ABOUT
The Vow From Hiroshima is an intimate portrait of Setsuko Thurlow, a passionate survivor of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. She was 13 years old when the atomic bomb was dropped (in Hiroshima.) in 1945. Her moving story is told through the lens of her growing friendship with a second-generation survivor, Mitchie Takeuchi.
Setsuko was miraculously pulled out of a fiery building after the bomb was dropped and unable to save her other 27 classmates who were burned to death alive. That experience shaped her life forever and she endeavored to keep a pledge she made to her friends - that no one should ever again experience the same horrible fate.
The film follows Setsuko through her decades of activism up to the current moment when she finally achieves her dream of a Nuclear Weapons Ban Treaty.
THE CREW
Setsuko thurlow
Setsuko Thurlow is a Japanese–Canadian nuclear disarmament campaigner and Hibakusha who survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima on 6 August 1945. She is mostly known throughout the world for being a leading figure of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear weapons (ICAN) and to have given the acceptance speech for its reception of the 2017 Nobel peace prize.
SUSAN STRICKLER
Director, Producer
Susan Strickler, Director and Producer of The Vow from Hiroshima has been a successful director and producer of network soap operas. Directing over 750 hour-long episodes for shows like The Young and the Restless, Guiding Light, and Another World during her 22-year career, she has won both the Daytime Emmy Award and the Director’s Guild of America Award. As a Quaker and a feminist, Susan is passionate about bringing Setsuko’s inspiring story to as many people as possible.
MITCHIE TAKEUCHI
Writer, Producer
Mitchie Takeuchi is originally from Hiroshima and a long-time New York City resident. She has been a social entrepreneur, a writer and a filmmaker. Her grandfather, Dr. Ken Takeuchi, was the director of the Red Cross Hospital in Hiroshima when the city was leveled by the first use of an atomic bomb and he and her mother, Takako, survived.
Wanting to share what really happened under the mushroom cloud, Mitchie produced and co-wrote The Vow from Hiroshima, interweaving the life story of Hiroshima survivor and activist Setsuko Thurlow, intergenerational activism, and the historic negotiations of The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons. After the film had a successful year-long theatrical run in 19 cities in Japan, Mitchie received the 2021 Japan Film Renaissance Conference Peace Film Award.
Judd Blaise
Co-Producer/Editor
Judd Blaise has years of experience as an editor in both the documentary and commercial realms. Recent credits include the short documentary JOHN HEMMER AND THE SHOWGIRLS (dir. Kirsten Larvick), an award winner at the Rhode Island Film Festival. Television editing credits include episodes of the series INDIE SEX and IN THE LIFE, and promos for networks such as NatGeo Wild, Investigation Discovery, and the Hallmark Channel. He has also contributed in various roles to the post-production teams of documentaries such as GI JEWS: JEWISH AMERICANS IN WORLD WAR II, 32 PILLS: MY SISTER’S SUICIDE, THIS IS HOME, and KINGS POINT, as well as several episodes of AMERICAN EXPERIENCE.
