VALPARAISO PICTURES UNVEILS “THE TOXIC PIGS OF FUKUSHIMA” FROM BAFTA AWARD NOMINATED DIRECTOR OTTO BELL
Valparaiso Pictures announced today their upcoming documentary short The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima, directed by BAFTA® Award nominated Otto Bell (The Eagle Huntress) with Emmy® Award winner Joe Bini (You Were Never Really Here, American Honey) on board to edit. Valparaiso Pictures fully financed with David Carrico and Adam Paulsen for Valparaiso and Bell’s Kissiki producing. CAA Media Finance is handling sales.
As all eyes turn to Japan for the 2020 Olympics, The Toxic Pigs of Fukushima takes a cinematic look at the destruction wrought by the Great East Japan Earthquake of 2011 that triggered a tsunami, nuclear meltdown and mass evacuations. Through the central metaphor of radiated wild boars that now roam the region, Bell and long-time collaborator, Cinematographer Simon Niblett, take an unflinching look at the everyday lives of a handful of citizens still struggling to make a life in this changed landscape. The film was in-part inspired by the photographs of Toru Hanai and Yuki Iwanami who are co-producers. Music is provided by renowned Japanese ambient artist Midori Takada.
Bell’s first documentary, The Eagle Huntress, garnered him a BAFTA® Award nomination for Best Documentary. After premiering at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival, the documentary was distributed by Sony Pictures Classics to critical and box office acclaim. The film was a New York Times and Los Angeles Times Critics Pick and currently holds a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, Certified Fresh.
Bini won the Sundance Award for best editing on the HBO documentary Roman Polanski: Wanted and Desired and an Emmy® Award for his writing on the same documentary. Other editing credits include Amazon’s You Were Never Really Here, which won numerous awards including a Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Editing, as well as American Honey which starred Shia LaBeouf and Sasha Lane and won the Judge’s Award at Cannes, and Lionsgate’s critically acclaimed documentary Grizzly Man by Werner Herzog, one of 27 films Bini collaborated on with the renowned director.
Bell is represented by CAA. Bini is repped by WME.
Valparaiso Pictures recently announced they are partnering with Mattel Films and Academy Award®-nominee Daniel Kaluuya’s 59% to develop a live-action motion picture based on Barney, Mattel’s iconic loveable, purple dinosaur.