5th OKINAWA INTERNATIONAL MOVIE FESTIVAL

Storyline

Twenty years have passed since a Japanese rock band THE BOOM released “Shima Uta” in 1993, which was written based on the tragic Battle of Okinawa in 1945.
Starting from a great success in its native Okinawa, the song has since become a standard number sung in various places around the world.
Answers to the questions as to how this song came into being and how it has grown to gain such popularity are revealed through interviews with a number of people, including the song’s composer and lyricist, Kazufumi Miyazawa.
The movie is also a documentary on Miyazawa’s sentiment toward Okinawa in a hundred year’s time, which has driven him to set up the “Kuruchi-no-mori (Dyospyros ferrea tree planting) Project in Yomitan” in this twentieth anniversary year of the song’s release.

Plot

Not only are unknown episodes during the production of “Shima Uta” told by Kazufumi Miyazawa himself, many other people, including prominent figures in Okinawan music such as Sadao China, Yoriko Ganeko, and BEGIN, as well as personalities and artists currently playing active parts in Tokyo, also talk about THE BOOM’s “Shima Uta”.
In commemoration of the twentieth year of its original release, moreover, a newly recorded music video of “Shima Uta” is shown in the movie.
Okinawans who appear in the music video naturally include celebrities along with those who appeared in the original music video twenty years ago, prompting the audience to think about a long lapse of time.

CAST

Kazufumi Miyazawa, Sadao China, Misako Koja, BEGIN, Alberto Shiroma, Hayato Fujiki, Yoriko Ganeko, Jake Shimabukuro, Katsutake Teruya

Director & Work Data

Director

Tsutomu Makiya

Year

2013

Copyright

THE BOOM: a Tale of Shima Uta Production Committee