Documentary | DVD
Producer/Director: Steven Okazaki
Ethnicity: Japanese
Subjects: History, Human/Civil Rights, War
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Okazaki journeys to Hiroshima, 25 years after his first trip and 60 years after the devastating atomic bomb drop. He takes a personal look at Hiroshima – the place, the people, the historic event, the idea – and creates a compelling collection of everyday images: a class photo, a spool of thread, a handful of buttons – and documents the powerful stories that come with them.
The film features ten “hibakusha” or atomic bomb survivors, including a 90-year-old survivor and members of the “Kinoko Kai” or “The Mushroom Club,” a support group created for children born with defects caused by nuclear contamination. Both a personal reflection and a moving portrait of the city and people of Hiroshima, THE MUSHROOM CLUB explores the legacy of the bombing, from its myths and monuments to its survivors as well as the complex politics of pacifism and militarization, which Japan still struggles with today.