AsiaLENS presents Feature Documentary, Hiroshima Nagasaki Download, and Filmmaker Q&A
- Event Date: Friday, November 6, 2020–Friday, November 13, 2020
- Time: 5:00 pm (CST) Friday–5:00 pm (CST) Friday
- Location: Online via Zoom
- Cost: Free, registration required (external link)
AsiaLENS presents:
- Hiroshima Nagasaki Download
- A film by Shinpei Takeda
- 2009, 73 minutes
Online Viewing
- Friday, November 6, 2020, 5:00 pm (CST)–Friday, November 13, 5:00 pm (CST)
- A link will be sent after registration.
- Please make sure to click on the “CC” link to get the English subtitles.
Online Discussion
- Filmmaker Shinpei Takeda
- Tuesday, November 10, 2020, 4:00 pm CT (registration required)
About the Film
Visual artist and filmmaker Shinpei Takeda’s wide-ranging work focuses on memory and history. In his first feature documentary, Takeda sets out on a North American road trip with a former high school friend to collect stories of atomic bomb survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Traveling from Vancouver, Canada to the Mexican border in the Spring of 2009, the stories shared in Hiroshima Nagasaki Download are transformative and emotional reminders of how strongly past trauma resonates in the present&mdash75 years after these harrowing events.
Based between Tijuana, Mexico, and Düsseldorf, Germany, Osaka, Japan-born Takeda has followed atomic bomb survivors living in North and South America since 2005. Through multimedia installations, sound interventions, documentary films, large-scale photography installations, and collaborative community projects in various public contexts, Takeda visualizes and amplifies voices of marginalized communities.
Takeda’s most recent work is “Memory Undertow”, an augmented reality project installed at Nagasaki Hypocenter Park, July&ndashAugust 2020 which transmitted and visualized survivor stories through the AR App “Ground Zero” and through a performance event on August 9th. Our online discussion with Shinpei Takeda on Tuesday, November 10, 2020, will include a conversation on the multi-disciplinary aspects of creating work centered on issues of trauma, immigration and social justice, and the importance of carrying the legacy of Hiroshima and Nagasaki forward.
Online Resources
- Filmmaker, Shinpei Takeda’s official website (external link)
- Video of Takeda's recent project: "Memory Undertow" (external link)
- Hiroshima Nagasaki Download Memories (external link) (A United Nation’s project on the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki)
- AJA Project (external link) (A nonprofit that works with youth photographers)
This event is sponsored by the Center for East Asian & Pacific Studies at UIUC. It is co-sponsored by the Spurlock Museum and the Asian American Cultural Center.