This classic, unforgettable film features the first footage shot following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The viewer becomes an eyewitness to the bomb's aftermath, walking through the rubble and hospitals jammed with dying people. In August 1945, the Japanese government commissioned Akira Iwasaki, a filmmaker jailed during WWII for his antiwar beliefs, to document the effects of this new weapon. With only black and white film available, he recorded stark and often simple, but telling, images of the vast destruction, such as the shadows of leaves, flowers and other objects burned onto stone. The U.S. military classified the raw footage as secret for over 20 years, before making it public. In 1970, Professor Sumner Glimcher obtained the footage and edited this film, adding a factual, eloquently understated narration. Link TV will broadcast this powerful film for the first time in more than 30 years.
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HIROSHIMA: The Original Ground Zero - The Fallout 60 years Later
Mention "ground zero" these days, and most Americans will think of the devastation at the World Trade Center on 9/11. But the term "ground zero" really originated 60 years ago, with the destruction of more than 200,000 people—mostly civilians—as a result of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In Link TV's timely film series, Hiroshima: The Original Ground Zero, we re-examine the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and its continuing impact as we consider the nuclear threat today.
In this terrorist age, how are we managing the nuclear threat? How is our own government promoting the use of "tactical nuclear weapons" and the arming of space? Why are human beings reluctant to look squarely at the nuclear nightmare? And how can we prevent nuclear weapons from ever being used again?
In Link TV's week-long series, Hiroshima: The Original Ground Zero, we present global perspectives on the nuclear threat. The series includes Japanese, German, and American films, plus context and dialogue that connects the Hiroshima experience to a new generation of Americans, and highlights its relevance to the future of all humanity. Series host, Wendy Hanamura, is a Japanese American whose family comes from Hiroshima, and includes several hibakusha or survivors. She has researched the long-term effects of the Hiroshima bombing and returned there this summer to take the temperature of the survivors 60 years later.
LEARN MORE:
The film can be purchased through World Language.com.
Nuclear Activist Organizations:
The Ploughshares Fund is a public grantmaking foundation that supports initiatives for stopping the spread of weapons of war, from nuclear arms to landmines.
Center for Defense Information, a non-partisan, non-profit organization committed to independent research on the social, economic, environmental, political and military components of global security.
The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, educating citizens about global security issues, especially the continuing dangers posed by nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction.
City Mayors is an independent internet platform that provides information on developments city mayors are making to address urban problems, such as employment, education, housing and transportation. Read about the remarkable steps the Mayor of Hiroshima is taking to promote peace, abolish nuclear weapons and protect the environment.
Read the article by Truthout - "Hiroshima Cover-Up Exposed"
