My Dearest Sister
by Kyoka Tsukamoto
Received Standout Feature Film Cinematographer award at the 20th Reelworld Film Festival
Nominated for the female film award "Die Tilda" at the 34th Braunschweig International Film Festival
Official Selection of the 27th Raindance Film Festival
21st Montreal International Documentary Festival (RIDM)
37th Rendez-vous Québéc Cinéma
A filmmaker’s personal journey to reconnect with her sister, a successful potter living in the ruins of Fukushima is interlocked with her spiritual quest of bridging the East and the West, the feminine and the masculine, and the shadow and the light in her mind.
“…Contrasting environmental landscapes with physical and spiritual identities, Tsukamoto creates a tangential exploration of self-discovery…Tsukamoto demonstrates herself as a strong force, balancing many threads of questioning and form. A remarkable work that subverts the traditions of films like Chris Marker’s Sans Soleil, My Dearest Sister is one of the festival’s essential films. ” – Justine Smith, Cult Montreal
« Tsukamoto se révèle comme une force puissante, équilibrant la forme et le fond. Œuvre remarquable qui bouleverse les traditions filmiques comme Sans Soleil de Chris Marker, Ma sœur bien aimée est l’un des films incontournables du festival » - Justine Smith, Cult Montreal
“She alternates brilliantly, and tragically, between her personal and family story and that of her country, questioning the foundations of a society that tolerates and even encourages psychological and physical abuse. A deeply intimate self-portrait, with many flights of poetry and lyricism that become sources of healing.” – Bruno Dequen, RIDM
« La cinéaste alterne brillamment et tragiquement entre l’histoire personnelle et familiale et celle de son pays, afin de remettre en question les fondements d’une société qui tolère – et encourage - les abus psychologiques et physique. Un autoportrait profondément intime dans lequel les nombreux élans poétiques et lyriques deviennent source de guérison » – Bruno Dequen, RIDM
“Whilst Queen Himiko is a source of inspiration, and the Fukushima nuclear disaster the trigger for creation, here, the story of two sisters acts as a pretext to tell of many other things. And we spectators follow all of this aboard a train that drives us sometimes forwards, other times backwards, carried by the invisible course of destiny, side-by-side with the filmmaker upon her return to Japan, as she questions her identity: where can her true roots be found?” – Gabrielle Ouimet, Tënk's Artistic Director
« Alors que la reine est une source d’inspiration et le désastre nucléaire de Fukushima un élément déclencheur de création, l’histoire des deux sœurs agit plutôt comme prétexte pour raconter bien d’autres choses. Et nous, spectateurs et spectatrices, suivons tout cela à bord d’un train qui nous trimballe, parfois à l’avancée et d’autres fois à reculons, porté par l’invisible cours du destin, aux côtés de la cinéaste lors de son retour au Japon, aux côtés de son questionnement identitaire : où se trouvent ses vraies racines?» – Gabrielle Ouimet,
Directrice artistique de Tënk
Essay Documentary/ Autoethnographic Essay, 77min., HD & S8mm., Canada/Japan
Distribution format: DCP, ProRes422
Aspect ratio: 1920x1080
Sound Format: 5.1 and in stereo
Image by Claude Lafrance
Le parcours personnel d'une cinéaste cherchant à renouer avec sa sœur, une potière prospère vivant dans les ruines de Fukushima, est étroitement lié à sa quête spirituelle de rapprocher l'Orient et l'Occident, le féminin et le masculin, l'ombre et la lumière.
Director’s vision
The feature-length hybrid film explores categorical boundaries of film forms and searches for a new creative cinematic expression. It combines both categories of autoethnographic experimental and essay, as it layers both the main character’s personal history as well as a larger theme of a journey home. By dramatizing events and characters, I transformed the true personal story into a narrative.
Chaos ensues when trust is broken... by abuse, by lies, even by philosophical shifts. This is true of individual humans but also of whole societies.
We become disillusioned, we become angry, resentful and fill up with hate. We build psychological walls to protect ourselves and the light has more and more trouble to get in, so we mostly don't get to grow tall as we would in the sunlight, reaching for the sky.
Is there hope? For you or anyone?
credit
Cast: Kyoka Tsukamoto and Yuuka Bergman
Written by Kyoka Tsukamoto and Ingrid Berzins Leuzy
Directed by Kyoka Tsukamoto
Produced by Michel Ouellette and Kyoka Tsukamoto
Cinematographers: Pierre Tisseur, Claude Lafrance, Alex Margineanu, Kyoka Tsukamoto
Editor: Kyoka Tsukamoto
Story Editor: Howard Wiseman
Colorist: Sylvain Cossette
English version Narrated by Kyoka Tsukamoto
French version Narrated by Rosaalynn TT Nguyen
French version Translated by Serge Abiaad
Voice / Acting Coach: Judith Beny
Music by Kyoka Tsukamoto and Sarah Pagé
Harp: Sarah Pagé
Soprano: Soriane Renaud
Viola: Juan-Miguel Hernandez
Piano: Kyoka Tsukamoto
Sound Mix: Eric LeMoyne
Music Mix: Pierre Côté
Costume: Dinh Ba Design
Kimono Coordinator: MASANO and Yukiko Yamada