AFW + NFSA #46: Solrun Hoaas – The ‘Hatoma’ films

8pm Thursday, March 28, 2 Kerr St Fitzroy

Waiting for Water (1981, 27 mins, 16mm, colour, sound)

The first in a loose trilogy of ethnographic films made on the small, depopulated island of Hatoma in Okinawa, Japan. A documentary on daily life on the island using a combination of diary narration and subtitles. The film uses an ebb-and-flow structure to capture the recurring events and images of life on an island that once had over 600 people, but has now a little over 40, due to the move to the cities "for the sake of the children's education."

The Priestess, the Storekeeper (1983, 30 mins, 16mm, colour, sound)

Examines one of the island's remaining priestesses, the relationship between the island people's spiritual lives, the fabric of their daily activities and the slow decay of their environment.

Sacred Vandals (1984, 56 mins, 16mm, colour, sound)

The third film focuses on Okinawan women who follow their obsessions; taking dreams and illnesses as signs that they must find places in nature - rocks, trees, groves - that have special connection with their ancestors. They challenge the established order of things and exert their spiritual power and leadership through subversive means. The film focuses on three women, all of whom left the island long ago, but still retain a strong attachment to it, and return to it regularly to perform their rituals.

All films courtesy NFSA