Capital Celluloid 2022 — Day 253: Tue Sep 13

The Shiranui Sea (Tsuchimoto, 1975): ICA Cinema, 6.30pm

This 16mm presentation is part of the ICA Cinema retrospective devoted to the great Japanese documentary filmmaker Noriaki Tsuchimoto (full details here).

ICA introduction:
After the first compensations had been paid, Tsuchimoto turned his camera to the sea and to the reality of people’s daily affected lives and struggles with Minamata disease. The sea that carried the disease also provided the livelihood of these populations, who for generations had relied on traditional fishing for sustenance.The film establishes a comprehensive report about the Minamata situation throughout the years. There is a great sensibility in the way Tsuchimoto draws a portrait of these people, who tell about their experiences and expectations for the future, as they live with the disease and carry on with their lives. The Shiranui Sea is a lyrical tribute to the people’s resilience; a film of healing that establishes the caring dimension of Tsuchimoto’s cinema: a time-honed and collaborative way of filmmaking, deeply sensitive and alert. This screening opens with an introduction by Ricardo Matos Cabo.

The Shiranui Sea is a transcendent film in its lyrical evocation of place, in its formal audaciousness, in the sensitivity and firmness of its approach to its human subjects, and in the beauty of the tribute it pays to humanity revealing itself under extreme conditions.” Chris Fujiwa

Here (and above) is the trailer.

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