CANCELLED Film Screening: Ari no Heitai (The Ants), 2009

Event details Date: Tuesday, October 20, 2026 Time: 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM Location: Rubenstein Library Holsti-Anderson Family Assembly Room 153 Type: Global / International About this event The series of screenings has been cancelled. We look forward to rescheduling in the future. Join us for the second program in Archives in Motion, a film series hosted by the Archive of Documentary Arts. This casual gathering offers students, staff, faculty and our greater campus community an opportunity to engage with films from the Archive. The selections have been chosen to extend and deepen conversations around the documentary exhibition, "WARphotography AMERICANimage", on display through mid-November. Bring your lunch. Desserts and drinks will be available. "Ari no Heitai (The Ants)", 2005 (101min) Directed by Ikeya Kaoru In Japanese with English subtitles Waichi Okumura was an "ant soldier" in the Japanese military, one who performed the lowest and dirtiest jobs in World War II. After Japan's surrender, he and 2600 other soldiers were ordered to stay behind to fight in China's civil war, not returning home until 1954. Now 80, he insists on clearing the record with the Japanese government, which claims that these soldiers volunteered to stay behind. Okumura returns to the killing fields in Shanxi Province and meets some of his former enemies. This film portrays the moral conviction of a man abandoned by his country after he had been taught to kill for it. Part of the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival collection and winner of the Center for Documentary Studies Filmmaker Award, 2007. Official event details: https://calendar.duke.edu/show?fq=id%3ACAL-8a002cbd-9fb2e569-01a0-396b34ef-00000459demobedework%40mysite.edu