Listening to the air

In the organizer's words:

空に聞く Sora ni kiku

Director: KOMORI Haruka
2018, 73 minutes, OmeU

After the earthquake disaster in 2011, radio stations sprang up everywhere to support those in need. Abe Hiromi is the presenter of one of these stations, Rikuzentakata Saigai FM. The documentary portrays Abe, who herself lost her parents' house and the restaurant she ran with her husband in the tsunami. Every day, the presenter captures the voices and thoughts of the region's inhabitants and broadcasts them on the radio. Her careful research and considerate choice of words make her broadcasts well-known not only in the region, but throughout the country. Accompanying the reconstruction of the city, the film also shows the founding of a new community on land that has been filled in. Director Komori Haruka documents not only what people are talking about, but also what they are gradually forgetting.

Film series
Life after the disaster - documentaries from the Tôhoku region

On March 11, 2011, an earthquake and the subsequent tsunami destroyed large parts of the coastal regions of Tôhoku (north-eastern Japan), killing over 20,000 people or leaving many still missing. For filmmaker Komori Haruka (*1989), the disaster prompted her to relocate to the town of Rikuzentakata (Iwate Prefecture), which was almost completely destroyed by the tsunami, and to capture the effects of the disaster and the stories of the local population.

To mark the 13th anniversary of the disaster, the film series is showing three documentaries by the director, all of which were made in Rikuzentakata. Iki no ato follows a seed dealer whose business was swept away by the tsunami, while in Sora ni kiku a presenter captures people's thoughts and broadcasts them over the radio. Nijû no machi/Kôtaichi no uta o amu, a joint project with the writer and painter Seo Natsumi, shows a workshop whose participants themselves become a bridge between the past, present and future of the place.

The series is complemented by the films of the Tohoku Documentary Trilogy by directors Hamaguchi Ryûsuke and Sakai Kô, which were shot between 2011 and 2013 about the aftermath of the disaster.

Director Komori Haruka will be present in person at the screenings on March 16 and 18.

The film screenings and Komori Haruka's visit are being organized in cooperation with the Japanese Cultural Institute Paris and the Japan Foundation in Madrid.

Price information:

Admission free