Supported by the British Council, the 20th Berwick Film & Media Arts Festival presents a retrospective programme of works by Japanese filmmaker Eri Makihara.

This marks the first time Makihara’s films are exhibited outside of Asia. Her work is based on film and installation and focuses on the physical sensations of people communicating primarily through sign language and other visual means. Through her artistic practice Makihara centers the experience of Deaf people within the dominant hearing culture and seeks to bring to light the social structure of our world, and its inherent oppressive mechanisms.

We will be screening three of her films and one film specially selected by Makihara.

Showing Friday 28 March 2025 at The Maltings Cinema at the Barracks…

Listen • Eri Makihara • Japan • 2016

LISTEN is a song of the seasons in sign language. Makihara’s poetic documentary follows a group of deaf people who create visual musical space through motion and expression. A girl sings wind through the trees, a woman screams her soul to the sky, and a couple’s love ebbs with the rolling waves.

LISTEN will screen on Friday 28 March 2025 at 11:30. The film is in Japanese Sign Language and will have English Subtitles.

Dream of My Mother • Eri Makihara • Japan • 2023 • International Premiere

Dream of My Mother is a documentary following a deaf mother and daughter who live together in a municipal housing complex. Dream of My Mother explores processes of communication and the sometimes-painstaking nuances of making oneself understood as a disabled person in everyday life.

The Tanaka Family • Eri Makihara • Japan • 2021 • European Premiere

The Tanaka Family is a delicate drama explores the complexities of family life, centred around the everyday routines of Tanaka Mai – a young woman sharing care responsibilities for her sister’s husband in their Tokyo apartment. Austere, painterly images and a near silent soundtrack combine to form a powerful, de-centering work that challenges the dominance of conventional cinematic forms and representations of disability.

Dream of My Mother and The Tanaka Family will be screened together on Friday 28 March 2025 at 16:00. These films are in Japanese Sign Language and will have English Subtitles.

Eri Makihara will be joined by Hannah Wallis in a Q&A following these two programmes. The Q&A will be delivered with Japanese Sign Language, British Sign Language, English Live Captions and spoken English. The Sign Language interpreters are Christy Dodds, Chisato Minamimura, Dee Savage and Aki Takizawa.

Vive L’Amour • Tsai Ming-Liang • Taiwan • 1994

Vive L’Amour is the second feature from acclaimed master of Taiwan’s Second New Wave, Tsai Ming-liang, Vive L’Amour follows three characters unwittingly sharing a seemingly empty Taipei apartment. The film was chosen by Focus filmmaker Eri Makihara as a seminal text in the development of her own cinematic language. Speaking of the film, she said: “I sympathise with Tsai Ming-liang’s philosophical theories on film. I also deeply resonate with the themes of loneliness and the depiction of time in this film, which greatly influenced my own work, The Tanaka Family. Every time I see Tsai Ming-liang’s work, I experience new emotions and feel inspired to create films myself.”

Vive L’Amour will be screening on Friday 28 March 2025 at 19:30. The film has minimal dialogue and will have English Descriptive Subtitles.

Tickets

We have reserved seats for these screenings for d/Deaf audiences. They are front row seats with clear sight lines of the Descriptive Subtitles and BSL interpreters. If you would like to come to any of these screenings, please purchase a Subsidised Friday Day Pass for £20. If you would like to attend the whole Festival, please purchase a Festival Pass or Accreditation. If you are facing financial difficulties and cannot afford a pass, please email info@bfmaf.org and we can offer you a complimentary pass. For more information please visit this webpage: https://bfmaf.org/tickets/concessions/.

Once you have a pass, please email info@bfmaf.org detailing which screenings you would like to attend and we will provide you one of the reserved seats.