Private Project

Bolt

EPISODE 1: March the 11th 2011. A magnitude 9 earthquake strikes the Sanriku coast on the North-East of Japan, followed by a tsunami. They damage the Daiichi and Daini reactors of the Fukushima nuclear plant. The plant stops and contaminated water starts to leak. “The man”, together with 5 workers brave the highly radioactive environment to fasten the bolt.

EPISODE 2: 2013. The man works around the evacuation area, as a cleanup technician for houses where people died. In the personal belongings of the deceased, he finds joyful photo albums from before the earthquake, or notes of profound despair. He is shocked to learn that other relatives died in the tsunami. All this belongings have to be thrown away. There, facing the painful reality, he chooses to “go on living”.

EPISODE 3: night before Christmas 2014. The man is in a garage in Yamagata, North of Japan. A photograph of his wife, swept away by the tsunami, can be seen on his desk. Outside, in the snow, a red sport car crashes. Inside, an unconscious woman. She’s wearing red shoes, the same as his dead wife. The woman says she is heading to Hokkaido, where she hasn’t returned for years.

  • Kaizo Hayashi
    Director
  • Kaizo Hayashi
    Writer
  • Kichitaro Negishi
    Producer
  • Masatoshi Nagase
    Key Cast
    "The man"
  • Shiro Sano
    Key Cast
    "Izawa"
  • Kazuhiko Kanayama
    Key Cast
    "Hirano"
  • Kaito Yoshimura
    Key Cast
    "Nemoto"
  • Koichi Sato
    Key Cast
    "Yoshida"
  • Sarara Tsukifune
    Key Cast
    "Akiko"
  • Project Type:
    Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Fantastic, Suspense
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 18 minutes 35 seconds
  • Completion Date:
    June 1, 2019
  • Country of Origin:
    Japan
  • Country of Filming:
    Japan
  • Language:
    Japanese
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Shanghai International Film Festival
    Shanghai
    China
    June 16, 2019
    World Premiere
    Invitation
Distribution Information
  • Gachinko Film
    Country: Japan
    Rights: Theatrical
Director Biography - Kaizo Hayashi

Kaizo Hayashi (林 海象 Hayashi Kaizō, born July 15, 1957) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter. He made his directorial debut with To Sleep so as to Dream (1986). He is best known for his neo-noir Maiku Hama trilogy, The Most Terrible Time in My Life (1994), Stairway to the Distant Past (1995) and The Trap (1996).
In addition to film, he served as creative director on the 2000 Konami video game 7 Blades for the PlayStation 2, and was director for two episodes of Power Rangers: Time Force.

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Director Statement

On 11 March 2011, an earthquake followed by a tsunami caused the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster. The incident released a huge amount of radioactive waste in the air, and contaminated water into the ocean.
I've heard from a worker of the plant that men were sent to fasten a loose bolt from which contaminated water was leaking, despite of the highly radioactive environment. To avoid the workers too much irradiation, they each had only 1 minute to fasten the bolt. In the end, a total of 300 men were requested to fasten a single bolt. I wanted to make a film about the story of this men who risked their life for such a dangerous task.