The FLP journalism program Ryoichi Matsuno Seminar produced documentary, Bonds of a Disaster Area -From Hinode-cho to Tanohata-mura, has been awarded Grand Prix and Audience Award at the Hida-Takayama Film Festival.

This documentary depicts exchanges of the heart crossing the 600km between Hinode-cho, Tokyo and Tanohata-mura, Iwate Prefecture that developed from the Great East Japan Earthquake on March 11. 20 years ago, over a span of eight years, Hinode-cho's Hirai Junior High School had a school trip in the form of a homestay in Tanohata-mura. The aims of that were to learn the starting point of living and to learn about primary industry.

Tanohata-mura received a devastating blow in the Great East Japan Earthquake. Upon hearing that news, teachers and graduates from the same Junior High School who experienced the school trip hastily started the Tanohata-mura Support Group and began helping with the recovery in various forms. Over the seven months from June to December 2011, FLP Ryoichi Matsuno Seminar continuously covered the activities of the Tanohata-mura Support Group. Interviews with teachers and students involved in the school trip were conducted, and in August 2011 they actually visited the disaster struck Tanohata-mura for research and filming. The film depicts the exchanges of the heart, spanning a space of 600km and 20 years, between Hinode-cho and Tanohata-mura.

The award winning film will be broadcast nationwide on eight stations of CATV from April 1, and simultaneously transmitted on the Tama Tankentai website and Chuo University's iTunes U site.

＜Director＞ Ema Suekane (2^nd year student in the Faculty of Law)
＜Producer＞ Risa Ominato (3^rd year student in the Faculty of Policy Studies)
＜Camera＞ Kentaro Soda, Eisuke Hara (2^nd year student in the Faculty of Letters)

＜Enquiries＞ Ryoichi Matsuno Laboratory, Faculty of Policy Studies, Chuo University
(042-674-4169, matsuno@fps.chuo-u.ac.jp)

• ＜Tama Tankentai Homepage＞
• ＜Hida-Takayama Film Festival＞