BONUTA

BON-UTA, A SONG FROM HOME -MOVIE
In Japanese with English Subtitles, 134 min. © 2018 Telecom Staff Inc.
Film Festivals, Awards 2018 TOKYO FILMeX

The film structures connections between Hawaii and Fukushima, Japan, and the Japanese immigrants’ history through songs and music.

Nakae Yuji of Nabbie’s Love directs this documentary about the people of Futaba, a town located in Japan’s Fukushima Prefecture, as they fight to save a generations-old tradition in the wake of 2011’s earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster. By 2015, with the community scattered and recovering, townspeople began to realize that their beloved “bon uta” would cease to exist unless they took action. A glimmer of hope is seen when they hear the story of Fukushima Ondo, another type of “bon uta” which continues to be enthusiastically performed and preserved through the efforts of Japanese Americans whose ancestors had emigrated from Fukushima to Hawaii over a hundred years ago. Encouraged by the story, the people of Futaba travel to Maui, Hawaii to see for themselves how a centuries-old tradition has been passed down to the current generation.

Director Yuji Nakae is a Japanese film director who specializes in films set in Okinawa, featuring Okinawan music, language, themes and atmosphere. He shared the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award for his debut film, Pineapple Tours, He won the award for Best Director at the 25th Hochi Film Award for Nabbie’s Love.Bon-Uta is his 8th film.
Filmography Pineapple Tours (1992), Nabbie’s Love (2000), Hotel Hibisucus (2004), etc

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