{"id":15970,"date":"2025-10-12T20:33:11","date_gmt":"2025-10-12T19:33:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/londonpost.news\/?p=15970"},"modified":"2025-10-18T12:37:04","modified_gmt":"2025-10-18T11:37:04","slug":"breaking-the-silence-in-tokyo-a-kazakh-filmmaker-confronts-the-nuclear-scars-through-her-documentary-jara","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brusselsindependent.com\/fr\/news\/breaking-the-silence-in-tokyo-a-kazakh-filmmaker-confronts-the-nuclear-scars-through-her-documentary-jara\/2025\/10\/12\/admin1\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking the Silence in Tokyo: A Kazakh filmmaker confronts the Nuclear scars through her documentary \u201cJara\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Katsuhiro Asagiri<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"
Toda Peace Memorial Hall. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TOKYO (INPS Japan)<\/strong> \u2013 The screening room at the Toda Peace Memorial Hall in Tokyo fell silent as Kazakh filmmaker and human rights advocate Aigerim Seitenova<\/a> stepped forward in a black T-shirt and green skirt to introduce her 31-minute documentary, \u201cJara \u2013 Radioactive Patriarchy: Women of Qazaqstan.\u201d<\/a><\/strong><\/em>\u3000The screening event was co-organized by the Kazakh Nuclear Frontline Coalition (ASQAQQNFC), the Soka Gakkai Peace Committee, and Peace Boat, with support from Japan NGO Network for Nuclear Weapons Abolition (JANA).<\/a><\/p>\n

The hall itself is symbolic in Japan\u2019s peace movement. It is named after Josei Toda<\/a>, the second president of the Buddhist organisation Soka Gakkai, who in 1957 made his historic Declaration Calling for the Abolition of Nuclear Weapons<\/em><\/a> before 50,000 youth members. That appeal has become a moral pillar of Soka Gakkai\u2019s global campaign for peace and disarmament.<\/p>\n

Reclaiming Women\u2019s Voices<\/strong><\/h5>\n
\"Semipalatinsk
Semipalatinsk Former Nuclear Weapon Test site\/ Katsuhiro Asagiri<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cThis film was made to make visible the voices of women who have lived in silence. They are not victims\u2014they are storytellers and changemakers,\u201d Seitenova told the audience of diplomats, journalists, students and peace activists.<\/p>\n

Her documentary, Jara<\/em>\u2014meaning \u201cwound\u201d in Kazakh\u2014tells the stories of women from Semey, formerly known as Semipalatinsk, the site of 456 Soviet nuclear tests conducted between 1949 and 1989.<\/p>\n

Unlike earlier films that focused on physical devastation and disability caused by nuclear testing, Jara<\/em> explores the unseen and intergenerational impacts: the stigma, the psychological scars, and the inherited fear of bearing children.<\/p>\n

\u201cMost films show Semey as \u2018the most nuked place on Earth.\u2019 I wanted to show resilience instead of fear\u2014to reclaim our story in our own voice,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n