The director of “Little Boy”, Mr. Alejandro Monteverde appeared on the screen via Skype, after its world premiere.

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The director of “Little Boy”, Mr. Alejandro Monteverde appeared on the screen via Skype, after its world premiere.

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2014/11/16

On November 16, 2014, a talk show with director Alejandro Monteverde (who was in Los Angeles) was held via Skype. During the talk show, his images were projected on the screen.

The talk show started after his latest American film “Little Boy” (started from 12:45 p.m. JST), which deals with the World War II. The MC was Ms. Naomi Itonaga (Hiroshima Telecasting Co., Ltd. announcer), and the interpreter was Ms. Pauline Baldwin. During the talk show, his voice came through occasionally. In spite of such an unexpected incident, director Monteverde talked via an international call and writing on his memo pad. His cooperation made a precious time in which we could directly hear director Monteverde’s voice.

“Little Boy” is a moving story about achieving the impossible, in which an American boy tries to bring his father, who is in World War II, back. This film (scheduled to be released in February of 2015 in the U.S) was screened as the world premiere. Director Monteverde talked about the reason why he chose Hiroshima as the place for the world premiere. “I heard a lot about war after I migrated from Mexico to the U.S. During the war, many people died and people have their own views on the war, which are different from each other depending on their positions. My brother lived in Japan, so Japan is an important country for me. In this film, there are images of the atomic bomb which was dropped on Hiroshima. I wanted people in Hiroshima to see this film”.

The title “Little Boy” is a nickname of the boy (main character), but also was the nickname of the atomic bomb, which was detonated above Hiroshima. Director Monteverde said “I was shocked to know that a horrible bomb like the atomic bomb had such a childish nickname. I developed a plan for the film for three years by mixing hatred caused by the war and bullying among children.”

This film carefully depicts a process in which a little boy grows up while being affected by the adults around him. Director Monteverde talked about his feeling toward the film, “I made a story about a little boy, because I wanted to tell people that education is the most important thing. In this film, I depicted how an innocent boy feels the reality of war by looking at the war from various points of view from his mother, a priest, a Japanese and others who give the little boy advice to overcome hatred.

Juvenile reporters (called junior writers for The Chugoku Newspaper, who collect news about peace and join events about peace) also joined the talk show. A high school student asked a question, "What do you think about atomic bombs?” Director Monteverde answered this question with his strong belief, “War does not generate anything good. It’s important to tell and spread this thought." This questions and answers session is to be released in the newspaper and the web site.
One of the audience asked “What was the most difficult thing in making this film?”. Director Monteverde answered, “Due to the rules, we can’t let kids to work over five hours per day. This caused some difficulty. However, I really like them because I have three kids." This answer heartwarmed the atmosphere of the talk show.
As with people in Hiroshima who saw the film for the first time in the world, it’s worth paying attention to how people in the rest of the world see the film “Little Boy.”