Portland State University’s Center for Japanese Studies will present a screening of the acclaimed documentary film Okinawa: The Afterburn. The screening will be followed by a discussion with the film’s academy award nominated director, John Junkerman.
Acclaimed in Japan since its June 2015 release, Okinawa: The Afterburn is the first film to provide a comprehensive picture of the battle of Okinawa and the ensuing occupation of the island by the U.S. military. The film conveys the complex postwar fate of Okinawa, an island that has had to live side-by-side with an extensive array of U.S. bases and the related crimes, accidents, and pollution they have caused, while coexisting on a personal level with the occupying soldiers.
In Okinawa, the legacy of the war is translated into a deeply rooted aversion to military force. This has been expressed in recent years by the island-wide rejection of the plan to build a new U.S. base at Henoko, a continuing source of controversy. Okinawa: The Afterburn explores the roots of this resistance and Okinawa’s vision for the future.
The film is in English and runs 121 minutes.
Director John Junkerman has been making documentary films in Japan and the U.S. for over 30 years. His previous films include the Academy Award-nominated Hellfire: A Journey from Hiroshima and Japan’s Peace Constitution, which explores the global significance of Japan’s pacifist national charter. Okinawa: The Afterburn won the Mainichi Film Award and the Best Documentary Award from Japan’s leading film journal, Kinema Jumpo.
What: Okinawa:The Afterburn
Where: Smith Memorial Student Union room 327.
When: 6 p.m., Nov. 15.