TAIWAN International Documentary FIlm Festival 2004
Earth Vision Film Festival 2005.
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| Back ground Information |
Tomoko Kana, who traveled through China in 2003, met 27-year-oil Liu Min in Harbin. Deeply moved by her tears, Kana decided to produce a documentary film of Chinese people suffering from discarded weapons. She spent 10 months and met with 60 victims. One person became blind, another person lost his genital organ.Another got killed as he had his lower body blown off.
All of them had their future suddenly taken away in this era of peace.
In WWII, Japan made chemical weapons, breaking international treaties.
From 1929 to 1945, 6,000 tons of poison gas including mustard and cyanide gas was produced in Japan. After experimenting on humans in China, Japan used them in actual warfare. Many injured including Chinese citizens.
After its defeat, the military bombed the facilities and discarded the weapons in the fields and left.
They feared that their production would come to light.
After the war, the poison gas in Japan was disposed of under U.S occupation.
However 700,000 shells sent to China still remain in the ground, Japanese government announced. More than 2000 people have injured cause of these poison gas after the war.
Interest in discarded weapons remains high in China. Many journalists rushed to accompany Director Kana during her filming. After completion, Chinaﾕs largest TV station, CCTV, conducted a special program about the documentary film at prime time, inviting Kana as a guest.
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| Credit |
Director + Camera + Edit / KANA Tomoko
Title calligraphy / TAKEDA Souun
Music / SAITOU Maya , KOMIYAMA Sshinsuke, TSUJI Kosuke.
Design / Cazman , Kosu
PR / HANAWA Machiko
Assistant / Still / HATTORI Tadashi
Translator / YOSHIHARA Masako, MAO Tan, WANG Fumi,
WANG chongshing , AMEKAWA Miki.
Edit Supervisor / MUKAIYAMA Masatoshi
Production year / 2004
Length / 87 min
Format / VIDEO
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