The growing struggle for Palestinian self-determination between 1960 and 1980 was supported by radical left-wing movements worldwide, also in Japan. This is illustrated by a collection of 16mm films by militant filmmakers from various countries, which were dubbed and screened in Japan. Their Japanese audiences felt oppressed by the US after World War II, and not only sympathized but also identified with the Palestinians.
Based on the 1990 experimental novel by Japanese author Banana Yoshimioto, Lisa Spilliaert’s feature debut N.P is a translation of the text into a "silent" cinematic scenario. Translation itself is at the heart of N.P’s narrative, which details the absurdities of protagonist Kazami’s attempts to translate the short stories of fictional author Sarao Takase-- as well as her sometimes disturbing interactions with the late author’s children. The previous three translators of Takase’s writing committed suicide in mysterious circumstances and Kazami’s encounters with his daughter (and lover) Sui increasingly pull her into a world of darkly chaotic energy.
A breathtaking helicopter landing drops us smack in the middle of an isolated community of miners in snowy Barentsburg. Recently coal mining became less profitable, but the geopolitical importance of Russian presence in the Arctic archipelago cannot be underestimated. So the miners keep steering their mine carts back and forth with a stubborn determination. A dark perspective on a society which seems to have reached a terminal industrial stage, heading towards total exhaustion.
