Sennan Asbestos Disaster - Part II

Ten years in the making, Sennan Asbestos Disaster builds on Kazuo Hara and Sachiko Kobayashi’s “action documentary” method of filmmaking and expands their focus to an entire community—the citizens of Sennan, Osaka, who seek legal reparations from the government for exposing their working class community to asbestos factories’ deadly toxins. A powerful ensemble piece that gains strength from the warmth of everyday people standing up to the state for their rights, this radical film analyzes collective action and its limits, revealing poisonous threats in self-regulating social mores as well as environmental pollution. A return to documentary for Hara and Kobayashi 23 years after the release of A Dedicated Life.

• Citizens’ Prize, 2017 Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
• BIFF Mecenat Award, 2017 Busan International Film Festival
• Audience Award, 2017 Tokyo FILMeX International Film Festival

Streaming in the U.S. and Canada from June 4-July 2 as part of Cinema as Struggle: The Films of Kazuo Hara & Sachiko Kobayashi