The Voice of the Unicorn
Synopsis
Takako Shirawa has spent the last 36 years creating an extraordinary day centre for autistic people in Abeno, Osaka. Nestling on a quiet neighbourhood corner, Atelier Corners began life as a family run sanctuary for local autistic children and has developed into a pioneering site of artistic experiment with its members becoming renowned artists, exhibited in Japan and worldwide. Award winning artist and filmmaker Richard Butchins (himself disabled) visited the centre with disabled dancer Kazuyo Morita and spent two years documenting and creating an award winning video installation about the artists and their home.
This film shows the artists, the art and the woman that made it possible. It’s a testament to integration and the remarkable minds of the people that inhabit the building that is Atelier Corners. The film is part documentary and part artists’ moving image, a reflective and thoughtful account exploring the experience of disability in Japan, what is positive in the act of creation and the struggle against social exclusion, and how to foster and nurture the spirit of human life in a country that has traditionally excluded and hidden its disabled population from view.
Details
- Year
- 2020
- Type of film
- Features
- Running Time
- 60 mins
- Director
- Richard Butchins
- Producer
- Richard Butchins
- Co-Producer
- Partrick Knill
- Executive Producer
- Richard Lloyd
- Editor
- Melanie Quigley
- Director of Photography
- Richard Butchins, Roger Walch
- Sound
- Patrick Knill, Richard Butchins
- Music
- Gemma Williams, Patrick Knill
- Graphics
- Beepee.xyz
Production status
Complete
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Last updated 17th October 2019
