20-22 March 2015
Location: P3 art and environment / P3 Project Space　

For many people, the 11th of March 2011 was a day that they will never forget. In dedication to all those who had gone through the extreme experience of the major earthquake on that day, this Tohoku Documentary Trilogy (comprising a total of four parts) was shown during the higan week of Buddhist services in the spring.
In addition to the two directors, Sakai and Hamaguchi, Takashi Serizawa, the director of P3 and co-producer of this trilogy, also talked to Seiko Ito, who recounted the Great East Japan Earthquake by way of a supposedly inaudible voice in the novel Sozo Radio (Imagination Radio); Yofu Takizawa, the Tochoji Zen Temple’s head priest who has been looking to establish new relationships between Tokyo and the countryside by forming connections with temples in the Tohoku region; and Kazuko Ono, a central figure in the “Utau Hito” documentary. Each of them discuss the matter from their respective own points of view.

“Nami no Oto,” “Nami no Koe: Kesennuma/Shinchimachi” and “Utau Hito” are movies that the Sakai/Hamaguchi team carefully produced over the period of two years in the area afflicted by the Great East Japan Earthquake. They include almost no footage of the actual disaster. The first two volumes focus on family members, friends, colleagues and other persons close to the victims, who recall their individual experiences of the quake. By doing so, their past experiences are pulled into the present, so that time and space can be shared with familiar people, and it seems that they also reverberate with the viewers, who watch these movies now, another several years later. “Utau Hito,” the final installment, introduces the activities of Kazuko Ono from the Miyagi Minwa no kai. This is all about the interaction that one can feel between the narrator and those who listen and respond to her story. Once we can witness that mutual interaction between narrator and listeners, it is up to us to reflect on how we can pass that experience on, and to whom. 

“Nami no Oto”
http://silentvoice.or.jp/works/naminooto/

“Nami no Koe: Kesennuma/Shinchimachi”
http://silentvoice.or.jp/works/naminokoe/

“Utau Hito”
http://silentvoice.or.jp/works/utauhito/

Organized by: Tochoji Zen Temple
Produced by: P3 art and environment
Cooperation: silent voice