On a long trek photographing individuals of many countries, photographer Yoshiharu Sekino happens upon a family in Mongolia. They immediately capture his imagination and become subjects in a photo essay he publishes, but he also forms an ongoing friendship with them. This film depicts their initial encounter and the events of the next five years as Sekino goes away and comes back repeatedly, witnessing changes with each return.

At the center of this moving group portrait is the captivating figure of Puujee, a young girl who becomes the film’s pivotal character, and whose destiny seems tied to the hundreds of thousands of agrarian Mongolians who have moved to cities to escape deprivation and the deleterious effects of the new market economy. Already adept at herding animals on horseback, six-year-old Puujee defies Sekino and his omnipresent camera, even though her family members welcome him. Gradually allowing Sekino into her trust, she shares her dream of becoming a teacher. When she finally gets her chance to enter school, the gulf between Puujee and her family yawns ever wider, evident in her rebelliousness and alienation.

Director Kazuya Yamada renders these lives with a disarming simplicity but an equally deceptive sensitivity for arranging images that demonstrate the delicacy and graciousness of a vanishing way of life. Abounding with human dignity, puujee is an understated masterwork of beauty and humanism.

Kazuya Yamada - Born in Kochi Prefecture in 1954, Kazuya Yamada graduated from the Tokyo University of Agriculture in 1976. He spent time studying art at Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and also worked as a television program director for Tak Inagaki Productions in New York. Yamada worked as a contract director for Nippon Television Network and later went freelance. In 1996, he started a career as a film and television program director. He is a member of the Directors Guild of Japan.

Screenings:

Fri. January 18, Noon, Screening Room, Sundance Resort
Sat. January 19, 1:30pm, Broadway Centre Cinemas VI, SLC
Mon. January 21, 4:00pm, Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City
Thu. January 24, 8:30pm, Holiday Village Cinema II, Park City
Sat. January 26, 1:00pm, Holiday Village Cinema IV, Park City

Kazuya Yamada
4-7-10-701,Hyakunincho
Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 169-0073
Japan

+81-3-5386-6700
kazuya-y@wa2.so-net.ne.jp