Synopsis (Brief Description)
“air” takes place in a taxi with a 60-year-old driver, while traveling, observing and intimately conversing of the inescapable fact of life after the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. While busy streets of Tokyo swamp the sky of an unknown suspense, trees survived the atomic bombing of Hiroshima evokes a hope.
Music:
(inspiration - Aya Nishina)
“Air” Composed by Toru Takemitsu
from the album, “武満徹全集2 器楽曲、合唱曲”
“Humoreske, Op. 20, I. Einfach” by Schumann
“The Dorian Horizon” Composed by Toru Takemitsu
from the album, “武満徹全集 第1巻 管弦楽曲”
“Londonderry Air” Composed by Toru Takemitsu
from the album, “武満徹全集2 器楽曲、合唱曲”
Director Statement:
It begins with a question, “Do you think the radiation is heavy here?”
This film was inspired by a composition by Toru Takemitsu, called, “Air” whose melodies captivate a meta-narrative of this film, an uncertainty over the crowded streets of Tokyo’s colorful metropolis and lingers into the Fukushima city even more vividly.
“air” is an homage to Abbas Kiarostami whose Koker trilogy and it’s theme, the preciousness of life. As in Kiarostami’s films, “air” takes places in a taxi on the devastated roads in Fukushima after the nuclear disaster in 2011. The intimate conversations with a 66-year-old taxi driver wander about current states of Fukushima, the 9.11 event, the atomic bombing of Hiroshima, radiation and so on. “air” is not comprehensive research of the situations in Fukushima, but an intimate testimony of an inescapable fact of life after disaster.
The shooting of “air” was done improvisationally within two weeks of my stay in Japan traveling from Tokyo, Fukushima to Hiroshima. While expecting to interview a taxi driver for traveling different parts of Fukushima prefecture. Meeting Mr. Yasuichi Tochitsubo was as random as just catching a next one at taxi stop. However, it is his character that gives joy to such a heavy issues and we ended up bonding and laughing on the journey. Mr. Tochitsubo ended up telling me that I do not have to pay at all for a trip that is worth, probably about $500 (traveling in a taxi is luxurious in Japan) since as a local resident, he enjoyed me and perhaps my intention of discovering what it’s like in Fukushima now. Of course, I did pay $300 slightly lower than what probably cost. It was his generosity that made the film alive.
We traveled through radiation heavy zones to places where we had no idea of how bad the radiation was. Of course, I forgot to bring my friend’s Geiger counter that day and without it, citizens will have no way of knowing, since the most of the places were totally unmonitored by the government or police with no sign or alert. This is a silence forced on citizens that I wanted to express, silence of not knowing, silence of not having ample information, for that we cannot see radiation at all with our eyes, but it can very well be in the air.
As I came back to my hometown in Hiroshima, I noticed the vast difference in the mood from the eastern to the western Japan, though Fukushima and Hiroshima are the both cites that experienced the nuclear disaster. As in Hiroshima, I have been working on various projects with Dr. Horiguchi, a caretaker of trees that survived the atomic bombing and I usually shoot some footage of him for future film projects. As I was filming him and Yuso who is growing one of these trees, I was struck by the vision, a connection possibly to draw an imaginative hope gesture in my film to an unsolvable situation.
Special Thanks:
Joel Kimbeck
Aya Nishina
Yoshi Saito
Rintaro Ono
Tomoko Ono
Yuuki Ono
Yuso Takesawa
Chikara Horiguchi
Takao Sunairi
Fumiko Sunairi
Yasuichi Tochitsubo
The Chugoku ShimBun (a newspaper in Hiroshima, Japan)
Translation: Being near the World Trade Center was scary but 2011 Tohoku earthquake, Tsunami and subsequent Fukushima radiation leak was so much more unnerving. This year, with his HD camcorder, Sunairi traveled to Fukushima and shot 8 hours of footage there. Sunairi born in Hiroshima, went to the US at 18, had created art works based on Hiroshima and the atomic bombing, 9.11 and memory. He saw people living care freely without any protection in places that are heavy with radiation. He said, “People there are forced silence without enough information and knowledge given.” Sunairi observed that people in his hometown, Hiroshima are indifferent about Fukushima’s situation and aims to make a film that will show what it’s like being there without narration or explanation. He will make it into artistic documentary film and intends to submit to the film festivals in the world.
“air” officially selected by
Canne Court Métrage - Festival de Cannes
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL’S Short Film Corner 2012
“air” officially selected by
Canne Court Métrage - Festival de Cannes
CANNES FILM FESTIVAL’S Short Film Corner 2012
