Shari

Welcome to Shari: a small town on the north-east coast of Japan’s northernmost island of Hokkaido, on the Shiretoko Peninsula where the Sea of Okhotsk meets Russian shores. Here, we meet hunters and bakers who love venison a few ways; flying squirrel enthusiasts and a collector known for his “Hall of Hidden Treasures.” At the heart of it all is the conspicuous absence of drift ice and fish in this crucial winter season. Meanwhile, the Red Thing, a yeti-like creature, sanguine “like a throbbing blood clot” rampages through the scenery where folklore blossoms from the meeting between human and nature... the latter now skipping a beat.

Dancer-turned-filmmaker Nao Yoshigai (whose short films, such as the 2019 Directors’ Fortnight-selected Grand Bouquet, have charmed festival audiences across the world) makes her feature debut with Shari, an experimental documentary bringing audiences to one of Japan’s most secluded and magnificent areas. Like Yoshigai’s short works, blurring the line between documentary, dance film and fantasy, Shari is multifaceted: part introspective travelogue, part wistful exploration of myth and legend, part climate change diary or in situ intervention. Offering a unique viewpoint into a community rarely captured on film, Shari advocates for the future of Japan’s far-flung rural areas, uncertain in the face of a warming world.