Synopsis
Spanish and Japanese with English subtitles
With Irene Akiko Iida, Yoshio Martín Cruz Nakamura, Guadalupe Nakamura, Zempei Nakamura, Alicia Tsuchiya, Kiyoko Nishikawa, Brisa Mejía, Rosa Urano, Kenji Hiromoto, Amelia Kayo Matsubara, Naoko García Hirata
The little-known history of Japanese Mexicans, and the enduring impact of historical silence on their descendants, is portrayed through testimonies, landscapes, and choreography, questioning the formation and theatricality of individual and collective identity. When all that is left of history are vague memories, how do invisible wounds heal? Yūrei travels to various parts of Mexico, embarking on an intimate and sensory exploration of memory.
Press
“Traces with poetic delicacy but also with historical rigor, a fascinating bundle of 'nikkei' stories.” – Ernesto Diezmartínez, Letras Libres
“Sumie García Hirata's proposal has the rare quality of being formally rigorous, making experimental formal decisions and, despite this, communicating with a wide audience.” – Sergio Huidobro, La Tempestad
“Yūrei suggests that the exercise of memory does not overcome or replace nostalgia. The haunting is stronger because ghosts are an inheritance.” – Alonso Díaz de la Vega, Gatopardo
“The exceptional execution of this audiovisual exercise allows the director to reformulate the foundations of her own identity as a descendant of migrants, while giving voice to other members of the community, removing them from anonymity. (…) Yūrei manages to move from a traditional documentary format to an intimate and sensorial exploration, which is why this exercise is not to be missed.” – Lily Droeven, Letras Libres
Notes on the Film
“Yūrei (Ghosts) is an exploration of the influences that landscape, time, and secrets have on our personal and national identities. The film delves into the history of Japanese migration to Mexico, the processes of forced relocation, and its consequences on their descendants. An important element in the film is the portrayal of historic silence and the painful disenfranchisement that results in the erasure of a community’s memory.
Ultimately, Yūrei (Ghosts) is a highly personal film, an intimate process of understanding my heritage through documenting the stories of others; a search for belonging in a fading migrant community.
The representation of memory and landscape has always been a key element in my work as a visual artist and filmmaker. This documentary forms a particular intersection in which the memory of the landscape, the memory of others, and my personal memory are interwoven into a single narrative around the formation and theatricality of identity.”
– Sumie García, Director
