Energy and Sustainability Policy
Program Office

Oct. 26 - Ursinus College International Film Festival - Collegeville, PA

10/26/2017 - 11:00pm to 10/27/2017 - 10:59pm
The Ursinus College International Film Festival this fall includes a documentary that might be of interest to your Env (and other) classes: “Minamata: The Victims and Their World”. It came out in 1971 and is "a documentary about the mercury poisoning environmental disaster that took place in a fishing village in Japan a few decades ago" and the community trying to fight back – my colleague tells me that it was directed by one of the most highly regarded documentarians in Japan.  More info on the film can be found here: https://www.zakkafilms.com/product/minamata-the-victims-and-their-world/ and here as well: http://www.nytimes.com/movie/review?res=990DE0DF163FE13BBC4851DFBF66838F669EDE&mcubz=0, and there is much on Minamata disease and the overall situation online. 
 
The film will be shown on Thursday, 10/26, in Olin Auditorium , at 7pm with a brief informal discussion after the film (and some refreshments). The film is free and open to the public and you, and your students, are welcome to attend.  No pre-registrations or tickets are necessary – although if you did plan to bring a large group, you might want to drop me a line so that we can get additional refreshments!
UC Campus Map: https://www.ursinus.edu/about/our-campus/campus-map/ (Olin Auditorium is in #4 on the map).
 

Thursday, October 26, 7pm, Olin Aud. The personal and political struggles of a village hit by environmental disaster.

Minamata: The Victims and Their World (dir. Noriaki Tsuchimoto, 1971, Japan, 120 min.; Japanese with English subtitles)

Residents of a small fishing village are poisoned by mercury released into the bay by a fertilizer plant.  The film follows the residents as they fight the disease and create a political movement to seek justice.