Where but into the sea
וווהין סיידן אין ים
September 1939: Maria Kamm (née Weyland, 1920-2019) and Marcel Weyland (born in 1927) flee their hometown of Łódź during the Nazi invasion of Poland and begin a journey into the unknown. On board the Trans-Siberian and then a Japanese steamboat which takes them to Tsuruga Bay, Kobe, Shanghai and finally Melbourne, Australia, Where But Into The Sea is an intimate portrait of two family members separated during World War II, and a documentation of their incredible odyssey to survival.
Directed by Mirai Osawa, Where But Into The Sea illuminates the under-reported facts about the asylum process for Jewish people in wartime Japan and Japanese occupied Shanghai, China, while painting an intimate portrait of refugees whose stories of separation and displacement ring just as true in today’s modern context. Through interviews, recounting of letters and narration by historical investigator Kenji Kanno, this film delves into the asylum process through Maria and Marcel’s own words: remembering what was, and embracing what will be – a new world, a new life, a future free from persecution.
STAFF: Kenji Kanno / Mirai Osawa / Rachel Walls / Keiko Miyamori / Mifumi Obata / Henning Schmiedt / Kiyoshi Sekiguchi
This site is supported by JSPS KAKENHI Grant Number 17K02041 / 18KK0031.