
Chiri (Trace). 2012. Japan. Directed by Naomi Kawase. In Japanese; English subtitles. 45 min.
This intimate portrait of Kawase’s foster mother at the end of her life is a loving tribute to the woman who raised her since infancy, and the final documentary in a series of self-explorations that began with Embracing.
Amami. 2015. South Korea/Japan. Directed by Naomi Kawase. In Japanese; English subtitles. 46 min.
Kawase vists her ancestral home, on the Amami Oshima Island in Southern Japan, with her four-year-old son. There they meet relatives, talk with islanders, eat traditional goat soup, and observe a total eclipse of the sun, activities that slowly free Kawase from the loss of not having known her parents.