Japanese for Peace

The film begins in the small island community of Iwaishima in Yamaguchi Pref. where the local people have been blocking the construction of the Kaminoseki Nuclear Power Plant for nearly 30 years (although in 2008 the power company won its first approval that allowed it to begin an initial development stage). Ms. Kamanaka then travels to Sweden, a country that has been trying to phase out its dependence on nuclear energy since 1980.

Following on from the film ‘Rokkashomura Rhapsody’ (A Plutonium Plant Comes to Northern Japan 2006), Ms. Kamanaka’s latest film ‘Ashes to Honey (Mitsubachi no Haoto to Chikyu no Kaiten)’ asks us “How is it possible to create a sustainable society?”

Date: Wednesday 20 July 2011
Time: 19:00 – 21:30
(including Q&A with Ms. Kamanaka)
Venue: New Council Chambers, Trades Hall
54 Victoria St, Carlton (cnr of Victoria & Lygon Sts, map)
Entry: donation (proceeds to go to Ms. Kamanaka)

This film event is organised by Japanese for Peace in conjunction with Friends of the Earth, International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons and Medical Association for Prevention of War.

Date: Thursday, 21 July 2011
Venue: Classic Cinema Elsternwick, 9 Gordon Street, Elsternwick, Melbourne (map)
Ticket at door: $15
Doors open: 7:00 pm
Film starts: 7:30 pm
Documentary 2009, 75 min

INTO ETERNITY

Official Site: http://www.intoeternitythemovie.com/
Trailer: [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoyKe-HxmFk&feature=player_embedded#at=16[/youtube]

Synopsis:
Every day, the world over, large amounts of high-level radioactive waste created by nuclear power plants is placed in interim storages, which are vulnerable to natural disasters, man-made disasters, and to societal changes. In Finland the world’s first permanent repository is being hewn out of solid rock – a huge system of underground tunnels – that must last 100,000 years as this is how long the waste remains hazardous.

Once the waste has been deposited and the repository is full, the facility is to be sealed off and never opened again. Or so we hope, but can we ensure that? And how is it possible to warn our descendants of the deadly waste we left behind? How do we prevent them from thinking they have found the pyramids of our time, mystical burial grounds, hidden treasures? Which languages and signs will they understand? And if they understand, will they respect our instructions? While gigantic monster machines dig deeper and deeper into the dark, experts above ground strive to find solutions to this crucially important radioactive waste issue to secure mankind and all species on planet Earth now and in the near and very distant future.

Captivating, wondrous and extremely frightening, this feature documentary takes viewers on a journey never seen before into the underworld and into the future

Review:
“Jaw-dropping! Tackles a subject almost beyond comprehension. One of the most extraordinary factual films to be shown this year. Madsen’s film does not merely ask tough questions about the implications of nuclear energy…but about how we, as a race, conceive our own future. This is nothing less than post-human architecture we are talking about. Why isn’t every government, every philosopher, every theologian, everywhere in the world discussing Onkalo and its implications? I don’t know, but they should see this film.”
- Peter Bradshaw, Guardian (UK)