MAELSTROM

Renewed Run for Award-winning Documentary

Venue: Uplink Kichijoji
May 10 (Fri) to May 23 (Thu), 2024
Official website: bit.ly/40P7BW9
Theater website: joji.uplink.co.jp/
Theater website: joji.uplink.co.jp/map
Trailer: https://bit.ly/3GeashK
Tariff: General: ¥2,000, Youth (19-22): ¥1,300, Under 18: ¥1,100, Under 15: ¥800, Senior: ¥1,300, People with handicap certificate: ¥1,000, and many special discounts.
Advance tickets: Visit theatre site for details.
Talk event: Check official site.

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

This beautifully collaged documentary by artist-filmmaker Mizuko Yamaoka first hit theaters in 2023, but following a string of awards and honors — such as inclusion on venerable film magazine Kinema Junpo’s Best Ten Cultural Films list earlier this year, it is returning to Uplink Kichijoji from Friday with English subtitles. A deeply humanist story about overcoming devastating loss and rediscovering self-worth through creative expression, Maelstrom explores Yamaoka’s 20-year journey to independence and self-actualization, despite the many barriers imposed by being a woman in a wheelchair and in Japan, where personal freedoms are so often curtailed.

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.

Maelstrom, マエルストロム
Director: Mizuko Yamaoka, 79 min,
English with English subtitles

Eventually, she sets up a camera and begins documenting her life, often overcome by the “maelstrom” of her day-to-day existence, but also eager to find her place in the world. Yamaoka’s intimate documentary is sometimes difficult to watch as she traces her arduous journey, but her belief in the healing power of art and her indomitable spirit shine through.

Exhibition

Artworks from the Documentary film "Maelstrom" by MIZUKO YAMAOKA

Venue:
Uplink Gallery space
Uplink ギャラリースペース
Date: May 2 (Thu) - May 23 (Thu), 2024

Uplink Kichijoji

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