Helena Solberg Cineclub presents WELCOME BACK, FAREWELL

This September, HELENA SOLBERG CINECLUB screens Welcome Back, Farewell, a moving documentary about a Japanese-descendant family torn between the need to secure their livelihood and the desire to stay together.

At the turn of the millennium, the Japanese-Brazilian Yayoko and Roberto Yoshisaki travelled to Japan in search of a better life, while their three children stayed in Brazil with their grandparents. The couple returned to Brazil 13 years later. Through the eyes of Marcos Yoshi (director, character and son), the documentary follows the emotional process of rebuilding bonds in this family affected by the immigration flux between Brazil and Japan, known as the dekassegui phenomenon. Dekassegui is a term used in Brazil to refer to people, primarily Japanese-Brazilians, who have immigrated to Japan, having taken advantage of Japanese citizenship or nisei visa and immigration laws to work short-term in the country. Welcome Back, Farewell is one of the thousands of stories about families torn apart by immigration, as it highlights the Japanese presence in Brazil, home to the largest Japanese-descendant community in the world.

The film develops as a very uncomfortable diary, which begins as a family portrait, but becomes a sort of sociocultural investigation with a personal and political dimension.