TSUNAMI & THE CHERRY BLOSSOM
The Tsunami and
the Cherry Blossom
Directed by Lucy Walker · Photography: Aaron Phillips · Music: Moby · Academy Award Nominated
A visual poem about the ephemeral nature of life. Survivors of Japan's tsunami find the courage to rebuild as cherry blossom season begins. Beautiful, disturbing, and necessary.
"Human existence is a moment compared to nature."
— From the filmTonight I attended the React to Film screening for The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom — a film that does something very difficult: it holds grief and beauty at the same time, without letting either cancel the other.
The opening is actual footage of the tsunami as it approaches and destroys everything in its path. It is shocking and powerful, and it goes perfectly with that quote from one of the survivors. Human existence is a moment compared to nature. The film doesn't dwell on that moment. It moves through it.
What follows is a story about the sakura — cherry blossom — arriving after the devastation, and what it means to the people trying to find the courage to continue. The blossoms don't know what happened. They come anyway. The film understands that this is not consolation so much as context.
"There is no celebration to be had when over 15,000 people died. The film is steeped in so much sorrow as it progresses through the stages of shock, loss, grieving through to perseverance and courage and hope."
"I was already planning to be in Japan. I had been invited to a press junket in Tokyo to promote my film Countdown to Zero, about nuclear weapons — and I had accepted because I took very seriously the responsibility of presenting that film in Japan, given the history of Hiroshima and Nagasaki."
"I was also hoping to fulfil my lifelong dream of seeing the sakura. I was contemplating shooting a five-minute visual haiku. And then March 11th, 2011 happened."
"I've always been struck by both the visual and the symbolic image of the blossom. The blossoms are so brief and so sumptuous — I couldn't understand why people didn't write poems about it, paint pictures of it, just go all out revelling in it. It was only later when I visited Japan that I realised here was a whole country full of people as obsessed with the blossom as I was."
"The sakura zensen — the blossom progression front — is as closely followed in Japan as the football scores in Britain. The nightly news reports on it like the weather, complete with an elaborate technical vocabulary to indicate the precise percentage of bud opening."
"Our goal is simply that the film will be shared in positive ways to promote understanding, healing, and positive action. This film is dedicated to the survivors of the Tōhoku region."
"The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom is a beautiful film that shows, once again, how gracious and strong Japanese people are in the face of great tragedy. There is no dwelling on the horror of March 11th. There is a lot of video of the tsunami hitting the coastal communities, but the majority of the film deals with rebirth."
Lucy Walker is a filmmaker renowned for creating riveting character-driven nonfiction. Her films have won over 100 awards including two at Sundance and two at Berlin. They include Mountain Queen, Bring Your Own Brigade, The Crash Reel, Waste Land, Countdown to Zero, Blindsight and Devil's Playground.
For Netflix she directed and executive produced How To Change Your Mind. She was born in London and graduated from Oxford University before winning a Fulbright Scholarship to attend NYU's Graduate Film Program — where she supported herself with a successful career as a DJ.
"The blossoms come whether or not you are ready for them. That may be the whole point."
Explore the full Antakly Projects archive →Antakly Projects — originally Ninu Nina — has been documenting creative culture across film, music, art and photography since 2003.
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Human existence is a moment compared to nature. ✦
