Tsuchimoto was one of the first Iwanami-related directors to go independent. In 1965, he began a documentary for television on an exchange student who was under threat of being deported back to Malaysia, despite the fact he would likely be punished for his political activities upon his return. The network withdrew when problems arose with the Malaysian government, but Tsuchimoto decided to make the film,
Exchange Student Chua Swee Lin, anyway. Gathering donations, he placed his camera firmly on the student's side and eventually prevented the deportation. In Nornes's words, "This is a movie that started a movement rather than represented it," and became a model for later committed independent documentary. Tsuchimoto this time dedicated himself to working with the victims. In the first, and most famous film in the series,
Minamata: The Victims and Their World (1971), he let the victims speak for themselves, giving their side of the story, which was not being represented in the mass media or recognized by
Chisso, the polluter, and the government. He did not just show their plight to others, but worked to show his films in the area to educate other victims. Some films in the series, such
Minamata Disease: A Trilogy, were primarily focused on the medical issues of Minamata disease, not just the politics. And as in
Minamata: The Victims and Their World and
The Shiranui Sea (1975), he did not look on the victims as objects of pity or agents of protest, but endeavored to understand their world, finding in their struggle to maintain their close relationship with the sea and their traditional ways of living, much of which had been upset by environmental pollution, "the original figure of humanity." Tsuchimoto made around a dozen films about Minamata, but he also worked on many other subjects, ranging from the poet
Shigeharu Nakano to the plight of
Koreans in Japan. A number of his films extended in concerns with pollution, the sea, and the costs of political oppression and modernization by exploring the
atomic bomb and
nuclear energy. He was also interested in
Afghanistan, and made three films about that country before the
Taliban, such as
Afghan Spring and
Another Afghanistan: Kabul Diary 1985. He also published several books and was a featured filmmaker at the 2003
Flaherty Seminar. He died of lung cancer on 24 June 2008. == Selected filmography ==