Description

未来世紀ニシナリ

Nishinari, one of the neighborhoods in Osaka, had been labeled a slum or flophouse district for a long time, defined by the many flophouses, homeless persons, buraku (a discriminated community of descendants of outcast groups), and Korean-Japanese communities found there.

Now a new strategy for changing the social system has begun in this area in south Osaka centered on redefining the concept of “all.”  “All” should have dual meanings. One is “all the people living in Nishinari,” such as day laborers, new-comers, homeless, the disabled, and old widowers and widows. They have to be accepted as people who compose the community. The other meaning is “all things necessary for living in Nishinari,” such as housing, jobs, health, nursing care, and environment.

Filmed over two years, this documentary captures the progress in this redefinition.  In the film, up-and-coming entrepreneurs reinvigorate the area by starting recycling businesses, helping day-laborers to move out of flophouses and providing job opportunities to the homeless.

As filmmakers, we recognize that documentary can be a tool for letting people know about things usually invisible in daily life because they are hidden at the bottom of society. We chose one method in making this documentary: “Tell the story using real footage.” That’s it. We just want to show the audience the facts as they are. This documentary is the voice of the people of Nishinari, captured not by looking down on them, but rather by standing at their level. Mapping the Future Nishinari was voted as the third best documentary of 2007 in the Kinema Junpo poll of critics.