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Dreaming Murakami + Vallen en Opstaan

Mette Holm has been translating the work of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami into Danish for years. In this carefully made look in her life she is followed to Japan, while she is working on the translation of Kaze no uta o kike (Listen to the wind), the debut novel of the world famous writer.

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Mette Holm has been translating the work of the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami into Danish for years. In this carefully made look in her life she is followed to Japan, while she is working on the translation of Kaze no uta o kike (Listen to the wind), the debut novel of the world famous writer. The translator feels at home in the fantasy world of Murakami, in which animals can talk and several universes coexist. Discussions with colleagues about the translation of sometimes a single Japanese word, indicate how much Holm is interwoven with her profession. The Japanese language, like the work of the writer, appears to be miles away from reality as we know it in the West. "It is as if they think completely differently," Holm thinks. It is precisely this challenge that translates for her into more than work: it is a way of life. While Mette is struggling on the words and sentences that perfectly convey what Murakami expresses through his solitary, day-dreaming characters, reality and fiction begin to merge.

'Vallen en opstaan'
The fled youths Abou, Benhur, Ibrahim, Mamin, Mohammed, Tanzid, Youssef, Zarah, and Zeyad each tell in their own way how they deal with friendship, dreams, and growth into adulthood. The film was realized by the young people themselves under the guidance of the Aachen filmmakers Michael Chauvistré and Miriam Pucitta and Dutch filmmakers Sergej Kreso, Remy Kooi and project coordinator Julia Herbergs.

Nitesh Anjaan, Denemark, 2017, 58 min. Danish, Japanese & English spoken, English subtitles.