Private Project

Sensing the Journey of the Dead

In the Tai society of Southwestern China, A few days after the funeral, the bereaved invites a Shaman and hold the ritual for sending the spirit of the dead to the heavenly realm. The long journey is broadcast “live” to the audience through her improvised singing. She metamorphoses into the multi-rolling media and sings all alone about the dead’s experience of the journey more than 10 hours. The audience imagines and feels that their spirits of the living also experience the journey with the dead. This film attempts to do sensing their sensibility represented in the interaction between their imagery world of singing and emotional atmosphere fulfilled in the ritual space.

  • Satoru Ito
    Director
  • Satoru Ito
    Writer
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Other
  • Runtime:
    46 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    April 1, 2014
  • Production Budget:
    0 USD
  • Country of Origin:
    Japan
  • Country of Filming:
    China
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital Video
  • Aspect Ratio:
    16:9
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Тhe 23rd International Festival of Ethnological Films in Beograd, 2014
    Beograd
  • The 5th “Days of Ethnographic Cinema” Festival in Moscow, 2014
    Moscow
  • Days of Ethnographic Film (DEF 2015) in Ljubljana, 2015
    Ljubljana
  • World Film Festival 2015, Special Program, in Tarutu
    Tarutu, Estonia
    March 16, 2015
Director Biography - Satoru Ito

Research Fellow, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, in the field of Anthropology and Ethnomusicology. He is also an Asian musical instrument player. He had done his 3 year fieldwork about sound and sensory culture at Tai villages in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan Province, China.

Add Director Biography