johatsu - into thin air
2024
feature length documentary film
by Andreas Hartmann and Arata Mori
Every year, thousands of people vanish without a trace in Japan. Known as the Johatsu, or “the evaporated,” they abandon their lives for various reasons, a troublesome relationship, mounting debts or threats from the mafia. Some get support from so-called “night moving” companies, which help people to disappear and start a new life somewhere else. Taking an intimate look into the phenomenon of “evaporating people,” JOHATSU – INTO THIN AIR depicts the inner conflicts and attempts at reconciliation of those who have disappeared and those who have been left behind.
26th Thessaloniki iDF 2024 "International Competition" (World Premiere)
21st CPH:DOX 2024 "Highlights"
Germany / Japan 2024 (86 / 52 min)
Directors: Andreas Hartmann & Arata Mori
Editor: Kai Eiermann (BFS)
Composers: Jana Irmert & Mika Takehara
Additional Music: Fabrizio Tentoni
Sound Design: Nils Vogel
Re-recording Mixer: Linus Nickl
Commissioning Editors: Petra Felber, Martin Kowalczyk (BR), Monika Lobkowicz (BR/ARTE)
Broadcasters: Bayerischer Rundfunk, ARTE, SRF Schweizer Radio und Fernsehen & yesDocu
Sponsors: Die Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien & Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
German Distributor: Real Fiction
International Sales: CAT&Docs
Grants and Awards
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Development supported by the Film- und Medienstiftung NRW “Gerd Ruge Grant”
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Selected for the “Masters Pitch” at the DOK.fest Munich 2019
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Nominated for the “German Composition Funding Award” at the DOK.fest Munich 2019
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“Sunny Side of the Doc Pitch Prize” at the DOK.fest Munich 2019
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Participant at the Sunny Side of the Doc international marketplace, La Rochelle – France 2019
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Selected for the DOK Leipzig Co-Pro Market 2019
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Production grants by BKM – Beauftragte der Bundesregierung für Kultur und Medien and Film- und Medienstiftung NRW
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“D-Facto Motion Works-in-Progress Prize” at DOK Preview Germany – DOK Leipzig 2023