Forestry

Japan|2016|Colour|30 min|Digital|Japanese|Chi & Eng subtitles
16.02.2020 (Sun) 15:00 BC

Screening with Islands of Dreams

*Post-screening talk by Tetsuichiro Tsuta (In Japanese with Cantonese interpretation)

Dir: Tetsuichiro Tsuta
Scr: Tetsuichiro Tsuta, Masaya Kawamura
Cinematographer: Yutaka Aoki

Beep!—The sound of the alarm clock in a mountain cottage breaks through dawn as the young forestry worker starts her usual day. Apart from the physical labour work such as planting, logging and timber processing, she also ought to demonstrate her work to students paying a visit. Another piece using his hometown, Tokushima prefecture, as the backdrop after The Tale of Iya (2013), Director Tsuta has produced this docudrama in promotion of the local forestry industry. Despite its matter-of-fact narration and simple subject matter, the film surprises us with its profound message behind and its mythical touch in the end as inspired by Japanese folklores. Shot solely on 35mm colour films, Forestry had the director hopping through the steepest slopes carrying heavy filming equipment, like what he also did for The Tale of Iya. Through the texture of celluloid films, he conveyed a sense of tranquility with mountain sceneries of his hometown in wide shots. The daily lives of the villagers in the countryside of Shikoku are also recorded.

Tetsuichiro Tsuta (1984)
Born in Tokushima prefecture, Tsuta graduated from Department of Imaging Art, Faculty of Arts, Tokyo Polytechnic University. In his university years, he acquired his film developing and editing skills on the basis of celluloid filmmaking. The Tale of Iya (2013), his first feature film upon graduation was shot entirely on 35mm films and later selected in various film festivals both nationally and internationally, garnering a few awards.