We present a list of twelve documentaries you cannot miss at the 15th Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2017 that will take place from October 5th – 12th, in Yamagata City, Japan.

A House in Ninh Hoa by Philp Widmann – Germany | 2016 – 108 min.
International Competition

This house, in Ninh Hoa in southern Vietnam, holds the memory of a family torn apart and scattered by the Vietnam War. Vietnam and Germany, the past and the present, the living and the dead: all these worlds meet again in this house, spinning family tales that span three generations.

Schedule:
October 7th, 2017 – Yamagata Central Public Hall 6F – 12:45 pm
October 8th, 2017 – Yamagata Citizen’s Hall (Large Hall) – 13:40 pm

Trailer:

Another Year by Zhu Shengze – China | 2016 – 181 min.
International Competition

180 overpowering minutes divided into thirteen months, showing a migrant worker’s family at dinner. The film documents a year in time itself, through which the breakneck changes in contemporary Chinese society may be glimpsed.

Schedule:
October 6th – Yamagata Citizens’ Hall (Large Hall) – 13:15 pm
October 9th – Yamagata Central Public Hall 6F – 13:50 pm

Trailer:

Bamseom Pirates, Seoul Inferno by Jung Yoon-suk – South Korea | 2017 – 119 min.
New Asian Currets

Through their music, grindcore duo Bamseom Pirates puts the spotlight on South Korea’s social issues, giving a voice to the angst felt by the young people in South Korean society today. But one day in 2012, their close friend and producer is arrested on suspicion of violating the National Security Law . . . .

Schedule:
October 6th – Forum 5 – 20:50 pm
October 7th – Forum 3 – 16:20 pm

Trailer:

City of Jade by Midi Z – Taiwan, Myanmar | 2016 – 99 min.
New Asian Currents

The filmmaker’s brother and his friends mine for jade as the conflict between the government’s armed forces and the Kachin Independence Army continues. The director’s monologue reveals the relationship between him and his parents, as the camera closes in on what is happening at the mining site.

Schedule:
October 7th – Forum 3 – 10:45 am
October 9th – Forum 5 – 19:30 pm

Trailer:

Donkeyote by Chico Pereira – Spain, Germany, UK | 2017 – 86 min.
International Competition

The 73-year-old Manuel decides to go on an epic journey of 3,500 km from Spain to the United States, with his beloved donkey and dog as his companions. A road movie that celebrates the life of a man trying to be free and true to himself, despite his advanced age.

Schedule:
October 9th – Yamagata Central Public Hall 6F – 18:15 pm
October 10th – Yamagata Citizens’ Hall (Large Hall) – 10:30 am

Trailer:

I Am Not Your Negro by Raoul Peck – USA | 2016 – 93 min.
International Competition

Based on an unfinished manuscript by the late author James Baldwin, this film depicts the tumultuous modern history of the African American people. Even now nature of discrimination emerges from the writer’s words, documentary footage, film clips, and music.

Schedule:
October 6th – Yamagata Citizens’ Hall (Large Hall) – 10:30 am
October 10th – Yamagata Central Public Hall 6F – 16:05 pm

Trailer:

Lone Existence by Sha Qing – China | 2016 – 77 min.
International Competition

A filmmaker who has not left his home or spoken to anyone in years. The only thing sustaining him is his desire to observe with his camera the existences of others that project his hidden self. A film by Sha Qing, director of Wellspring.

Schedule:
October 7th – Yamagata Central Public Hall 6F – 10:00 am
October 9th – Yamagata Citizen’s Hall (Large Hall) – 19:00 pm

Trailer:

Machines by Rahul Jain – India, Germany, Finland | 2016 – 71 min.
International Competition

A camera goes deep into a giant textile factory in India. It juxtaposes in vivid proximity an aesthetic beauty with the harsh reality of factory workers migrated from remote areas—including children—working under unjust labor conditions.

Schedule:
October 7th – Yamagata Central Public Hall 6F – 16:00 pm
October 10h – Yamagata Citizen’s Hall (Large Hall) – 15:45 pm

Trailer:

Of Cats, Dogs, Farm Animals and Sashimi by Perry Dizon – Philippines | 2015 – 78 min.
New Asian Currents

The camera captures the life of Dondon, a boy who agonizes over his family and his future, as he grows up transient, moving from one rubber plantation to another.

Schedule:
October 6th – Forum 5 – 13:00 pm
October 8th – Forum 3 – 10:30 am

Trailer:

On to the Next Step: Lives After 3.11 by Tashiro Yoko – Japan | 2015 – 180 min.
New Asian Currents

For two years after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, this film painstakingly follows Yamada Farm in the Hokkaido town of Onuma, a bakery on the banks of the Toya Lake, and a fishing community in Oma, Aomori—a town on the shore opposite Onuma—all beleaguered by anxiety and fear over a nuclear power plant under construction nearby.

Schedule:
October 7th – Forum 5 – 16:40 pm
October 9th – Forum 3 – 19:10 pm

Starless Dreams by Mehrdad Oskouei – Iran | 2016 – 76 min.
New Asian Currents

What does the outside world look like to girls greeting the New Year at a rehabilitation facility for youth who have committed crimes? Directed by Mehrdad Oskouei (My Mother’s Home, Lagoon, YIDFF 2001 New Asian Currents).

Schedule:
October 7th – Forum 5 – 20:50 pm
October 9th – Forum 3 – 10:45 am

Trailer:

Yellowing by Chan Tze-woon – Hong Kong | 2016 – 128 min.
New Asian Currents

Taken from the viewpoint of the young people who participated in the Umbrella Movement in Hong Kong, the film offers access to their happiness, anger, sadness, and joy—through their everyday conversations amid clashes with police.

Schedule:
October 6th – Forum 3 – 18:00 pm
October 8th – Forum 5 – 16:30 pm

Trailer: