About

The 'Tohoku Trilogy' is a series of documentaries co-directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi and Ko Sakai that explore the aftermath of the earthquake and consequent tsunami that ravaged the Tohoku region of north-eastern Japan in March 2011. The most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan's history, the disaster destroyed towns and claimed the lives of more than 20,000 people. In the aftermath of the devastation, Hamaguchi and Sakai travelled to the region and, over the next two years, filmed residents discussing their lives, their experience of the tsunami and their hopes for the future of the region. The trilogy is an important document of history that also serves as a treatise on the power of individual storytelling; here, one event is seen through many eyes, layering personal experiences through a momentous historical event.

The first entry in the 'Tohoku Trilogy' is The Sound of the Waves. The filmmakers both interview survivors, as well as film conversations between family members, couples and colleagues as they discuss their own experience of the disaster.

The directors frequently film the interview subjects seemingly speaking directly to the camera, a cinematographic technique that invites greater emotional impact through the use of intimate direct address. Hamaguchi has described how making these documentaries changed his creative practice, stating: "I learned how to use the camera correctly, which is to bring out the power of reality. Who the subjects are as people, as individuals . . . Now I reflect that in my [fictional] movies by trying to bring out as optimally as possible what the actors can express."

Ages 12+