Haiku on a plum tree

a documentary film by Mujah Maraini-Melehi

The Story

Tokyo 1943: Italian anthropologist Fosco Maraini and painter Topazia Alliata refused to sign allegiance to Mussolini. They were imprisoned with their three daughters, Dacia, Yuki and Toni. Today, Toni’s daughter Mujah explores her family’s experience and legacy by trying to bring their memories to life by retracing their steps in her own journey to Japan.

Haiku on a Plum Tree is a visual memoir, a personal journey into my family’s history and legacy as a granddaughter, a daughter and as a mother. This journey of understanding and reconciliation through conversations, interviews, and documents takes me to Japan to retrace my family’s experience by visiting some of the sites from their past including both prison camps, Tempaku and Kosai-ji, in Nagoya. The scenes, memories, and journey are told through animation, maps, voices and framed by Dogugaeshi screens opening up to reveal deeper layers of the story, leading us into a world of mystery, memory, wonder, pain, and silences so we can understand where we are now.

Mujah Maraini-Melehi

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Cast & Crew

DIRECTOR
Mujah Maraini-Melehi

SCRIPT
Mujah Maraini-Melehi, Deborah Belford de Furia

CINEMATOGRAPHY
Maura Morales Bergmann

EDITING
Letizia Caudullo

CAST
Topazia Alliata, Fosco Maraini, Toni Maraini,
Dacia Maraini, Mujah Maraini-Melehi, Keiko Kano, Norio Kumamoto

PRODUCTION
Haiku Film, Interlinea Films

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COUNTRY Italy GENRE Historic, Biopic
CATEGORY Documentary PRODUCTION YEAR 2016
DISTRIBUTION Mescalito Film
ITALY RELEASE DATE June 25, 2018

Featuring

Music by
Academy Award® Winner
Ryuichi Sakamoto
with original composition
“Italian Ainu”

Basil Twist
and his “Dogugaeshi”
Japanese theater screens

Photo Gallery

Kosai-ji (Nagoya), August 1945 The Maraini family after liberation from two years of detention - Maraini archives ©

Tempaku (Nagoya), 1954 - Fosco Maraini visiting the detention camp ten years later - Maraini archives ©

Nagoya, August 1945 - Dacia Maraini in front of the rubble of war - ©Fosco Maraini/Archivio Privato

Fosco and Topazia, drawing by Topazia Alliata 1935.

Basil Twist's Dogugaeshi and Yuki Maraini Puppet.

Mujah and her mother Toni Maraini, Vieusseux Archives, Florence.

"Hunger", Basil Twist’s Stickman puppet.

“Mujah Maraini-Melehi’s moving documentary is a balm for the eyes and heart, embellished by Ryuichi Sakamoto’s music and Basil Twist’s hypnotic set design.”

AfNews 2018

“Haiku on a Plum Tree is a striking yet delicate testimony of life with a simple and sincere narration. Its elliptical style knows when to focus on the words and gazes of its protagonists. Topazia and Fosco Maraini’s memories reach us with deep,
moving tenderness.”

Gian Luca Pisacane
Cinematografo.it

“Through archival documents and fantastical play, the film manages to go beyond a family’s history, touching the heart strings of collective memory (and nostalgia).”

Carlo Gnetti
Bookciak Magazine

“Unique in its genre: a treasure chest of memories and emotions that gracefully opens to reveal a profound family legacy.”

Silvia Fabbri
Movietrainer

“A masterful example of transnational,
transgenerational storytelling.”

Clorinda Donato
The Italian American Review

“Thanks to Mujah Maraini-Melehi this story is now part of our cultural patrimony and an example of cinematic art.“

Riccardo Tavani
Stampacritica