Hijiori Onsen in Snow
(Yuki no Hijiori Onsen)- JAPAN / 1976 / Japanese / Color / Digital File (Original: 16mm) / 9 min
Director: Hatano Katsuhiko
Planning: Okura Village Hijiori Onsen
Source: Okura Village Board of Education
This tourism PR film was produced to introduce the charms of the hot spring resort Hijiori Onsen throughout the four seasons. Around 1975, the village-run Yunodai Ski Resort opened and the area buzzed with people. The film also offers a view of what Hijiori winters were in an older era, through the snowy scenes of Jizokura and Komatsubuchi, and in the faces of people strolling along the onsen streets.
Hijiori Onsen and Prince Nobuhito
(Hijiori Onsen to Miya-sama)- JAPAN / Production Year Unknown / Color / Silent / Digital File (Original: 16mm) / 11 min
Source: Okura Village Board of Education
This film records the first visit to Hijiori by Prince Takamatsu-no-miya Nobuhito, the third son of the Taisho Emperor, in 1958. We see a utopia: the scenic splendor of rows of thatch-roofed wooden inns surrounded by mountains. The natural beauty shot in vivid color lets us hear the sound of the wind, water, and even the hustle and bustle of the people.
Open Up and Be Amazed! Yamagata Gem Box
- Supported by: Yokocine D.I.A. Inc.
The preservation of moving images has an important meaning in terms of passing on our living history to future generations, and at YIDFF 2023, with sponsorship by Yokocine D.I.A., we will exhibit the process of digitizing Yamagata City’s PR films stored in Yamagata, for three days from October 7 to 9 in the lobby of the Yamagata Citizens’ Hall (Large Hall). On this occasion, two samples of basic digitization will be selected and screened outdoors (screening time approx. 40 min).
The Cabinet Office/Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) has been actively working on reconstruction efforts in the affected areas since the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, and the disaster at TEPCO’s Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant on March 11, 2011.
In addition to the revitalization of industry and regional economies, one major pillar of this project is to broadly examine approaching reconstruction through the medium of culture and art, including movies, and to build a network of people centered on the disaster-stricken areas. In April 2022, the “Young Team for Promoting Arts & Culture in Hamadori, Fukushima” was launched by our group of members who voluntarily participated with the aim of getting in touch with local people where they live and listening to their voices, and in June 2023, the “Fukushima Arts & Culture Promotion Office” was established. Specific activities included inviting film directors and actors to the Fukushima Hamadori area, and holding filmmaking workshops and screenings with local citizens and children from across the country, as well as a two-day symposium held during the Tokyo International Film Festival last October, bringing together filmmakers and people working on local film screenings and promotion. At YIDFF 2023, members of METI’s Fukushima Arts & Culture Promotion Office will play a central role in this program, together with people involved in screening activities at YIDFF and in the Tohoku region, with the objective of providing opportunities for discussion and exchange of ideas on issues faced in creating local communities through film culture.