SFIFF Day 1, Ticket 1

Strange and interesting things happen in film festivals. I bought a ticket for Half-Life in Fukushima. Before the film started they introduced a young spirited guy who said, "Wow this is a big crowd. Thanks for coming to my world premiere." The staff then announced that there would be a short documentary film (I mean 15-20 minutes) before the feature documentary started.
His film was called Valentina. It was about a documentary about little orphan goat that is adopted by a goat herder husband and wife. They are poor herders in Guanajuato, Mexico. They live in a humble cement hut but share it with the orphan goat. It also showed their way of life. Including that they loved eating rats and believed that had wonderful healing qualities the neighborhood would even have rat bbq parties. A humorous scene but also indicative of their poverty.
The filmmaker is Russian and moved around Latin American becoming fluent in Spanish. His English is almost without an accent also. He came upon the couple while in Guanajuato and worked out this sweet film in three visits. At the festival sometimes the creators are equally as interesting as their projects. I tried to find information about him and finally found 1 sentence which is below in the program description of the other film. His website of photography and film and it is a beautiful tribute to Latin America. See the little film clip on the site. Ben Guez's website .Click here for site
There is also an IMDB reference .Click here for IMDB link
Ticket 1 Film 2
Half-Life in Fukushima

Program description: "Half-life" is a term used to describe the radioactive decay of isotopes. It also characterizes the quality of existence of elderly Japanese farmer Naoto Matsumura. Five years after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster rendered the land of his ancestors a toxic stew, he refuses to leave it. Matsumura battles despondency and depression as he tends the region’s abandoned animals and negotiates survival in the radioactive red zone, a surreal ghost shell of what was once a thriving seaside city. Wandering through Fukushima’s abandoned downtown, he finds human contact in contamination suit-clad cleanup crews and explores the concrete ruins of the tsunami-shattered seawall. Directors Mark Olexa and Francesca Scalisi’s honed, introspective camerawork captures Matsumura’s journey in the comforting and ordinary rhythms of nature. The soothing sound of the sea and the soft winds blowing in the pastures create a false sense of optimism, but everything in this environment is poisoned, including the delicious mushrooms that carpet the surrounding forest. With minimal commentary and a graceful and sympathetic eye, Half-Life in Fukushima underlines the danger inherent in nuclear power in its depiction of Fukushima’s sinister remnants and Matsumura’s lonely last stand. Accompanying the documentary is Valentina, a strangely soothing, compassionate, and softly magical cinéma vérité short, in which an old couple in Mexico's remote Sierra Madres tend to their tribe of goats. —Gustavus Kundahl
The picture above is of Matsumura walking through the deserted town. The picture reminds me of a sheriff in an old fashioned western walking through a deserted town. The film has an apocalyptic feeling in that it is a full city abandoned with a few surviving animals and people. The government controls the entry and exit to this town and broadcasts loud messages to people there. Matsumura said after the radioactive accident everyone had to leave their homes as they were. The government said it would be about 10 years for people to return to their homes but Matsumura started coming back about 3 years afterwards. He loves the land and walks the streets and countryside. He goes to an overgrown abandoned golf course and clubs some balls. He walks to the train station and there are the platforms and stairs but weeds where the trains used to run.
The film did get a bit long in parts. I enjoyed seeing the Japanese homes and stores. He also met up with a few people who live there and are not supposed to including his dad. It was interesting seeing the traditional homes with the tatami mats and other small furniture. The film ended with Matsumura singing Karaoke. It was a song about someone that didn't have a great life but had moments he'd treasure. It was a bit funny watching this stern man throughout the film not speak and then break into a romantic song. I like that contrast in Japan.

Click Here for Documentary Trailer