JUNOD

By Shinichiro KIMURA

FILMFESTIVALS.COM - as PROMO

Animation - Completed 2012

An Account of the Life of Marcel Junod, Director of the Red Cross in Japan who was the first doctor to come and help in Hiroshima 1 month after the bombing

Festivals
& Awards

animation day in cannes 2017
animation that matters award
Glasgow World of film 2017
winner
Animaze 2017
winner
    • Year of production
    • 2012
    • Genres
    • Animation
    • Countries
    • JAPAN
    • Languages
    • JAPANESE
    • Budget
    • 1 - 3 M$
    • Duration
    • 63 mn
    • Director(s)
    • Shinichiro KIMURA
    • Producer(s)
    • Shizuko TSUYA, Hideto HAYATA, Seiji MITSUNOBU
    • Synopsis

    • Mii and Yuko, two junior high school students are visiting Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park on a school trip when they come upon a monument dedicated to Dr. Marcel Junod standing forlornly in a corner of the park. They wonder who Dr. Junod was and what he did. Just then they are bathed in a strange light and transported back to Europe, more than 70 years before.

      It is 1935. The young Dr. Junod, who has been working in a hospital in Mulhouse, France, is heading to Ethiopia as a delegate of the ICRC. Time travelers Mii and Yuko set off along Dr. Junod's path of hardship and turmoil. In Ethiopia, Dr. Junod witnesses attacks on Red Cross workers and the use of poison gas. One after another people are felled. The young doctor sees firsthand the horrors of war, but buoyed by an indomitable spirit he willingly offers a helping hand to those who are suffering as a result of the war.

      Dr. Junod's work takes him from Ethiopia to Spain and across the European battlefields of World War II. He works to improve the treatment of prisoners of war and arranges prisoner exchanges. He establishes a method for prisoners and their families to write to each other. He secures routes for the delivery of relief supplies. As a humanitarian, Dr. Junod offers moral support to the weak. Seeing that, Mii and Yuko reflect on their own lives and problems.

      "How could this man do so much for people?" they wonder.

      It is 1945. Dr. Junod has been appointed head of the ICRC delegation in Japan. He is shocked when he learns of the devastation in Hiroshima just after the atomic bombing. At the urging of Dr. Junod, the GHQ agrees to provide 15 tons of medical supplies to the city. Dr. Junod devotes himself to the treatment of victims of the bombing. When he meets Gen. Douglas MacArthur later, the general asks him, "What motivates you to work so hard for people?"

      "Love," replies Dr. Junod. This is the answer to their question that Mii and Yuko, who have watched Dr. Junod at work, were looking for. Having learned what motivated him, they return to the present. Their eyes glow with the warm, strong light of love.