2014

Intrigued by this strange collective, Barbara HAMMER set out to make this striking meditation on political passion and the gender dynamics in artist/activist collectives. Her wonderfully idiosyncratic documentary often uses random images from the films to stand for the collective's members, as if they were home movies. She encountered suspicion as a feminist, as a foreigner, and as a filmmaker who chose not to live and dwell with her subjects.

OGAWA plays with the conventions of the science documentary to investigate the damage inflicted by an unusual cold front, while penetrating deep into village history. In tiny Furuyashiki, he finds the entire history of Japan – from ancient sea creatures through the catastrophe of WWII to the quiet violence of the economic miracle. As an old man says, "We thought the paved road would bring modernity; instead, it made it easier for the young people to leave".