New Hiroshima Film

Things Left Behind (ひろしま石内都・遺されたものたち) is an 80-minute documentary about a photo exhibit held in 2011 in Vancouver, Canada. The exhibit featured 48 photos taken at the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, by photographer Miyako Ishiuchi, of artifacts from atomic bomb victims in Hiroshima.

The film lets each artifact, beautifully captured in Miyako’s photos, speak its own story through the mouths of the exhibit visitors. Not only local Canadians, but also Mexicans, tourists from Korea and Japan, and 200 Japanese high school girls on a school trip saw the photos and expressed their thoughts. The film is showing in various cities in Japan beginning in July 2013.

Linda Hoaglund, director of the film, grew up as an American missionary kid in Yamaguchi-ken and Ehime-ken, going to local school through junior high. Christian Shimbun interviewed Linda:

“I was inspired by Miyako’s photos. Each article was shown as if it were a piece of art. We have seen enough of the horrible images of the atomic bombing. I wanted to offer people an opportunity to get to know Hiroshima through something beautiful,” says Linda. “A charred blouse, for example, would lead people to think of the girl who was wearing it. Was it her best attempt to be fashionable? What was she doing right up to that fatal moment?” Linda believes that the photos connect the viewers with the voiceless owners of the things in the photos.

“The film is an attempt to preserve the victims’ stories,” explains Linda. “It is also a requiem for those who perished without even a family member who mourned for them, because the entire family was wiped out.” 

From Christian Shimbun, June 23, 2013
Excerpt translated by Atsuko Tateishi