MAELSTROM

Overcoming Tragedy Through Artistic Expression

Venue: Yokohama Cinemarine
December 2 (Sat) to December 8, 2023: 13:50–15:10; After talk: 15:10-15:40
Official website: bit.ly/40P7BW9
Theater website: cinemarine.co.jp/movie-now/
Theater website: cinemarine.co.jp/
Trailer: https://bit.ly/3GeashK
Tariff:  General: ¥1,800, Students: ¥1,200, High school students: ¥800, Senior: ¥1,200, People with handicap certificate: ¥1,000, and many special discounts.
Advance tickets: Visit theatre site for details.
Talk event: Everyday after the film. Check official site.

Title: Maelstrom マエルストロム (Maelstrom)
Director: Mizuko Yamaoka (山岡瑞子)
Duration: 79 min

In this beautifully collaged documentary, Mizuko Yamaoka bares her past and present, and ponders her potential future as a woman who is determined to be independent — despite being in a wheelchair and in Japan, where personal freedoms are so often curtailed. Maelstrom is a deeply humanist story about overcoming devastating loss and rediscovering self-worth through creative expression. It will be screening in Yokohama with English subtitles for a week only, so mark your calendars. There is also a nearby gallery show, in conjunction with the screenings, so plan extra time for a visit.

The winner of the 2022 Japan Documentary Film Award, given biannually by the University of Pittsburgh's Japan Council and the Screenshot: Asia film festival, Yamaoka’s film details her early struggles to find artistic and personal freedom while attending the Pratt Institute in New York, before a drastic life change occurs when a car accident damages her cervical vertebrae. Confined to a wheelchair and forced to rely on others, Yamaoka feels her future in the art world slipping from her grasp.

Yokohama Cinemarine