Screenshot: Asia to show prize-winning film ‘An Ant Strikes Back’

Pitt’s Japan Council and the Asian Studies Center will screen “An Ant Strikes Back,” the grand prize winner of Screenshot: Asia, the second biennial Pitt Japan Documentary Film Award on Sept. 26.

The film looks at the phenomenon in Japan of people literally overworking themselves to death. Director Tokachi Tsuchiya took up this subject after a close friend took his own life because of workplace bullying. The film documents the case of another young man who decided to fight back after being awakened to the fact that the practices at his company were not fair, normal, or acceptable but cynical and exploitative.

The movie will be introduced by Tsuchiya at 7 p.m. and he will discuss his work after the screening.  

At 7 p.m. Sept. 25, director Nanako Hirose will discuss her film “Book-Paper-Scissors” — which won honorable mention — before and after the film is screened. The documentary tells the story of Japanese book designer Nobuyoshi Kikuchi, who makes everything by hand.

The screenings are free and available All screenings are free, available in the USA, and will be screened live on Vimeo. For more information on the Japan Documentary Film Award, go to: jdfa.pitt.edu.