A film about a family of Myanmar migrants in Japan and their complicated relationship with their homeland was honored at the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival last week for its international scope and for breaching cultural barriers.
Director Akio Fujimoto and his film “Passage of Life” were awarded the Spirit of Asia Award at the festival, which was held in Tokyo from October 25 to November 3. The award was by the Japan Foundation Asia Center, which promotes cultural exchanges between Japan and Southeast Asia.
The film is based on a true story about a Burmese family of four who fled to Japan in the wake of the 8888 Uprising and the subsequent military crackdown on pro-democracy protesters in 1988.
Like many Burmese people who fled at the time, the family at the center of “Passage of Life” arrived without visas. They yearn to return home, but they spend their days wondering how they will know when the right time to return comes. The film also explores the struggles of immigrant children to balance their desire to fit in with the pressure to hold on to several national identities.
“The thin line between reality and fiction in ‘Passage of Life’ brings out a delicate balance which allows the director to reveal a segment of Asian life that is as filled with challenge and difficulties as it is with compassion and hope,” said award commissioner Nick Deocampo.
Upon receiving the award, Fujimoto thanks the Japanese and Myanmar members of his cast and crew, praising them for coming together to make a film that would not have been able to capture its subjects’ experiences had it not been an international effort.
Along with a trophy, Fujimoto will receive a short trip to mainland Asia as part of the Spirit of Asia Award.
Fujimoto was born in 1988 and studied filmmaking at Visual Arts Osaka. “Passage of Life” was filmed in 2014 and is his first feature film. It is due to be screened simultaneously in Japan and Myanmar.
