Forks-area residents will have an opportunity to learn more about the potential effects debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami are likely to have on our pristine Washington coastline when Peninsula College in Forks screens Ikkatsu: the Roadless Coast at the Forks Extension Site on Friday, March 1. The film will begin at 7:00 pm.

Screenwriter and kayaker Ken Campbell will be present and will participate in a  discussion immediately following the showing of the documentary. Campbell has authored several books on Pacific Northwest kayaking and is a frequent contributor to print and online magazines on subjects relating to the outdoors and the environment.

Ikkatsu follows a small group of skilled sea-kayakers who set out to document the debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami as it began to come ashore along the remote and roadless Washington coast. Over the course of the summer, the team filmed their paddling adventures as well as the beach survey processes, and the result is a 40-minute documentary that details every aspect of the project, from inception to completion.

The film includes the human interest side as well as scientific and ecological elements. Compelling footage shows pieces of a Japanese house that were found at one northern peninsula beach and a soccer ball that came from a small village near Sendai that was found on another, bringing home the human cost in a way that little else can.

The title, Ikkatsu, is a Japanese word meaning "united as one." To the individuals who participated in the making of the documentary, the project was an attempt to understand how all of us are connected, and how something that happens far from us can still affect our lives. As the film’s website notes, "The vast expanse of the oceans doesn’t keep us apart; it is what joins us together."

Donations will be appreciated in lieu of an admission charge. 

For more information on the film, please call (360) 374-3223.

For updates on the Ikkatsu Project, check http://ikkatsuproject.org.