In 1968, American filmmaker Eric Barnouw learned that a Japanese filmmaker, Akira Iwasaki, visited Hiroshima and Nagasaki to film the immediate aftermath of the bombings. The U.S military at first forced Iwasaki to halt filming but then ordered him to continue.

The footage was suppressed for decades before Erik Barnouw received a letter from an environmentalist named Lucy Lemann alerting him to the existence of the material. Barnouw obtained the footage from the National Archives and then the footage down to this short film. It remains one of the most chilling documents from the atomic bombings.

This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD.