from the official website:
Imagine cramming 128 million people onto an island the size of Montana – you would be pretty close to replicating the density of Japan. Not surprisingly, space is at a premium and ergonomic design is right up there next to godliness.

Yet even in Tokyo, the pinnacle of this figurative “can of sardines,” people of all ages still make room for a tiny bit of wilderness. It is only fitting that they have become captivated by nature’s most efficient invention in space, design and function – insects.

Sold live in vending machines and department stores, plastic replicas included as prizes in the equivalent of a McDonald’s Happy Meal and the subject of the No. 1 videogame, MushiKing, from the smallest backyard to the top of Mt. Fuji, insects inspire an enthusiasm in Japan seen nowhere else in this world. Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo discovers why Japan developed this rich and enriching social relationship with insects.

Like a detective story, the film untangles the web of influences behind Japan’s captivation with insects. It opens in modern-day Tokyo where a single beetle recently sold for $90,000 then slips back to the early 1800s, to the first cricket-selling business and the development of haiku and other forms of insect literature and art. Through history and adventure, Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo travels all the way back in time to stories of the fabled first emperor who named Japan the “Isle of the Dragonflies.”

896MB | 1h 30mn | 720×480 | avi

https://nitro.download/view/D9683B5613C0536/BEETLE_QUEEN_CONQUERS_TOKYO.avi
or
https://tezfiles.com/file/682fb9277dc53/BEETLE_QUEEN_CONQUERS_TOKYO.avi

Language:Japanese
Subtitles:English [hardcoded]

The post Jessica Oreck – Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo (2009) first appeared on Cinema of the World.

One year in the life of a family of reindeer herders in Finnish Lapland. Jessica Oreck’s intimate, gorgeously lensed documentary follows brothers Aarne and Lasse Aatsinki. The film is a study of hard work, hard earned leisure, and the intricate bond between man and nature that makes up life above the Arctic Circle.Quote:
Brothers Aarne and Lasse Aatsinki are cowboys of the Arctic. Quiet but good natured, dare-devilish but humble, rugged but gentle, and exceptionally knowledgeable when it comes to their little slice of wilderness. These men are what John Wayne wanted to be. The brothers, along with their wives and children, live well north of the Arctic Circle in Finnish Lapland, where they are the leaders of a collective of traditional reindeer herders who manage the last group of wild reindeer in all of Finland. Aatsinki follows the family for the span of one year, quietly observing their seasonal routines and the difficulties and joys of a life so closely tied to the land.

Theirs is a story of action and work, of small moments between husband and wife, father and daughter, animal and man, man and landscape. It is a life of sweeping panoramas and commonplace details. The simplicity of the film allows the extraordinary action to shine through, whether it be a thousand reindeer cresting a hill or Aarne’s daughter opening a Christmas present.

Though, on the surface, Aatsinki is the story of a single family, its underlying narrative is one of global consequences and connections. Between their uncanny understanding of the landscape and their reindeer on the one hand, and their heavy reliance on snowmobiles and helicopters on the other, the herders have been categorized as beacons of sustainability and demons of environmentalism – in essence, poster children for simplicity and technology alike. Their story raises weighty questions about what it means to live with the land and invites audience members to reconsider their own assumptions about technology, food production, and, most critically, man’s place in nature.

3.12GB | 1h 25mn | 1920×1080 | mkv

https://nitro.download/view/68594E414BF81D3/Aatsinki.2013.1080p.WEB.iTunes.AAC.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv
or
https://tezfiles.com/file/30978d17a08dc/Aatsinki.2013.1080p.WEB.iTunes.AAC.2.0.x264-SaL.mkv

Language:Finnish
Subtitles:English

The post Jessica Oreck – Aatsinki: The Story of Arctic Cowboys (2013) first appeared on Cinema of the World.