FARALLON FILMS

As global tensions rise, the unthinkable is becoming more real. It’s now 80 years since the world’s first atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945, and the voices of the survivors of the bombings need to be heard more than ever.

in 86 minutes WHITE LIGHT / BLACK RAIN provides a powerful look at the atomic bombings and their aftermath. There is no narration or interviews with historians, scientists or other experts. The story is told entirely through vivid first-hand accounts from fourteen Hiroshima and Nagasaki survivors (known as hibakusha), many of whom had never spoken publicly before; and four Americans, including one of the pilots and one of the crewmen who released the bombs, and two scientists on the observer planes that accompanied the B-52s that dropped the bombs. The film reveals, in riveting detail, the moment before the detonation, the flash, then the horror and chaos that followed (85% of the bombs’ victims were civilians). The hibakusha describe their lives in the months and years after, as they continued to suffer from burns, radiation-related illnesses, starvation, poverty, discrimination, government negligence, and cancers.

As Sakue Shimohira, 8 years-old then, says of the time she considered killing herself after losing the last member of her family: "I realized there are two kinds of courage — the courage to die and the courage to live." Kiyoko Imori, just blocks from the hypocenter, was the only survivor of an elementary school of 620 students. Shuntaro Hida, a young military doctor, saw the mushroom cloud rise, then rushed towards it to provide medical care. Keiji Nakazawa, who lost his father, brother and two sisters, devoted his life to re-telling their story in comic books and animation. Etsuko Nagano still can't forgive herself for convincing her brother and sister to come to Nagasaki just weeks before the bombing. With a calm frankness that makes their stories unforgettable, the survivors bear witness to the unfathomable destructive power of nuclear weapons. Their accounts are illustrated with survivor paintings and drawings, animation, historical footage and, photographs, including rare and never seen before material.

The filmmaker met with more than 500 hibakusha and pre-interviewed more than 100 to find the fourteen in the film. WHITE LIGHT / BLACK RAIN stands as the most comprehensive, journalistically accurate, and moving account of the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, told by the people who were there.

Produced for HBO DOCUMENTARY FILMS
Executive Producer: Sheila Nevins

Produced, Directed & Edited by STEVEN OKAZAKI

2007 / Documentary / 86 Minutes