Join the University of Iowa Japanese Program and the Department of Cinematic Arts (February 23-25) for a series of documentary film screenings with Japanese filmmakers Mori Tatsuya, Nakamura Takayuki, and Kana Tomoko. 

All screenings are free and open to the public and will be held at FilmScene, 118 E College Street, in downtown Iowa City. 

 Friday, February 23, 4 p.m. 

HUG (2014, 69 min), followed by a Q&A with director Kana Tomoko 
A documentary filmmaker enters the evacuation zone after the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant meltdown of March 2011, only to find out that she is pregnant. After many years of fertility treatments, she feels a mixture of joy and devastation. She turns the camera on herself to examine what it means to be a first-time mother in an age of nuclear anxiety. U.S. PREMIERE! 

Saturday, February 24, 12:30 p.m. 

FAKE (2016, 111 min), followed by a Q&A with director Mori Tatsuya 
Once celebrated as one of Japan’s leading composers despite being deaf, Samuragochi Mamoru’s name hit international news in February 2014 when it was alleged that his music had been written by a ghostwriter for over 18 years, and that Japan’s “modern-day Beethoven” wasn’t deaf at all. Director Mori Tatsuya approaches and befriends the supposed hoaxer and his wife, who are in hiding from the media pandemonium. The resulting film unveils the truth behind the fiasco--or does it? 

Sunday, February 25, 12:30 p.m. 

ZEN AND BONES (2016, 127 min) followed by a Q&A with director Nakamura Takayuki 
93-year-old Zen monk Henry Mittwer, suspected by the Japanese secret police and interned by the United States during World War II, has a lifelong love of movies. This dizzying film, incorporating animation and fictional reenactments, traces his life across two countries, his turn to Zen and the tea ceremony, and his endless worldly desire: to produce a film of his own.

 This event is made possible thanks to generous funding by the Japan Foundation Institutional Project Support (IPS) Grant to the University of Iowa and the Center for Asian and Pacific Studies (CAPS) at the University of Iowa. 

 Individuals with disabilities are encouraged to attend all University of Iowa-sponsored events. If you are a person with a disability who requires a reasonable accommodation in order to participate in this program, please contact Dongwang Liu at dongwang-liu@uiowa.edu, (319) 335-1305.