Message from the Co-directors on UPAF2011 poster:
“We are not a regular film festival. We want to share the powerful films made by our fellow filmmakers in the world that could change all of our lives.
Japan is just hanging in there this year. This year, our mini-themes are Nuclear and Us, young people, our cities and towns, and power of film, all supported by our underlying theme of “life, art, film.”
This year was a sad sad year. Our mini-themes were originally “towns and cities” and “power of film,” but after the 3.11. Fukushima disaster, we gradually started wanting to create a space where people can express and talk about the doubts and fears that every Japanese person carries in post-Fukushima Japan. Thus we decided to add “Nuclear and Us” as one of our mini-themes. The result is the screenings of: “Into the Eternity,” a documentary film about the Onkalo spent nuclear fuel repository in Finland: “Hibakusha and I,” a documentary in which a young Japanese filmmaker questions about how he should pass on the memories of hibakusha, the victims of A-bombs in Hiroshima and Nagasaki: and “Black Rain,” a Shohei Imamura’s drama that tried to recreate the fear of A-bomb and its aftermath. There will be extended time allotted to the post-film talk after the outdoor screening of “Into the Eternity” with special guest Takashi Asai from Shibuya Uplink, the film’s distributor.
UPAF 2011 also will include: a documentary about a rap duo born and living in a cell of Rio’s notorious prison, a documentary-drama fusion dealing with the massive migration of workers in China and the resulting loss of family bond (both are by female directors!); a rare, groovy, and magical drama of an African-Canadian family in Canada, a self-documentary by a young Japanese filmmaker tackling her own issues of being a victim of sexual assault within her own family; strong films made by teen filmmakers in the world (free!), etc. Also, to cheer up the sensitive minds of little children in post-3.11. Japan, we will also screen the French classics, “Red Balloon” and “White Mane,” with a special live voiceover performance by volunteer actors.
