Documentary backdrop image for Cotton Town, Please Respond (2025)

Documentary backdrop image for Cotton Town, Please Respond (2025)

202599 minPGdocumentary

Cotton Town, Please Respond

202599 minPGdocumentary

In Gamagori, Japan, local workers and entrepreneurs are launching initiatives to revitalize the economy amid a declining textile industry.

Genres

Director

Synopsis

In Gamagori, Japan, local workers and entrepreneurs are launching initiatives to revitalize the economy amid a declining textile industry.

People

Gen Iwamadirector

Synopsis

Gamagori, known as the town of Cotton, faces challenges in its textile industry. Gen Iwama’s documentary captures the struggles of local workers and entrepreneurs seeking methods to revive the declining sector. The film presents various efforts and initiatives in the community aimed at rejuvenating the economy tied to cotton production. It spans 99 minutes, depicting everyday life and the determination of those invested in the future of Gamagori.

Comments

What are people saying?

Play More Like This

The True Origin Of Cotton (2024)

The True Origin Of Cotton

One million people are forced into cotton fields each year in Uzbekistan, where the industry is tightly controlled by the state.

The True Origin Of Cotton

Underhand Tactics: The Cost of Cotton (2024)

Underhand Tactics: The Cost of Cotton

One million people are forced into cotton fields each year in Uzbekistan, where they face harsh quotas and potential punishment for not meeting targets.

Underhand Tactics: The Cost of Cotton

Wie der Jeans-Markt Afrika arm gemacht hat (Dokumentarfilm, 2001) (2017)

Wie der Jeans-Markt Afrika arm gemacht hat (Dokumentarfilm, 2001)

A Tanzanian cotton village experiences significant changes over two decades of liberalization and globalization, highlighting the impact of the global jeans market.

Wie der Jeans-Markt Afrika arm gemacht hat (Dokumentarfilm, 2001)

The Boy On The Bike - Japan (2011)

The Boy On The Bike - Japan

Rikuzentakata, a coastal city in Japan, experienced profound changes in its community and landscape following the devastating 2011 earthquake and tsunami.

The Boy On The Bike - Japan

Company Town: Inside the GM Oshawa Plant Closure (2025)

Company Town: Inside the GM Oshawa Plant Closure

General Motors plans to close its Oshawa plant, ending 100 years of automobile production and leaving the community grappling with job loss and uncertainty.

Company Town: Inside the GM Oshawa Plant Closure

Cotton Industry Secrets: How the 'Ethical' Cotton Industry is a Barbaric Cash Crop (2022)

Cotton Industry Secrets: How the 'Ethical' Cotton Industry is a Barbaric Cash Crop

The cotton industry, generating 37 billion euros annually, faces scrutiny over allegations of forced labor, pollution, and the ethics of 'responsible' cotton production.

Cotton Industry Secrets: How the 'Ethical' Cotton Industry is a Barbaric Cash Crop

Bio Baumwolle in Tansania - Ökologischer Anbau VS. Pestizide von Bayer, Novartis & Co. (2017)

Bio Baumwolle in Tansania - Ökologischer Anbau VS. Pestizide von Bayer, Novartis & Co.

Two Tanzanian villages illustrate contrasting fates in cotton production, with one relying on chemical agriculture facing debt, while the other thrives through organic practices.

Bio Baumwolle in Tansania - Ökologischer Anbau VS. Pestizide von Bayer, Novartis & Co.

Paper-Thin Houses: Living Inside a Machiya (2025)

Paper-Thin Houses: Living Inside a Machiya

In Kyoto, traditional machiya houses exemplify Japan's architectural heritage with their wooden structures, tatami floors, and inner gardens that reflect a harmonious lifestyle.

Paper-Thin Houses: Living Inside a Machiya

Traditional Japanese Weaving: A Delicate Art Inspired by Nature (2024)

Traditional Japanese Weaving: A Delicate Art Inspired by Nature

Akiko, a third-generation weaver, creates textiles from banana fiber and silk, using natural dyes sourced from the forest on Iriomote Island.

Traditional Japanese Weaving: A Delicate Art Inspired by Nature

The True Origin of Cotton (2025)

The True Origin of Cotton

The Better Cotton Initiative aims to promote ethical cotton production, yet the mixing of 'ethical' and conventional cotton raises concerns about sourcing transparency.

The True Origin of Cotton

Explore Cotton Town, Please Respond

Where else to watch

Waiting for the Carnival (2019)

Waiting for the Carnival

2019•1h25m•★8.2TMDB

Workers in Toritama, Brazil, face long hours in the textile industry, with only the annual Carnival providing a brief break from their demanding routines.

Waiting for the Carnival

Machines (2017)

Machines

2017•1h11m•★6.3TMDB

A massive textile factory in Gujarat, India, employs thousands of workers who face long hours of demanding physical labor each day.

Furuyashiki: A Japanese Village (1982)

Furuyashiki: A Japanese Village

1982•3h30m•★6.9TMDB

Furuyashiki Village in Japan faces a harsh cold spell impacting local agriculture, while director Shinsuke Ogawa explores its socio-political struggles and urban exodus.

Furuyashiki: A Japanese Village

Red Persimmons (2001)

Red Persimmons

2001•1h30m•★8.0TMDB

Villagers in Kaminoyama meticulously grow and process persimmons, a practice that reflects a centuries-old tradition now at risk of vanishing.

Dryads in a Snow Valley (2015)

Dryads in a Snow Valley

2015•1h40m•★6.0TMDB

A powerful earthquake struck the Nagano-Niigata border in spring 2011, destroying the Kogure family's home in Echigo-Tsumari, Japan.

Dryads in a Snow Valley

Browse more like this

The True Origin Of Cotton (2024)

The True Origin Of Cotton

One million people are forced into cotton fields each year in Uzbekistan, where the industry is tightly controlled by the state.

The True Origin Of Cotton

No digital watch option in your country

Company Town: Inside the GM Oshawa Plant Closure (2025)

Company Town: Inside the GM Oshawa Plant Closure

General Motors plans to close its Oshawa plant, ending 100 years of automobile production and leaving the community grappling with job loss and uncertainty.

Company Town: Inside the GM Oshawa Plant Closure

No digital watch option in your country

Cotton Industry Secrets: How the 'Ethical' Cotton Industry is a Barbaric Cash Crop (2022)

Cotton Industry Secrets: How the 'Ethical' Cotton Industry is a Barbaric Cash Crop

The cotton industry, generating 37 billion euros annually, faces scrutiny over allegations of forced labor, pollution, and the ethics of 'responsible' cotton production.

Cotton Industry Secrets: How the 'Ethical' Cotton Industry is a Barbaric Cash Crop

No digital watch option in your country

Paper-Thin Houses: Living Inside a Machiya (2025)

Paper-Thin Houses: Living Inside a Machiya

In Kyoto, traditional machiya houses exemplify Japan's architectural heritage with their wooden structures, tatami floors, and inner gardens that reflect a harmonious lifestyle.

Paper-Thin Houses: Living Inside a Machiya

No digital watch option in your country

The True Origin of Cotton (2025)

The True Origin of Cotton

The Better Cotton Initiative aims to promote ethical cotton production, yet the mixing of 'ethical' and conventional cotton raises concerns about sourcing transparency.

The True Origin of Cotton

No digital watch option in your country

Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags (2009)

Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags

2009•1h12m•★10.0TMDB

Thousands of immigrants found work in New York City's Garment District, which was once the vibrant heart of Midtown Manhattan.

Schmatta: Rags to Riches to Rags

The Golden Thread (2022)

The Golden Thread

2022•1h31m•★7.8TMDB

Millions of workers in Bengal depend on the jute industry, which has relied on 100-year-old machinery that continues to be repaired.

The Golden Thread

Magino Village: A Tale (1987)

Magino Village: A Tale

1987•3h42m•★6.8TMDB

Over a decade of footage captures the life and myths of Magino village, featuring reenactments of local stories and the cyclical nature of rice cultivation.

Magino Village: A Tale

Living on the River Agano (1992)

Living on the River Agano

1992•1h55m•★8.0TMDB

In 1964, a chemical factory dumped mercury into the Agano River, leading to widespread mercury poisoning and high incidences of Minamata disease among locals.

Living on the River Agano

Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions (2021)

Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions

2021•1h19m•★7.0TMDB

Four participants join a workshop in Rikuzentakata to document the town's recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami in 2011.

Double Layered Town / Making a Song to Replace Our Positions

Browse more by Gen Iwama

View all films →

The Past is Always New, the Future is Always Nostalgic: Photographer Daido Moriyama (2019)

The Past is Always New, the Future is Always Nostalgic: Photographer Daido Moriyama

2019

Is this your film?

If you made this film or hold the rights to it, we'd like to talk. We can license it and pay you a share of what it earns.

License it with us →