The Making Of
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Producers/Directors Chris Sheridan and Patty Kim talk about making a film in a largely unknown language, getting Megumi's parents to open up to them and the relationship between Japan and North Korea.
What led you to make this film?
In 2002, we read a newspaper article about the historic trip by the Japanese prime minister to North Korea. That’s when the North Koreans admitted they’d abducted Japanese citizens. We were totally shocked because we’d never heard anything about this. But we were even more shocked when we learned that one of the victims was a 13-year-old girl. We felt so moved, in particular, by the story of her parents’ incredible decades-long journey to find her. The story had the makings of an amazing Hollywood script—spies, family, love, passion, mystery. This was, and is, without a doubt, one of the most powerful true-life stories we’d ever heard. And we felt lots of other people needed to hear it too. So, with some room on our credit cards and some savings, we took off to make the film on our own.
What were some of the challenges you faced in making this film?
Well, the biggest, and most obvious one, was the fact that neither of us spoke Japanese very well. And that’s a big problem considering the entire film was shot in Japan and told in Japanese! But the other major obstacle was convincing the people in our film that we needed private access to their lives. Megumi’s parents are very well-known in Japan. They are the most powerful voices in the struggle to bring the victims home. So, they are in the news a lot, at press conferences and public events. Very few people get to see them at home or in private. We absolutely needed that. We knew it would be the only way that Western audiences would truly identify with them. At first, they didn’t quite understand that and it was probably very confusing for them, especially since privacy is highly prized in Japan. But eventually, we managed to convince them that it was important to the story. And thank goodness they agreed because the result is incredible access to these two extraordinary people’s lives.
What didn’t get included in your film that you would have liked to show?
There’s so much. There always is. After all, we filmed them on and off for a year, plus had years of footage from their struggle before we even met them. But, there are a few scenes that we had in the original version that hit the editing-room floor. Megumi’s mother told us about three dreams she had after Megumi disappeared. We thought the dreams really illustrated the sense of bewilderment Megumi’s parents went through after she was kidnapped. So we filmed some dream sequences. But when we saw the dreams in the film, they took away from the central story. So, we cut them out. That was hard to do, but that’s filmmaking. There was another scene that we had a hard time taking out. Teruaki Masumoto, whose sister was kidnapped in 1978, plays the tough guy in our film. He’s the guy who’s not afraid, or too polite, to say what many people wish they could say publicly. We have a scene where he begins to talk about his sister at a public rally and he totally breaks down and starts crying—a rare moment for him. We decided not to include it because the film is already so filled with emotion, and we needed to cut something. It’s in the DVD extras, though!
Tell us about a scene in the film that especially moved or resonated with you.
So many but, without a doubt, the scene where Megumi’s mother pleads for information on her daughter’s disappearance on Japanese TV shortly after Megumi disappeared was really hard for us to watch the first time. We had been filming with this elderly woman with gray hair and to see her 30 years earlier with jet-black hair and porcelain white skin and so young—it really drove home to us how long this woman had been searching for her little girl. When the families scream obscenities at the Japanese government as well—that scene brought us to tears. It’s so shocking but incredibly sad, too! To see Japanese people, known for their politeness and genuine humility, taking such extreme measures, really shows how drastic things had become for them and how desperate they are to get their kids back.
How did you get Jane Campion involved?
Well, most people know Jane for her narrative films, in particular The Piano, which won three Oscars and the Palme D'Or at the Cannes Film Festival. Patty met her about 15 years ago and they struck up a friendship by writing letters to each other. When we started making this film, we wanted someone to oversee it who had a strong storytelling and strong film background because we didn't want it to be a news or investigative documentary. We asked Jane on a lark and she asked to see some of the material we'd shot. Once she saw it, that was it. She loved it and agreed to come on board. We are so lucky because she fit the project perfectly and because she rarely, if ever, does this. She knew exactly what we were trying to do and she helped us steer the film in the right direction.
What has the audience response been so far? Have the people featured in the film seen it, and if so, what did they think?
The audience response has been much stronger than we could have imagined. When you make a film, you are always wondering if people are going to “get it” and, more importantly, if they’re going to identify with the main characters. We felt if we did things right then people would connect with Megumi’s parents. But we never expected that they’d connect as deeply as they did. We normally put out books for people to sign at our screenings after they’ve seen the film. What people write, all over the world, has brought us to tears more than once. Someone started a petition online, the families tell us the film’s brought scores of young people to their cause and the Japanese government is now taking the film around the world to show diplomats in an effort to put international pressure on the North Koreans to resolve this.
As for the families seeing the film, that’s a good question. The first time we showed it to them was in Tokyo, months after the film had already made the rounds at festivals worldwide. The Japanese press had been reporting on its progress and so the families were anxious to see it. We organized a screening for press, the families as well as politicians and other Japanese groups. Loads of politicians came including the future Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe (who is now the former prime minister) and his wife. It was totally packed and we knew that the success of that screening that night would determine whether the film lived or died. With that in mind, as the lights went down, we had a little anxiety attack and thought maybe we’d made a big mistake doing it this way. We knew what unfolded on screen that night was not just a film for Megumi’s parents, but their life. And it would be very painful. We suddenly felt terribly guilty that we might be contributing to that pain unintentionally. Thank goodness Megumi’s parents got up at the end of the night and said it exceeded their expectations and that people needed to see it to understand what they were going through. What a relief!
The independent film business is a difficult one. What keeps you motivated?
Money. Just joking. We love to tell stories. It’s as simple as that. We are both suckers for a good yarn, and when it’s done well, it can move you in ways that nothing else can. It is vital to our existence, and while it might not be as vital as food or shelter, it certainly feels that way sometimes. People forget, or even dismiss, how stories and myths have contributed to our evolution as a species and to our overall mental and spiritual health.
Why did you choose to present your film on public television?
We are big fans of PBS and Independent Lens, in particular. We watch it all the time. More importantly, the families in our film have tried many times to get the rest of the world to listen to them. This is a fantastic way for them to tell their story to a very large audience outside of Japan. Independent Lens has a very loyal, very dedicated, very educated audience that likes powerful stories with a bit of an edge. This is one of those stories, and we felt, more than any other audience, PBS viewers would get the style, tone and message of this film.
Is there anything else you’d like to share in this Q&A—interesting anecdotes regarding filming, a commonly asked question by audiences, etc.?
Well, we think it's important the audience know that this story is far from over and that it affects us in the United States in a very real and direct way. There is a negotiation over North Korea’s nuclear weapons program commonly referred to as the Six Party Talks (the six parties being the U.S., Japan, Russia, China, North Korea and South Korea). The talks, which happen periodically, have gone on for a few years now, and the goal is to try to get North Korea to give up its nuclear weapons in favor of a civilian nuclear program. Every time those talks occur, Japan brings up the abduction of its citizens since Japan and North Korea rarely get a chance to sit at the same table because they have no formal diplomatic relations. This puts North Korea in a bad mood very quickly and often sours the tone and mood at the talks. This is something that affects the United States a lot since it’s in our best interests to get North Korea to give up its weapons program. So, in many ways, this film represents the real “untold” story behind the nuclear talks. And it’s why people need to understand this story.
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