Le mont Fuji vu d’un train en marche

The train sets off on the route that takes in the famous Mount Fuji, the highest mountain in Japan. Will we get to see it? Even if Mount Fuji is hidden by clouds, its outline is visible, as if it were a line drawn on the image. And so starts this poetic reflection, based on Pierre Hébert’s impressions during two trips to Japan.

What could be seen of Japan if Mount Fuji were invisible? The answer: images of streets and markets, alongside places that remind us of the atomic bomb dropped on Nagasaki and the nuclear disaster in Fukushima, which are associatively combined with traditional theatre, Hokusai prints, calligraphy, animation, and a modern dance project by Teita Iwabushi and Hébert. The film flows organically, supported by its soundtrack of song, street sounds, and improvised music, alongside the energy of scratched animations – a technique that Hébert was one of the first to experiment with. The film is part of the series Places and Monuments, that the director began making in 2009, and an ode to Robert Breer’s short film Fuji (1974).

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Available on Festival Scope Pro from 26 January 9:00 CET to 14 February 9:00 CET