Added to inquiry!
MOVIE

The Gift of Pachamama

MOVIE 2009 103 min Episode(s): 1 japanese, english Other
2009 Washington DC Independent Film Festival Grand Jury Award: Best Feature Film
2009 Minneapolis-St. Paul International Film Festival Best Cinematography Award


On Bolivia’s vast salt flats, 13-year-old Kunturi helps his close-knit Quechua family hand-cut salt bricks, trading them for necessities in a life deeply tied to the land. When his grandmother falls ill, Kunturi joins his father on a nearly three-month journey along the ancient Ruta de la Sal. Their first stop: the Potosí mines, seeking a friend’s long-lost father. As they travel, Kunturi encounters hardship, resilience, and reverence for Pachamama, Andean “Mother Earth”. Amid tragedy and wonder, he begins to confront the complexities of adulthood- facing death, suffering, and, most tenderly, the stirrings of his first love.
Click here to preview the program!

  •  

    Oni-kenbai: Prayer in Motion
    2012 30 mins

    The Oni-kenbai demon sword dance has been passed down from fathers to sons to grandchildren, with no additions or amendments for generations. Not simply a dance to pray for happiness, it's to ensure the spirits of ancestors of both dancers and viewers are kept alive, while driving away evil. This...
    more details
  •  

    Live! Just Live!
    2025

    2025 World Media Festivals: Silver Thirteen years after the Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear power plant accident, mental health issues such as delayed-onset PTSD have been on the rise in Fukushima. Dr. Aritsuka spends his days listening to the voices of many patients. Mr. Yonekura, from the NPO...
    more details
  •  

    1300 Years of Prayers The Rebirth of the East Pagoda
    2023 55 min.

    Yakushiji Temple is a World Heritage site in Nara. Its East Pagoda is a National Treasure of Japan and the only remaining building from the Heijo-kyo capital, built in the year 730. Yet due to severe deterioration and the potential threat of earthquakes, it became necessary for it to be...
    more details
  •  

    The Life Work of a 92-Year-Old Hibakusha, Setsuko Thurlow
    2024 25 minutes

    At the age of 13, Setsuko Thurlow experienced the atomic bombing in Hiroshima. Now living in Canada, she has spent more than half a century advocating for nuclear disarmament. At 92 years old, she continues to press forward in her mission. This program closely follows her life in Canada, documenting...
    more details