In the aftermath of the devastating 2011 Japanese earthquake and resultant tsunami, strangers attempt to build a bridge of memory by locating the owners of the debris that washes ashore across the expanse of the Pacific Ocean.
The footage of the March 11, 2011 catastrophe became immediately well-known, with 20,000 casualties and whole villages claimed by the sea. Over the past two years, 25 million tons of debris has slowly been floating across the ocean toward North America. Among this flotsam are people’s memories. Directors Nicolina Lanni and John Choi’s film aims to follow the various individuals locating these lost objects – beachcombers, water sports aficionados, scientists – as they identify their finds and attempt to reunite them with their owners. In so doing, they hope to provide a sense of hope and a connection with a past completely uprooted by natural disaster.
Lanni and Choi have less than three weeks left in their Doc Ignite crowdfunding campaign through Hot Docs. They’ve raised nearly 40% of their $30,000 goal for production funding, so they can still use help. To keep updated on the project, visit its website.
While a cynic may wonder what the point is in trying to return a broken, worn out thing to someone who may have lost loved ones, and likely lost pretty much everything else of a material nature, in a disaster of this magnitude, that sentiment misses the point. Lanni and Choi’s project, or more accurately, their subjects’ project, is not simply about returning stuff to tsunami victims – these artifacts are no doubt “worthless” from a monetary standpoint, but what they can represent to them may be priceless. To some extent, all of us imbue special significance in at least some of our possessions, whether it’s a memento of a landmark event or a gift given to us by someone special. If one loses all of these things, as many of the Japanese here did, being able to reclaim even something as seemingly insignificant as a child’s sandal or a deflated soccer ball can mean everything. I’m intrigued by what the filmmakers will find, and how they’ll convey the stories behind the objects and their import to both the finders and the seekers.
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