Rising Tides—The documentary films of Tsuchimoto Noriaki
The great Japanese documentarian TsuchimotoNoriaki dedicatedmuch of his career to making films about the small fishing communitiesaffected by mercuryindustrial pollution in the Minamata area. Throughout the years, his approach to filmmakingchanged in response to the struggle and needs of the people whoselives were affected by this disaster and by the neglect from the authorities. Tsuchimoto's practice has been called "symbiotic" in the way it related closely to the people and their environment. This illustrated talk will provide an introductory overview of his filmography. It will focus on how environmentalconcerns have shapedhis work from his veryearly films onwards, and how these have evolvedthroughout the years, embodying a form of caring, activism and political critique thatis as relevant today as it was then.
Ricardo Matos Cabo is an independent film programmer. Recent projects include retrospectives of the work of Danièle Huillet and Jean-Marie Straub (London, 2019), Tsuchimoto Noriaki (Courtisane. Ghent, 2019), Ogawa Shinsuke and Ogawa Pro (Cinéma du réel, Galerie du Jeu de Paume, Paris, 2018), several co-curated programmes for The Essay film festival in London (EsfirShub, Babette Mangolte, Kidlat Tahimik, Mani Kaul, Günter Peter Straschek), and contributions to the documentary strand of the London Korean Film Festival. He has edited a monograph on the films of Portuguese filmmaker Pedro Costa ("Cem Mil Cigarros", 2009).
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