On NHK World, you can now see the story of an Ainu hunter, Atsushi Monbetsu, in the town of Biratori. (You can watch it for FREE) I first met him while I was making my documentary. Even though my documentary focuses on elders, he appears in my film at the annual Cipsanke, which is a canoe festival.
At that time, he sat behind some elders when they performed a ritual, but in this documentary, he is the leader of the ritual and prays in the Ainu language.
As I wrote in the blog about London in March, I was very happy to see that young people were there to promote Ainu culture. I was also excited to see Atsushi on the poster for the event in London at a train station. More and more young people have been making Ainu culture more visible, especially in the past few years.
My dream is to invite Ainu people, especially the younger generation, including Atsushi, to New York and have interactive events, such as film screenings, food and craft workshops, dance performances, language seminars, and exhibitions.
If this happens, this would be the first event of its kind in North America.
I recently took a trip to Biratori to lay the groundwork for this project. The London events were very successful, but I believe the New York events can be even bigger and better. Hopefully more details will soon follow and my dream will come true!