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THE FORGOTTEN

AL MANSSI

Documentary - Production 2016

A journey in the life of Kozo, a Japanese freedom fighter and member of the Japanese Red Army, who gave up his life in Japan to join the Palestinian liberation movement.

- Year of production
- 2016
- Genres
- Documentary, Biography, First film
- Countries
- PALESTINE
- Languages
- ARABIC, ENGLISH, JAPANESE
- Duration
- 75 mn
- Synopsis
- A journey in the life of Kozo Okamoto, a Japanese freedom fighter and member of the Japanese
  Red Army, who gave up his life in Japan to join the Palestinian liberation movement.
  The film is narrated by Kozo Okamoto himself, through his diaries while he was a University
  student and the long letters he wrote in jail.
  The story knits an epic map of his journey through stories of Palestinians and Japanese who
  crossed Kozo’s life and affected it.
  His older brother’s action of hijacking a Japanese airplane to North Korea in the 1970 had a huge
  impact on him. It paved Kozo’s serious involvement with the Japanese Red Army. As a result,
  Kozo made his important trip to Lebanon and volunteered for the mission in Lod Airport.
  Living this romantic dream of a “world revolutionary” was a stage in Kozo’s life. But being the
  only survivor of that operation was a turning point in his life. The interrogation process in Israeli
  jails, the trial and finally 13 years in Israeli prisons, marked his whole life and formed the person
  of whom he is now.
  Being freed from prison after prisoners exchange deal between Israel and the PFLP in 1985, took
  him to another journey, where he faced loss, insecurity, betrayal and never a peace of mind.
  With “The Forgotten” we will try to reveal his life’s journey that is full of contradictions; ups
  and downs, waiting and hope, pain and frustration.
  His story will reveal also the history of the Palestinian Liberation movement and maybe an
  assessment of where are we now.