Hiroshima Bound

John Stevens: Storming the Beach

2017

Lieutenant Colonel John Stevens served in both World War II and the Korean War. During the Korean War, he received a Bronze Star for leading his company in one of that war's harshest battles.

The True Story of the Bridge on the River Kwai

2000

Made famous by the 1957 Hollywood movie, the bridges of the River Kwai emblematize one of the most misunderstood events in history. Contrary to the romanticized film version, the structures represent a period of terror, desperation, and death for over 16,000 POWs and 100,00 local slaves. The Thailand - Burma Railway was the vision of the Japanese Imperial Army: a 250-mile track cut through dense jungle that would connect Bangkok and Rangoon. To accomplish this nearly impossible feat, the fanatical and ruthless Japanese engineers used POWs and local slaves as manpower. Candid interviews with men who lived through the atrocity - including Dutch, Australian, British, and American POWs - illuminate the violence and horror of their three-and-a-half-year internment. From Britain's surrender of Singapore the enduring force of friendship, The True Story Of The Bridge On The River Kwai narrates a moving and unforgettable account of a period in history that must be remembered.

Raise Your Arms and Twist! Documentary of NMB48

2016

Launched in 2011 as a sister group to girl band behemoth AKB48, the Osaka-based NMB48 has become a musical force itself. With a string of No.1 hit singles and albums, not to mention sell-out performances, NMB48 continues Japan’s pop-music phenomena. Director Funahashi Atsushi, whose documentary work has previously chronicled such harrowing events as the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, pulls back the curtain on the life and struggles of the band members and the workings of the idol-making industry.

Samurai Beyond Their Dreams: Becoming the Best in the World

2023

In December 2021, Hideki Kuriyama began devoting his days to one singular goal: hoisting the championship trophy at the 2023 World Baseball Classic. How did he mold his players into one of the best and strongest Samurai Japan teams in history? A close-up documentary that looks back on Samurai Japan's path to becoming world champions, along with valuable behind-the-scenes footage captured by the team's dedicated crew.

German Concentration Camps Factual Survey

2017

On the 29th September 1945, the incomplete rough cut of a brilliant documentary about concentration camps was viewed at the MOI in London. For five months, Sidney Bernstein had led a small team – which included Stewart McAllister, Richard Crossman and Alfred Hitchcock – to complete the film from hours of shocking footage. Unfortunately, this ambitious Allied project to create a feature-length visual report that would damn the Nazi regime and shame the German people into acceptance of Allied occupation had missed its moment. Even in its incomplete form (available since 1984) the film was immensely powerful, generating an awed hush among audiences. But now, complete to six reels, this faithfully restored and definitive version produced by IWM, is being compared with Alain Resnais’ Night and Fog (1955).

Heart Mountain: Three Years in a Relocation Center

1997

A documentary film about the internment of Japanese Americans at Heart Mountain, Wyoming during World War II. The program, hosted by Jan Yanehiro, proceeds in part as a series of interviews. It also includes archival film footage of Heart Mountain and Japanese Americans during World War II, as well as present day footage of the Heart Mountain landscape.

Tanforan: Race Track to Assembly Center

From Race Track to Assembly Center documents life for San Francisco Bay Area residents of Japanese ancestry incarcerated at the Tanforan Race Track in San Mateo County after being evicted from their homes during World War II.

Day of Infamy

2001

Naval historians discuss in detail the events leading up to the Japanese attack at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

Babi Yar. Context

2021

Nazi troops massacre 30,000 Jews over a three-day period in September 1941. Babyn Yar ravine in Kyiv, Ukraine.

Hiroshima Revealed

2015

Pulitzer Prize -- winning journalist John Hersey caused a sensation when he published "Hiroshima", the first account for American readers of the horror experienced by victims of the 1945 Hiroshima atomic bomb attack. "Hiroshima" stunned readers with its descriptions of the terrible aftermath of the bombing, yet Hersey never spoke about his experience in Hiroshima.

Tokyo Idols

2017

This exploration of Japan's fascination with girl bands and their music follows an aspiring pop singer and her fans, delving into the cultural obsession with young female sexuality and the growing disconnect between men and women in hypermodern societies.

In einer chinesischen Stadt

1938

After the capture of Shanghai, Japanese soldiers make a trip to Suzhou.