19th Annual
Louisiana's Reel Festival
Festival starts in
PALETTE / JAPAN / LOUISIANA PREMIERE
SHORT NARRATIVE
Director Statement
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, actors everywhere have been forced to suspend their careers. In the spirit of us all one day enjoying movies in cinemas again, I collaborated with twelve actors and a crew to shoot a film using appropriate viral transmission prevention measures immediately following the Japanese government's lifting of its state of emergency. To prevent infection, actors did not speak their lines during the shoot. Instead, we recorded dialogue in studio and added it later to the film, treating the actors' lines as if they were voice-over monologues. In this way, the film is truly experimental in its expression.
Synopsis
When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in 2020, people at first thought the virus would be easy to eradicate, but it mutated in ways that magnified the contagion, becoming resistant to all vaccines and drugs. Now, this terrifying, toxic virus has infiltrated every corner of Tokyo's city center and is spreading. Having put the city on lockdown, the Japanese government uses the telecom industry to surveil its citizens. People are prohibited from going out, a crime punishable by fine or imprisonment. Rumor says the new virus travels as easily as pollen, entering the body through membranes of the nose, mouth, or eyes. The authorities force the population to wear gas masks even at home. Against this dystopian background, a small group of people have gathered to create a utopian return to their normal, everyday lives. This film is a touching, yet fleeting memory of the small resistance they mount.
Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, actors everywhere have been forced to suspend their careers. In the spirit of us all one day enjoying movies in cinemas again, I collaborated with twelve actors and a crew to shoot a film using appropriate viral transmission prevention measures immediately following the Japanese government's lifting of its state of emergency. To prevent infection, actors did not speak their lines during the shoot. Instead, we recorded dialogue in studio and added it later to the film, treating the actors' lines as if they were voice-over monologues. In this way, the film is truly experimental in its expression.
Synopsis
When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in 2020, people at first thought the virus would be easy to eradicate, but it mutated in ways that magnified the contagion, becoming resistant to all vaccines and drugs. Now, this terrifying, toxic virus has infiltrated every corner of Tokyo's city center and is spreading. Having put the city on lockdown, the Japanese government uses the telecom industry to surveil its citizens. People are prohibited from going out, a crime punishable by fine or imprisonment. Rumor says the new virus travels as easily as pollen, entering the body through membranes of the nose, mouth, or eyes. The authorities force the population to wear gas masks even at home. Against this dystopian background, a small group of people have gathered to create a utopian return to their normal, everyday lives. This film is a touching, yet fleeting memory of the small resistance they mount.
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