TOHOKU MONOGATARI

Tohoku Monogatari is an ethnographic documentary about the Northeast Japanese tradition of the Itako mediums. The story, narrated through the experience of these female mediums and people involved with this tradition, conveys the sentiment of this very Tohoku-based practice. The film shows a reality that has been changing and adapting during the last two decades through the words of three different female mediums and the people who gravitate around the places they frequent. Therefore, the film not only traces the experiences and work of these "businesswomen" in the communication with spirits but recounts the places where this occurs: the house, the temple, the mountain, and the northeast of Japan, linking practice to geography and vice versa. The film also questions concepts and forms of representation of shaman/medium figures that have influenced our understanding and fed exotic ideas on the subject.