A history drama portraying the confrontation between the indigenous Ainu people living on Japan’s northernmost main island—then called “Ezo” and now known as “Hokkaido”—and the “sisam”, the Ainu word for ethnic Japanese.
On the Hokkaido frontier, a war veteran and Ainu girl race against misfits and military renegades to find treasure mapped out on tattooed outlaws.
This documentary started as part of a photography project about the indigenous Ainu population in northern Japan, portraying people from tightly knit communities. They feel deeply connected by their culture and tradition. With gorgeous pictures, the directors explore how different generations of Ainu reflect on their identity after centuries of oppression.
TOKYO Ainu features the Ainu, an indigenous people of Japan, living in Greater Tokyo (Tokyo and its surrounding areas), who are and actively in promoting their traditional culture in a metropolitan environment away from their traditional homeland, Hokkaido. Shedding a common assumption that all Ainu live in Hokkaido, the film captures the feelings, thoughts and aspirations of Ainu people that who try to follow the Ainu way no matter where they live.
In the 30th year, Nirasaki Den'emon established the Nirasaki Hokkaido Development Company with investment from Sonoi to build railway facilities. However, the endeavor faced criticism for attempting to buy Ainu land at low prices. Tokyo Nippo reporter Toshimasa Matsuzaka, who was actually Nirasaki's son, wants to expose the flawed practices of the company.
In 1986, for the first time in 75 years, the "Chironnup Kamuy Iomante (the sending off of the spirit of the fox)" was held at Bihoro Pass, in Hokkaido. According to the Ainu's traditional beliefs, animals are "gods" called "Kamuy" who live in the "land of gods" ("Kamuimosiri"), but sometimes they come to the "land of humans" ("Ainumosiri"), to offer their meat and furs as gifts. The Ainu take care of them, and they eventually hold an "Iomante (spirit sending)". In this ceremony, people offer prayers, sing songs, and dance, and send the animal back to the "land of the gods" with food and souvenirs.
Four brothers live happily together as a joint family. But when misunderstandings arises between them, they need to overcome them to live happily again.
Nina is a sexy female cop whose personal life is in turmoil after she kicks out her cheating husband and begins a tentative affair with her ex-partner. FBI Agent Royce taps Nina to perform an undercover operation at a modeling agency suspected of using models as couriers when passing government secrets, where an informant worked before being murdered. Nina manages to get a job at the agency, but at first struggles to get along with her new boss, the other models and her FBI contact. After a few shoots, things start to warm up between Nina and the others, and she eventually gets invited to a special "party" where an illegal exchange may take place.
Joe and Ella Mae Hamilton, having just moved into a new neighborhood, are confronted by an angry, jeering mob of whites outside their house. Joe thinks back on his life. According to press materials, the film's story was based on an idea "expressed by [United Steelworkers of America Union, distributor of the film] President David J. McDonald in a speech on civil rights given by him" in Los Angeles in September 1956.
A young girl living in the French countryside suffers constant indignities at the hand of alcoholism and her fellow man.