A couple of weekends ago, over my birthday, I unexpectedly had the time of my life here in Sedona! I knew that I was going to do some interpreting for a Japanese spiritually oriented tour group that was coming to Sedona with Club World Co. from the Tokyo area, but I had no idea that I would be meeting the key-players in a most remarkable "Japanese-Chinese collaboration for the world" film entitled Jun-Ai. In fact, I became the de facto interpreter for the Japanese actress and project manager of the film as it was presented at the Sedona Film Festival. The lead actress's name is Keiko Kobayashi; someone appropriately called her "the Julia Roberts of Japan." She is a uniquely talented and courageous actress, screenwriter, and producer in Japan who helped spear-head this moving film. She is also a woman with a profound vision for world peace - for the sake of the children of the world. She believes firmly that one film can help to change the world! She is also doing some wonderful things to help create better schools and kindergartens - to begin with, in China.
Here's a bit about story line of Jun-Ai, which by the way, means "True" or "Pure Love": It plays like an unusual romance novel - chapters of beauty and intrigue. It is the summer of 1945, the end of a long world war and conflict between Japan and China. The story involves war but portrays love, a love that overcomes the conflict between two neighboring nations. Overcoming one obstacle after another, Ai and Shunsuke, along with their new-found enemy turned friend, Shanron, son of a blind Chinese woman who harbors them, experience the taste of friendship beyond borders and the kind of love that's worth risking their lives for. Featuring spectacular scenery and cinematography, this contemplative film offers a true gift to the world: The possibility of opening hearts through repentance, forgiveness, and newly blossoming love. The real star of the film is a wise old blind woman who opens her heart and mind with tremendous wisdom and hope, despite the losses and vicissitudes of her war-torn life.
Naturally, one of the reasons I loved this film is because it portrayed my home country's people, the Japanese, in a country where they did not truly belong. That sense of desiring to belong has always haunted me; and this feeling haunts the film as well. It also shares beautiful pieces of Japanese music that remind me of my childhood growing up in Japan. However, I was interested that I was not the only one tearing up a number of times during this film; in fact, most everyone in the theater seemed to be moved to tears. It is a genuinely heart-opening, healing film that transcends national borders and boundaries. It has been shared with four nations of the world - Japan, China, Monaco (where it won five awards), and the U.K. Now, with its Pan-American debut here in Sedona, it seems that the time has come for it to be shared with the entire world.
And incidentally, the "Jun-Ai Team" had the joy of discovering that the film had won two awards on the last day at the Awards Ceremony: Jun-Ai won the Best Director Bridging Cultures Award and the Best Audience Feature Award! Needless to say, we were all thrilled to hear this very special, hoped-for news!
I hope to continue to be a part of the effort to get Jun-Ai out into the world. Ms. Kobayashi and Shogo Okumura, the project director, hope to bring it back to Sedona for a week-long showing later this year. I hope that we will be seeing this film showing not only in Sedona again, but across our country and world, in many countries. Keiko's dream is that it be shown in every nation of the world! May it be so.
May peace prevail on Earth, especially for the sake of the children of the world, Dancing heart~~
p.s. The above picture is from the site: http://jfdb.jp/en/title/999.
