Directing
The Okura family has 650 years of history as performers of Japan's traditional stage art, Kyogen. One winter, Motonari Okura and his son, Yasunari, head off to undertake training in an isolated mountain resort. Motonari is determined to get Yasunari accustomed to the strict regime which includes rehearsing and cleaning. Yasunari is hurt by his father's severe attitude and almost gives up on training. One day, they are visited by an old friend and his granddaughter, Sakiko.
A documentary film taking up the long-living giant Baobab trees as its theme. It is shot by photographer Motohashi Seiichi, known as the director of Alexei and the Spring (Alexei to Izumi) and others. Set in Senegal in West Africa, where modernization in urban areas is advancing and the Baobab trees, which used to be worshipped, are now being logged, the work closely depicts life in the humble village of Touba Toul, where people continue to lead a traditional lifestyle. It is a brilliant film subtly featuring the coexistence of mankind and nature through the modest life of Modou, a 12-year old boy who is the second son of a big family.
A documentary by Nobuo Ōnishi, who follows the people living in the area where Tokuyama Dam is planned to be built. In 1957, talk arose that Japan's largest dam would be built in Tokuyama Village, Gifu Prefecture. While the residents moved to new locations, some elderly families returned to Tokuyama Village, wanting to continue living there for as long as possible. Ōnishi, who grew up in the Ibi District, was fascinated by the lives of those elderly people and continued to photograph them for 15 years until the village sank to the bottom of the dam.
