A story of love and survival set during the Nazi invasion of France during…
Familiar Tale
- Description
- Reviews
- Citation
- Cataloging
- Transcript
View on the Pragda STREAM site
Foto Saeki is a deserted analogue photography goods store in the Santa Maria la Ribera neighborhood in Mexico City. Its owner, Yukio Saeki, arrived in Mexico in 1955. At 86 years old, he can still hear the echo of a hot Monday morning in Japan, as he walked across a field toward the ocean when he was 13 years old.
Familiar Tale delves into Mr. Saeki’s memory and photographic archive. His story spins various threads, including Japanese immigration to Mexico, photographic technique development and the drastic changes and growth Mexico underwent from 1955 onward. Seeped in Saeki’s nostalgia, the documentary uses various visual resources to illustrate his vision and sensory recollections. As Saeki digs further into his past, he uncovers his memories of wartime Japan and the fateful day he witnessed the dropping of the atomic bomb on nearby Hiroshima.
Credits and citation support are not available for this title yet.
A MARC record for this title is not available yet.
Distributor subjects
History; Migration Studies; Biography; Short Films; Culture + Identity; Family; Health + Aging; Race + Ethnicity; Latin American Studies; North AmericaKeywords
00:00:19.920 --> 00:00:22.960
At first I didn't want to talk about...
00:00:36.080 --> 00:00:38.750
I came here by boat
00:00:41.630 --> 00:00:43.420
a cargo boat
00:00:50.500 --> 00:00:53.630
Tere, she says she likes it
00:00:57.500 --> 00:01:03.330
When people die, if they are turned to ash,
they can be scattered at sea
00:01:03.580 --> 00:01:10.630
And I think, when there are cyclones, and all it's awful
00:01:11.250 --> 00:01:16.420
If Tere were there I would not like it.
I told her
00:01:16.920 --> 00:01:20.210
"It's ok Saeki-San, it's very soothing"
00:01:22.580 --> 00:01:26.630
Right now, I am eighty-three
00:01:27.380 --> 00:01:30.790
The other day we went to a funeral home
00:01:31.380 --> 00:01:34.790
to the part where the niches are set
00:01:35.540 --> 00:01:38.670
It was so beautiful there
00:01:48.710 --> 00:01:54.580
Around here, it's not really a high-class place
00:01:58.170 --> 00:02:03.290
There's a lot of potheads... but we're all friends
00:02:06.170 --> 00:02:09.170
We have to be OK with everyone, right?
00:02:48.080 --> 00:02:53.210
People from here really like taking portraits and...
00:02:55.040 --> 00:02:56.380
Photos
00:02:59.710 --> 00:03:04.380
Kodak cameras were quite inexpensive
00:03:04.710 --> 00:03:07.790
and a lot of people could get them
00:03:11.880 --> 00:03:16.920
When I first went to Kodak it was still on
00:03:17.210 --> 00:03:21.130
the corner of London and Berlin... streets
00:03:37.170 --> 00:03:39.130
Around here,
00:03:40.380 --> 00:03:43.080
I also sold film rolls
00:03:44.040 --> 00:03:47.420
and in Cuernavaca I sold film rolls too
00:03:48.630 --> 00:03:51.080
if they ordered
00:03:51.540 --> 00:03:55.460
Transparencies, Kodachrome or Hectachrome
00:03:56.330 --> 00:04:00.460
I would sell them. And later Kodacolor came out
00:04:02.000 --> 00:04:04.880
Not as transparencies, but as negatives.
00:04:30.960 --> 00:04:33.170
I liked it here and...
00:04:36.130 --> 00:04:41.880
I think my life is much better than
00:04:42.670 --> 00:04:45.670
if I had stayed in Japan
00:04:48.830 --> 00:04:50.630
Because
00:04:51.080 --> 00:04:56.670
Photos, photography was starting out here
00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:03.250
And things were going pretty well.
00:05:03.880 --> 00:05:07.380
I sold film rolls and developed them
00:05:07.540 --> 00:05:11.040
and when people brought 35mm
00:05:11.630 --> 00:05:15.080
I always taught them everything
00:05:16.500 --> 00:05:21.000
I think it was a bit different from other stores because
00:05:22.540 --> 00:05:24.830
I taught everything
00:05:29.210 --> 00:05:31.880
And there were almost no...
00:05:32.500 --> 00:05:35.170
There were very few cameras that had
00:05:35.290 --> 00:05:38.380
Diaphragm and velocities. Very few
00:05:39.790 --> 00:05:42.460
Mostly very simple Kodaks
00:05:43.960 --> 00:05:47.420
Sometimes, when people brought cameras like...
00:05:49.500 --> 00:05:52.920
For example Leica, Contax...
00:05:54.130 --> 00:05:58.040
Cameras with velocity and diaphragm controls.
00:06:00.130 --> 00:06:04.540
Distance... how to place the film roll,
00:06:06.330 --> 00:06:11.380
I taught everything well so people would come back
00:06:13.630 --> 00:06:18.710
If the pictures turned out good, they would come back
00:06:20.580 --> 00:06:26.790
That's why it lasted before digital cameras came out
00:06:28.880 --> 00:06:33.250
Because I knew almost everything about handling and all
00:06:34.500 --> 00:06:38.040
All kinds of cameras
00:06:39.880 --> 00:06:42.290
But not digital cameras
00:06:46.130 --> 00:06:50.170
Because I didn't study anything about digital cameras
00:06:51.000 --> 00:06:53.080
That's why I don't know anything
00:06:54.960 --> 00:06:58.080
But film cameras I do know
00:07:08.500 --> 00:07:12.380
I arrived in 1955
00:07:15.460 --> 00:07:18.710
Twenty-three years old
00:07:19.630 --> 00:07:21.540
I have pictures
00:07:24.380 --> 00:07:26.290
I was handsome
00:07:28.500 --> 00:07:30.500
Now I am...
00:07:31.830 --> 00:07:33.250
Older now
00:07:34.080 --> 00:07:35.790
I have stains and everything but...
00:07:41.920 --> 00:07:46.630
There are good intentions toward the Japanese here...
00:07:47.500 --> 00:07:50.000
Sympathetic? Is that how it's said?
00:07:50.080 --> 00:07:53.830
There's good feelings toward the Japanese
00:07:54.040 --> 00:07:56.290
Sympathetic, right?
00:08:09.290 --> 00:08:13.880
My uncle used to send me letters all the time
00:08:16.250 --> 00:08:20.460
Telling me to come to Mexico, that things were good here
00:08:22.670 --> 00:08:26.630
My uncle was very happy living in Mexico
00:08:32.000 --> 00:08:37.080
When I worked at my uncle's store
00:08:38.080 --> 00:08:40.170
He also had a studio
00:08:40.880 --> 00:08:45.380
We would photograph first communions, weddings...
00:08:46.040 --> 00:08:47.380
and everything
00:08:48.880 --> 00:08:52.000
There, I also learned how to...
00:08:55.630 --> 00:08:58.500
how to paint, add color
00:08:58.880 --> 00:09:02.750
because there were no color film rolls yet
00:09:08.170 --> 00:09:15.670
I used photography so I had plenty of albums
00:09:56.460 --> 00:09:59.250
These pictures are very old
00:09:59.380 --> 00:10:04.170
You can show the ones you like, when you were young and handsome
00:11:13.210 --> 00:11:18.250
I broke many, I burned a lot of photos
00:11:30.460 --> 00:11:35.130
My wife worked at Japan Airlines
00:11:45.290 --> 00:11:52.830
I lived 23 years in Japan and 60 years here
00:11:55.170 --> 00:11:58.330
I'm almost 100% from here
00:11:59.170 --> 00:12:02.040
Because I already have a family here
00:12:08.420 --> 00:12:13.290
It's embarrassing, I've been in Mexico for 60 years
00:12:13.790 --> 00:12:16.330
but I can't speak well yet
00:12:26.000 --> 00:12:32.830
It's always very difficult. Other countries languages.
00:12:46.580 --> 00:12:50.670
I loved Mexico
00:12:51.330 --> 00:12:53.960
The weather was so nice
00:12:55.080 --> 00:13:01.500
And also the food, nourishment.
00:13:03.830 --> 00:13:10.750
Nana and buche tacos are more flavorful than maciza
00:13:11.670 --> 00:13:17.210
Steamed basket tacos... pork rinds...
00:13:18.500 --> 00:13:21.170
quesadillas too
00:13:22.580 --> 00:13:29.880
There is plenty of meat here. That's why I moved here.
00:13:30.750 --> 00:13:32.210
Also...
00:13:33.330 --> 00:13:36.500
There is plenty of fruit
00:13:37.420 --> 00:13:43.040
Not like in Japan. It's scarce there, right?
00:13:51.670 --> 00:13:59.380
When I first got here, when I went by the airport, I would feel something
00:14:00.250 --> 00:14:07.290
If I take that plane, I can go back to Japan, I thought
00:14:09.330 --> 00:14:11.830
Not anymore, only at first
00:14:18.170 --> 00:14:23.170
The first time I went back to Japan was after 13 years
00:14:23.750 --> 00:14:27.290
I was there for about 45 days
00:14:28.330 --> 00:14:33.040
I went back that first time because
00:14:33.880 --> 00:14:38.830
I was told my mother was dying
00:14:48.630 --> 00:14:55.540
About a month later my mother passed away
00:15:03.330 --> 00:15:08.040
I'm already forgetting Japanese
00:15:13.080 --> 00:15:20.920
I was born in Osaka but I was there until I was about 4 years old
00:15:26.130 --> 00:15:33.750
If I had been born two months later, I would be dead
00:15:41.290 --> 00:15:47.080
All cities in Japan were mostly ashes
00:15:53.170 --> 00:15:57.330
My house was in the country
00:16:05.750 --> 00:16:12.330
Living in Japan was really tough, there was war all the time
00:16:15.420 --> 00:16:20.250
In the end, I couldn't go to school anymore
00:16:23.130 --> 00:16:27.130
When I was in eighth grade
00:16:27.250 --> 00:16:33.460
I was taken to work at a weapons factory
00:16:40.040 --> 00:16:44.460
My house was very far away
00:16:45.000 --> 00:16:50.580
So I was put in the factory's dormitory
00:16:53.750 --> 00:16:59.830
There was a field in front of the dormitory
00:17:00.420 --> 00:17:06.250
And beyond the field, the sea
00:17:10.250 --> 00:17:14.080
The ocean was beautiful
00:17:19.540 --> 00:17:23.210
On Sunday the 5th, I worked
00:17:25.960 --> 00:17:33.040
On that day, the 6th, it was very hot very early in the morning
00:17:33.170 --> 00:17:39.460
That's why I wanted to swim in the sea
00:17:40.210 --> 00:17:43.880
The sun was very bright
00:17:44.250 --> 00:17:49.540
It was very hot and there were no clouds
00:17:50.630 --> 00:17:53.500
The sun was very beautiful
00:17:54.750 --> 00:17:55.880
It was so hot
00:17:59.040 --> 00:18:02.750
When I was in the middle of the field
00:18:04.580 --> 00:18:05.330
It happened
00:18:06.750 --> 00:18:07.330
The bomb
00:18:14.710 --> 00:18:17.580
At first I didn't know what it was
00:18:21.290 --> 00:18:24.830
I didn't know it was so strong, the bomb
00:18:25.080 --> 00:18:26.790
of Hiroshima
00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:30.580
I didn't know, so I went into the sea
00:18:34.710 --> 00:18:36.460
I played in the sea
00:18:40.880 --> 00:18:43.460
The sea was so beautiful
Distributor: Pragda Films
Length: 20 minutes
Date: 2017
Genre: Expository
Language: Spanish; Japanese
Grade: High School, College, Adult
Color/BW:
Closed Captioning: Available
The is title is available for licensing on the Pragda STREAM site.
Existing customers, please log in to view this film.
New to Docuseek? Register to request a quote.
Related Films
Fear and fascination arise in Muriel Grey when she remembers her father,…
A film depicting the ins and outs of the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 1960s…