JF Theatre (Film screenings) in November 2016: Family

As we mourn the passing of the His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej with our remembrance of His boundless graciousness, the Japan Foundation, Bangkok would like to inform that the screening of JF Theatre on every Friday will be temporarily paused for one month. The screening of JF Theatre will be resumed on Friday 18th November 2016.

Yumiko Yano, with sons Atsushi and Toki, travels from her home in Tokyo with to her late husband’s parents’ home, a mountain village in the south of Taiwan. Having been raised in the big city, the boys are wide-eyed at the verdant rural scenery. Atsushi is strongly conscious that in ethnocentric Japan he is ‘different’. Setting out on a journey aboard an old-fashioned hand-powered ‘rail truck’, Atsushi discovers a world outside of his family and his school, and is forced to confront the question of what it means to be both an ‘elder brother’ and a ‘son’.

As we mourn the passing of the His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej with our remembrance of His boundless graciousness, the Japan Foundation, Bangkok would like to inform that the screening of JF Theatre on every Friday will be temporarily paused for one month. The screening of JF Theatre will be resumed on Friday 18th November 2016.

In a beautiful. Remote Village on the Shimanto river, traditional rural lifestile ebbs away, Slowly but surely. The Shimanto River [Kochi Prefecture, Shikoku island] is affectionalety Know in Japan as the last backwater of rural legend and superstition. In 1959, a boy name Atsuyoshi go up along the river, catching eels, watching the night boats attract fish, and running along the forest paths. Then nature intervenes. The disastrous Isewan Typhoon of 1959 wreaks havoc on the Shimanto river valley. Many home are washed away, as well as Atsu’s home.The shattered family nevertheless tries to make a comeback, and his father goes to find work again. Full of resignation, Asu and his father trudge along the river road leadind out of town. In the background, heavy machinery dredges the once pristine river, taking over the work that villagers once did with their bare hands.

Adapted from epic novel by SUMII Sue, this film tells about the “eta” or “burakumin,” people ethnically Japanese but defined in feudal times as “unclean” and “non-human”. The story is about the way they live, the way they are treated and the way they rise to ask for their equal rights. Director HIGASHI Yoichi, with his background in documentary film, presents his film in a most realistic point of view. Also this film produces is in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the founding of the League’s predecessor, the Levelers Association.

Renko’s parents decide to separate, and she starts to feel uneasy when her mother draws up a strict contract for their lives. She tries in vain to bring her parents back together. Wandering around town she runs into a strange old man who talks to her about the need to forget the past. How can she make up her mind?