The UP Asian Center will hold a free screening of the documentary, “Encounters with Silence,” on 13 November 2019, 2:30–4 pm, at the ASEAN Hall, UP Asian Center, QC. A discussion on the film’s topic, the “lonely death” in Japan, will follow the screening. The event is free and open to the public. Seating is first come, first served. Walk-ins are welcome, but participants are encouraged to sign up.
SYNOPSIS
In a country with a large population of elderly and middle-aged people living in isolation in small apartments without friends or family to rely on, many die alone and unnoticed. Their bodies are discovered by neighbors several weeks, or even months, after. The lonely death, or kodokushi, has become hauntingly common in Japan. Still it remains a sensitive subject and is rarely discussed. Filmmaker Janus Victoria confronts the silence on the subject through encounters with a man who cleans the apartments of those who die alone, a photographer who documents the aftermath of kodokushi, an elderly woman fiercely protective of her independence even in old age, and an artist who sings to pierce the stillness around her. By examining the quiet and lonely death, Encounters with Silence becomes a meditation on life itself. Encounters with Silence premiered in competition under the Asian Perspective category of the 2017 DMZ International Documentary Film Festival in South Korea.
ABOUT THE DISCUSSION
The context of film topic and the production process of the documentary will be discussed by the filmmaker after the screening. Q&A will follow afterwards.
ABOUT THE FILMMAKER
Janus Victoria is a filmmaker of narrative features and documentaries. She produced Encounters with Silence during her fellowship at the Asia Center of The Japan Foundation. She is currently taking MA Asian Studies, major in Japan Studies at the UP Asian Center.
ASIAN CENTER'S 64TH ANNIVERSARY
This event is part of the Asian Center's 64th anniversary celebrations. View full list activities and sign up. Professor Sonoda's lecture is one of four activities scheduled on 13 November:
• How Do Elite University Students in ASEAN Look at their Asian Neighbors? | A Lecture
• South Sulawesi, Indonesia as a Field of Historical Study | A Public Lecture
• Ikebana as Sustainable Art: A Lecture-Demo on Japanese Traditional Flower Arrangement
INQUIRIES and VICINITY MAP
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The Asian Center offers M.A. degrees in Asian Studies with four fields of specialization: Northeast Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, and West Asia. The Center also has an M.A. program in Philippine Studies that allows students to major in Philippine society and culture, Philippine foreign relations, or Philippine development studies. The Center offers a Ph.D. program in Philippine Studies in conjunction with the College of Arts and Letters and the College of Social Sciences and Philosophy. For an overview of these graduate programs, click here. The Asian Center also publishes Asian Studies: Journal of Critical Perspectives on Asia, the latest issue of which can be downloaded atthe journal's website. For other news and upcoming events at the Asian Center, click here.