Sennan Asbestos Disaster

Kazuo Hara’s longitudinal latest film follows a group of factory workers battling – over a long, gruelling court case – against the Japanese government for compensation for deadly respiratory diseases caused by exposure to asbestos. Filmed over eight years in the small town of Sennan, long a centre for asbestos related industry in Japan, Hara documents the plight of the workers in heartbreaking detail as, with failing health, they take on the seemingly impenetrable bureaucratic machine that stands in their way. With his typically unflinching gaze, Hara creates a moving, masterful portrai...