SUNDAY IN JAPAN

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SUNDAY IN JAPAN

By Leo NELKI

First film - Development 2022

Sunday, a Ugandan man, writes, directs and acts out scenes drawn from his experience as an asylum-seeker in Japan. He is not alone. Together with other members of his community and involving the Japanese people they meet along the way, a new narrative starts to emerge.

- Year of production
- 2022
- Genres
- First film, Social issues, Documentary
- Countries
- UNITED KINGDOM
- Languages
- ENGLISH, JAPANESE, SWAHILI
- Budget
- 0 - 0.3 M$
- Duration
- 75 mn
- Director(s)
- Leo NELKI
- Producer(s)
- Golriz KOLAHI (Moon Road Films Ltd)
- Synopsis
- Sunday, a Ugandan man, is at Shinagawa station in Tokyo, visiting the immigration bureau as he must every two months. Each time he visits, there is the possibility of being detained. Sunday has been in Japan for 13 years and this is his routine. The setting is post-industrial East-Tokyo where the Ugandan community lives. It is quiet and run-down; abandoned factories and dilapidated houses make up the neighbourhood. This is not the futuristic, pristine and busy Tokyo seen in films. Here Japan’s ageing population and decaying economy are visible, and it is where Sunday can afford to live. Leo, an exchange student from the UK, finds himself studying in Tokyo and taking on voluntary work at a cafe meet-up for refugees. There he strikes up a conversation with Sunday and they talk of their interest in film. Even before the idea of making a documentary is discussed, Sunday asks if Leo would like to rent an apartment with him, and thus begins an unlikely partnership between the two.
  
  In their shared apartment, the idea of a documentary film comes to life. When Leo asks what kind of scenes should be in the film, Sunday, inspired by his love of Ugandan Wakaliwood movies, suggests action sequences and decided to create scenes about his difficulties and fears as a refugee in Japan. They set about making an ad-hoc immigration uniform with glue and plain paper. Friends are invited and despite the serious subject, a playful atmosphere takes over. In a spontaneous moment, instead of getting caught as planned, Sunday escapes!
  
  Leo creates more scenes with Sunday and other refugees and a picture of the Ugandan community starts to emerge. Faced with the constant threat of detention or deportation, and not allowed to work or travel, their scenes reflect their harsh reality. One man wants to shoot a shoplifting scene to illustrate the desperate lengths he has considered.
  
  Interspersed are meditative sequences in which Leo takes on a much more observational role, watching Sunday and his friends in their daily lives as they visit immigration, volunteer at a local temple, and even organise political demonstrations. Despite extreme restrictions in their new environment, they have vibrant and full lives in Japan. Sunday is a caring father to two children in Tokyo, in addition to the eighteen children he supports back in Uganda.
  
  Confronted with their own representation, they are forced to consider public perception. By controlling these scenes, Sunday and his friends exert some agency in an otherwise powerless situation.
  
  Gradually, Sunday shifts his focus away from scenes inspired by fear and difficulty and instead begins to depict an imagined future in Japan. With this new found creative freedom, Sunday starts to imagine things that seemed impossible at first - his hopes for himself, his children and his community. Sunday’s desire to act out his dreams unleash his creativity and a utopian vision of a Ugandan paradise in Tokyo emerges.
- Partners & financing
- Moon Road Films has now started this process, following a period of development.
- Production schedule
- Estimated completion date: July 2022
- Beginning of shooting
- Oct 03, 2021
- End of shooting
- Mar 31, 2022