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Sumiko Haneda’s THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY (1982) in 16mm

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Please note: 6:00 PM start time

HAYACHINE NO FU (THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY, SUMIKO HANEDA, 1982, 186 min, 16mm courtesy of the Japan Foundation)

Filmmaker Sumiko Haneda’s epic independent documentary THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY (1982) invites viewers to inhabit the disappearing world of the farming communities around Mount Hayachine in northern Japan. Organized around the yearly kagura ritual in celebration of the mountain deity, the film intersperses captivating sequences of folk dance performances with passages of quiet observation and reflection upon the rapid transformations uprooting local economies and culture. Set against sweeping economic and social transformations, THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY attends closely to the granular details of the kagura’s dances, songs, and costumes, lending the film both humility and grandeur. As in her 1977 film USUZUMI NO SAKURA (THE CHERRY TREE WITH GREY BLOSSOMS), Haneda’s camera venerates places where deep cultural memory infuses the landscape, offering dignified representations of traditional labor and astonishing images of the natural world.

Born in 1925, Haneda made her first documentary, Women’s College in the Village, in 1958. As one of few female members on the roster of documentary film company Iwanami Productions, her work has enjoyed less attention than that of colleagues and kindred spirits like Shinsuke Ogawa and Noriachi Tsuchimoto. Nonetheless, THE POEM OF THE HAYACHINE VALLEY is one of the most remarkable accomplishments in all of nonfiction cinema, a work of great musicality, visual vitality, intelligence, and empathy. Screening in a rare 16mm print from the Japan Foundation, THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY offers a revelation and an affirmation of documentary’s lyrical possibilities.

Image: THE POEM OF HAYACHINE VALLEY (1982) 

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