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Junior Writers Reporting

Broadcasting club at Hiroshima high school produces film on peace

Every August 6, the anniversary of the atomic bombing, members of the Broadcasting Club at Akiminami High School, located in Aki Ward, Hiroshima, cover the Peace Memorial Ceremony held in Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park. Last year, they produced a short film called “Fly to the August Sky,” which garnered an award at the Hiroshima Prefectural High School Culture Festival.

The film focuses on the doves that are released during the ceremony. The club members wondered where the doves come from, and then began their investigation.

The film presents the history of the doves at the ceremony, starting with the first “Peace Festival” in 1947. It includes footage of the volunteers who breed the birds in Hiroshima Prefecture. The evening before the ceremony took place, the club members followed the doves closely as they were brought in their cages by car to the ceremony venue.

The film is five minutes in length. Editing continues as they prepare to screen the film at the All-Japan High School Culture Festival to be held in the city of Toyama this August.

The members of the broadcasting club hope to help keep the memory of the atomic bombing alive, so it won’t fade away as time passes. Saki Tamura, 17, is their leader, a second-year student and a grandchild of A-bomb survivors. “The film offers viewers an opportunity to think about peace by showing people working with doves, a symbol of peace,” Saki said. (Miyu Sakata, 16, and Junichi Akiyama, 16)

(Originally published on March 19, 2012)

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