The 2,000-year-old art of sake is the focus of this immersive documentary, which centers on the Tedorigawa Brewery and its tireless workers whose personal sacrifices keep the time-honored tradition alive.
For 145 years the Tedorigawa Brewery has been making saké the traditional way. Situated in Japan’s north, the brewery is one of the few remaining of its kind, with most others abandoning the time-consuming traditional methods for the ease of modern ways. Using minimal equipment and relying mostly on intuition and their five senses, the workers labor indefatigably to produce the highest quality liquor. During the six-month-long brew season, the men live and work together under the guidance of Teruyuki Yamamoto, the 68-year-old head brewmaster. Though unshakable friendships and bonds are formed, the men sacrifice precious time with their loved ones back home for the sake of preserving the future of this liquor in decline. Faced with the rapid decrease of sake consumption and the changing palates of a modern generation, the Tedorigawa Brewery must fight to stay relevant in order to sustain itself. Filmmaker Erik Shirai beautifully captures the rare craft during a critical time in its history.
DIRECTOR: Erik Shirai CAST: DOC LANGUAGE: Japanese COUNTRY: USA YEAR: 2015 LENGTH: 94 min
