A French dancer chases ghosts through snow to discover why bodies contort into nightmares.
WHAT IS BUTOH? A French butoh dancer visits Japan for the first time, to pursue this ultimate question. Lead by the shadows of Tatsumi Hijikata, the founder of butoh, the journey leads him from metropolitan Tokyo to the snowy fields of Tashiro village in northeastern Akita.
Cinematography
Snow-covered Tashiro village looks like a fever dream.
Direction
Komori lets silence and stillness do the screaming.
Director
Ichita Komori
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Tatsumi Hijikata named butoh 'dance of darkness' in 1959; his archives remain deliberately scattered to prevent institutionalization of the form.
The kamaitachi is a mythical weasel-like creature that rides wind and slices victims — fitting that Hijikata's butoh company bore this name, given how his technique 'cuts' through conventional movement.
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