Before After Aum

Atsushi Sakahara is an energetic man in his 50s. Though he struggles to fit into Japanese society, which he characterizes as having a village mentality, he’s the very definition of a last generation Kyoto fella. Polite and acutely aware of hierarchy, Atsushi is both down-to-earth and prone to name-dropping.

I met Atsushi the beginning of 2018. At that point, he had been working the his documentary for 5 years. He’d shot it, cut it, and now, just had to fine-tune and finish it. But there was something incomplete about it, murky and convoluted. A diamond in the rough. Having grown up in this era of terrorism, I was hooked on this idea of calling up your terrorist and having a chat. After we met, he sent me his seven page life story and maybe unsurprisingly, surviving the Sarin gas attack was not the most unbelievable event of his life.

As part of my work with The Hong Kong International Film Festival Collection, we signed the film for international representation and waited for the final cut. A whole year later, after many conversations we decided it had to be edited professionally. At first, he had had an editor whose cut Atsushi could not accept — “his family were Jehovah’s Witnesses, he himself had just left.” Atsushi let him go and began cutting on his own.

“I don’t think I realised how bad my PTSD was until I began cutting on my own, you know,” he told me, “I would get sleepy, my body paralyzed.”

On a recommendation from a Japanese producer, we reached out to Junko Watanabe. Her work was clearcut, classical, and concise. She brought us a wholly new and refreshing view of the film, like a bear after hibernation. “It’s crazy strong,” said Atsushi, after watching it for the first time. The main story was the same but the film was unrecognizable from his previous versions.

On previous discussions, we had gone back on forth on how to relay information on the cult, the attack, and the media circus surrounding the event. In the final cut, we decided to stick to the core story: two men from the same area, of the same age, who attended the same school, on the great divide between terrorist and terrorized.

After receiving the final cut, our plan was to send the film to festivals and grants to come up with the final money to finish post-production. We’re looking for a sound editor and a colourist (hit me up if you think you know someone) while brainstorming other ways to help the film gain traction and finance the last $35,000.

After his father’s death late last year, Atsushi has also taken on caring for his elderly mother and shouldered the mortgage on their family home to help his mother age-in-place. In the last months, we’ve worked between his schedule at a print factory, a amazon-like fulfillment centre, and various other odd jobs.

As COVID-19 makes navigating an increasing number of cancelled and postponed festivals even harder, we’ve decided to spend some time going over the story of the cult and the attack to provide context to the film itself. While the film focuses on the lives of two individuals, we’ve begun working on a podcast, “Before / After Aum” to deep dive into the context which gave rise to Aum and the 1995 Sarin Gas Attack.

Here’s the trailer:

Episode 1 coming April 8, 2020.

Music:

Algorithms by Chad Crouch is licensed under a Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 International License.

On March 20, 1995, Toru Toyoda and Katsuya Takahashi, respectively the perpetrator and driver, planted sarin on the Hibiya line, train B711T. Toyoda boarded the train at Naka Meguro Station, punctured the sarin at Ebisu Station and got off. The next stop Hiro-o Station, then Roppongi Station, where director Atsushi Sakahara boarded. Before the next stop at Kamiyacho station, passengers began to panic. Sakahara got off at Kamiyacho Station. The train continued to Kasumigaseki with its first car empty, and then all the passengers were evacuated and the train taken out of service. Two people died, five-hundred-and-two were seriously injured. Their accomplices attacked four other trains. Together, they killed thirteen and injured over six thousand.

That was 25 years ago.

Episode One, “Rush Hour of the Gods” comes April 8.

When I started research for this episode, I thought we would focus on the beginnings of the cult leader Asahara. But instead, everything I was looking at brought me to think more about the context that would allow and nurture a cult like Aum. We have to go back in time, looking at the restrictions Meji era Japan (1868 - 1912) put on religion in an effort to prop up the emperor as a deity to understand what freedom of religion meant for an oppressed nation when the constitution came into effect in 1947.

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Watch Now: https://youtu.be/TiGeOgEDhjY

Listen Now:

Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/before-after-aum

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/78DaqYT1UtrzN0UwggDiRp

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/hk/podcast/before-after-aum/id1503524725

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our podcast. Please rate and review; it helps other people find us. But the best way, is to tell your friends. In the next episode, we’ll move onto the early years of Shoko Asahara. If you are able, please consider supporting us by becoming a paid subscriber. All funds go towards finishing the film The Cult Leader and Me.

June 22, 1982, Deputy Detective Takeo Shiroiwa arrives at the gate of 27 year old Chizuo Matsumoto’s home and rings the buzzer, search warrant in hand. This is a short episode including Atsushi and Pearl recreating the interrogation.

Listen Now (& Rate and Review!):

Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/before-after-aum

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/hk/podcast/before-after-aum/id1503524725

Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/before-after-aum-1088487

Youtube:

Corrections: The Nova Scotia killings murdered 22 people, not 14 as stated, on April 18-19, 2020.

Music: Alone Once Again, by Daniel Birch with modification

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our podcast. Please rate and review; it helps other people find us. But the best way, is to tell your friends. In the next episode, we’ll move onto Chizuo’s first police interrogation and his introduction to Agon-Shu. If you are able, please consider supporting us by becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter or on Patreon. All funds go towards finishing the film The Cult Leader and Me.

Welcome to our first bonus episode! Director Atsushi Sakahara (and a little bit of Pearl Chan) speak to Cintia Gil, director of the Sheffield Doc Fest on the process behind the film. This is part 1 of 2; part 2 will be on the process behind the festival! Me and the Cult Leader is world premiering at Sheffield Doc Fest's virtual 2020 edition and available in the #UK from June 10 - July 10. Catch it if you can!

Listen Now (& Rate and Review!)

Video of the Q&A:

Pocket Cast: https://pca.st/8es9u6lt

Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/befo...

Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/hk/podcast...

Podchaser: https://www.podchaser.com/podcasts/be...

Thank you for taking the time to listen to our podcast. Please rate and review; it helps other people find us. But the best way is to tell your friends. In the next episode, we’ll move onto the first days of Aum Shinrikyo. If you are able, please consider supporting us by becoming a paid subscriber to our newsletter or on Patreon. All funds go towards finishing the film The Cult Leader and Me. Find us on twitter at @beforeafteraum.