Ultramarine: Ama-San
This programme contains 2 films.
A dive, the midday sunlight filtering down through the water. The air in her lungs has to last until she can dislodge the abalone. Dives like these have been carried out in Japan for over 2000 years by the Ama-San, that literally translates “women of the sea”.
TRAILER
Director
Production Year
2017Duration
1 mins
Ama-San
In Wagu, a fishing village on the Ise Peninsula, Matsumi, Mayumi and Masumi dive everyday not knowing what they’ll find. Underwater, their delicate bodies turn into those of sea hunters. The Ama-San have been diving like this for over 2000 years. There’s both extraordinary strength and glowing merriment at the heart of Ama-San. The film’s gentle style and gorgeous cinematography describes a community of women—the oldest of whom is pushing into her 80s—with much singing, conversation and riotous laughter.
A film of intimate beauty, Cláudia Varejão’s Ama-San depicts three generations of Ama—Matsumi, Mayumi and Masumi. Women from the Ise peninsula in Japan, they continue a 2000 year old tradition, free-diving for pearls, abalone and shell-fish. Harvesting their catch with a knife, and recognisable by the white linen scarves protecting their heads from the sun, this a world away from the industrial scale fishing we’re familiar with seeing portrayed on screen.
With breathtaking underwater sequences at sea, combining with the warm light of home and dockside camaraderie, there’s both extraordinary strength and glowing merriment at the heart of Ama-San. The film’s gentle style and gorgeous cinematography describes a community of women—the oldest of whom is pushing into her 80s—with much singing, conversation and riotous laughter.
Director
Cláudia Varejão
Production Countries
Japan PortugalProduction Year
2016Duration
113 mins
Dialogue Language
JapaneseSubtitle Language
EnglishPrint Contact
Pedro Peralta