Close to the Bone screening with Q&A

This screening is part of the film screening series, Cinematic Witnesses: Documenting Figures of Resistance in East Asian Democracies, a response to the martial law declaration and the ongoing political crisis in Korea since December 2024.

Close to the Bone (Okuma Katsuya, dir., 2024) follows the work of Gushiken Takamatsu, the head of a volunteer organization dedicated to recovering the remains of those who perished in the Battle of Okinawa (1945). Through the efforts of Gushiken and other volunteers, the film uncovers memories buried in the battlefield, imagining and translating the lives lost. Meanwhile, as the U.S. military gears up to relocate its Futenma Air Base to Henoko, various organizations in the Okinawan community protest its use of southern Okinawan soil that presumably is mixed with the remains of the battle’s victims for land reclamation of the Henoko base. The voices of Okinawan citizens resisting the Japanese government and the U.S. military remind us that the past is not the past but a ghostly presence of trauma that refuses to fade.

Discussant: Takashi Fujitani (Professor Emeritus, History)

Moderator: Sijin Paek (Ph.D. Student, East Asian Studies)