Tohoku Documentary Trilogy, Storytellers

In the organizer's words:

東北記録映画三部作 うたうひと
Tôhoku kirokueiga sanbusaku, Utau hito

Director: SAKAI Kô, HAMAGUCHI Ryûsuke
2013, 120 minutes, OmeU, Blu-ray

The third part of the Tôhoku trilogy is influenced by the folk tales (Minwa) from north-eastern Japan. Their sagas, legends and everyday tales have regional characteristics and create a new world in which fantastic creatures such as animals, ghosts and demons appear. Their individual characters are born out of the most diverse experiences of their ancestors. In the film, the narrators Satô Reiko from Kurihara, Itô Masako from Tome and Sasaki Ken from Rifu meet Ono Kazuko from the Miyagi minwa no kai ("Society of Folk Tales from Miyagi") and bring several stories to life. The camera captures this encounter between "storyteller" and "listener" in a haunting way, creating a medium of tradition that transcends the boundaries of film and minwa.

Film series
Life after the disaster - documentary films 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