LA TERRE ABANDONNÉE / ABANDONED LAND

In the evacuated area around the Fukushima power plant, five years after the disaster, the village of Tomioka is still abandoned by its fifteen thousand inhab- itants. Yet a few individuals are still living there and treading the ground left burning hot by the radiations.Matsumura-san and his elderly father look after the animals that have been abandoned after the nuclear incident. He was the first and only person who refused to be evacuated. In his own way, by making his life a symbol and a testimony, he is advocating for a denuclearised world. The Hangaï decided to stay to cultivate their land. As for the Sato, they are gradually returning to their house and are planning to settle back there soon, as they are convinced that it is now possible to repopulate the area.Yet the “decontamination” work carried out in the area seems truly pointless in the face of this ecological and human disaster. On this abandoned and diseased land, the peaceful and rationally unreasonable lives of these few mavericks remind us that ultimately, a piece of land is our most solid connection to this world. (VP)
Gilles Laurent