Fears of a future clouded by nuclear fallout and state-sponsored mind control have been captured on film by a group of Japanese directors who were tasked with presenting their visions of where life in their country was headed. The "Ten Years Japan" omnibus has made its world
Fears of a future clouded by nuclear fallout and state-sponsored mind control have been captured on film by a group of Japanese directors who were tasked with presenting their visions of where life in their country was headed.
The « Ten Years Japan » omnibus has made its world premiere at the 23rd Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), the region’s largest movie industry gathering, and it follows on from similar projects produced out of Hong Kong, Thailand and Taiwan.
“We have so many dimensions when it comes to social issues in Japan, we made it clear to the filmmakers we wanted their take on what exactly it is that they see as the problems,” explained Japanese producer Miyuki Takamatsu, who instigated the pan-Asian project.
The five-part « Ten Years Japan » imagines citizens living underground to escape nuclear fallout –- but dreaming of life in the sun –- as well as coping under constant surveillance and with messages being transmitted into their brains via an implant.
It also looks at how Japan might end up dealing with its rapidly ageing population, while other chapters focus on a daughter tapping into her deceased mother’s digital data, and on life in Japan during a future war time. The production features work from directors Chie Hayakawa, Yusuke Kinoshita, Megumi Tsuno, Akiyo Fujimura and Kei Ishikawa.
“We wanted to discover new talent,” said Takamatsu. “We thought it would be a good challenge to see who could produce films for this difficult topic and here we are, we have found them.”
The original film in the « Ten Years » series came out of Hong Kong in 2015 and painted a bleak picture of the city under Chinese control.
