Coming to NYC’s Stranger Than Fiction tonight, Thursday, April 19:
HAIKU ON A PLUM TREE
Director:
Mujah Maraini-Melehi
Premiere:
Rome 2016
Select Festivals:
Biografilm
About:
The filmmaker’s personal reflection on her grandparent’s imprisonment in Japan during WWII.
Maraini-Melehi’s maternal grandparents, Fosco and Topazia relocated from Italy to Japan in 1938. Living there as the world plunged into war, their loyalty to the Axis powers was demanded. When they refused to declare their allegiance, they and their children were placed in an internment camp for the duration, leaving lasting trauma which the filmmaker seeks to explore in her recounting. While she employs some creative animation and particularly benefits from Japanese dogugaeshi puppetry by the acclaimed Basil Twist, the material is too often far too specific, personal, and slowly paced to prove wholly engaging.
what (not) to doc 