2008 Woodie Awards
Becoming globally conscious
Documentary filmmaker details struggle to be accepted in Japan
By: Trish Wallace
Issue date: 11/17/05 Section: News
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"You will nurture a global consciousness and will also create global identity," Life said.
Life understands plenty about international travel. As a college student, the New York filmmaker studied in Nigeria and London for a total of one year, but his real dream was Japan. Life said that even during high school he wanted live in Japan. In 1990, Life took the chance to travel to Japan to work with a famous Japanese director, Yamado Yoji.
"I wanted to see a Japanese filmmaker make a film from beginning to end," Life said.
While in Japan, Life produced a series of three documentary films of his own.
Life drew from his own experiences to inspire his films. As an African American, Life said he had become prepared for the type of racism he would encounter in Japan.
"I knew what it was to be a foreigner," Life said of his travels during college, "and I knew what it was to be a foreigner of color."
During the day, those Life encountered knew who he was with and why he was there. When the sun set, however, he was treated in a very different way.
"It was at night when I realized the world of Japan was really quite different," Life said.
From these encounters, Life produced his first film "Struggle and Success: the African American Experience in Japan.
During his lecture, Life showed two clips from his first movie. One clip featured an American family living in Japan. The father was white and Jewish, the mother was African American, and their children considered themselves Japanese. The children grew up in Japanese culture, spoke Japanese, and did not see themselves as foreigners. The family was generally accepted. Another clip, though, presented interviews of several different Japanese people who admitted their intense dislike of African Americans.