Natsu no uta

The majestic mountain scenery of the town of Ubuyama-mura in southern Japan serves as the setting for this exquisite exploration of an inexhaustible cultural legacy. With the arrival of summer, Masae goes house to house collecting traditional songs in a search for poems dating back over one thousand years. A magnetic lyrical force moves Summer Songs along, shot in splendorous 16 mm, where traces of Naomi Kawase's documentaries can be felt. Jorge Suárez Quiñones Rivas had already made valuable inquiries into the essence of Japan, such as the brilliant medium-length film Amijima (2016). In his new film, he once again achieves the most difficult of goals: to capture the sublime instant that, like in all great poems, exists alone and fleeting in the curious and sensitive gaze of those who search the mundane to finally transcend it. (JHE)

> Project financed by the Injuve Grants for Young Creation 2021-2022 and the Grants for Contemporary Creation and National and International Mobility 2022-2023 of the Madrid City Council.