Special Screening and Presentation by Documentary Filmmaker Ikeya Kaoru

On Friday, June 27, AIU, and specifically the Japan Studies and Global Connectivity programs, hosted a screening of Ari no heitai (The Ants, 2006) and a special guest talk by its director, Professor Ikeya Kaoru (Konan Women’s University), entitled “The Ants and reflections on World War II, 80 years on.” This long-form event began at 3 PM with a short introduction by Prof. Ikeya before a screening of his 2006 documentary (101 min.), followed by a short break, then a 45-minute talk and culminating in a lively Q&A session which extended past 6:30 PM. The event was a signature element in Global Connectivity’s fusion of disciplines, as well as Japan Studies’ ongoing efforts to promote 24-hour learning beyond the classroom, integrating the study of extracurricular subjects such as cinéma verité and connecting to deeper philosophical questions about wartime (and postwar) history and memory.

Professor Ikeya offered a detailed behind-the-scenes explanation of the making of this pivotal documentary. His insider’s perspective proved invaluable, as he shared insights unavailable to the casual viewer; in particular, he revealed details of his aggressive tactics, designed to provoke the main subject of the documentary, war veteran Okumura Waichi, into breaking through his “edited” memories of the 1940s to a more problematic truth of his darker deeds. Over the course of his talk, which was in Japanese and translated consecutively into English (by Prof. Sean O’Reilly), he surprised the audience—a very multicultural group with representatives from several different countries including Australia, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, the United States and of course Japan—with useful provocations, such as his intriguing statement that “documentaries are fictional, even when they’re based entirely on real facts!”

After his presentation, which was attended by around 30 AIU community members, including a number of faculty members, Professor Ikeya fielded several enthusiastic questions about the making of the documentary. One memorable question was about the ethics of documentary filmmaking, and whether Prof. Ikeya has a line beyond which he would not go; while he acknowledged the existence of this ethical line, Prof. Ikeya insisted that making a documentary is a nerve-wracking experience because it requires that one get as close as possible to that line in order to reach the truth. He challenged the audience to investigate the war as much as possible, a sacred duty begun by courageous victim-perpetrators like Okumura who did not shy away from confronting their own pasts, however painful and traumatic, offering their life stories to us in the hope that we will use their experiences to avoid future bloodshed.