A conversation with filmmaker Erik Shirai

- Erik, thank you so much for sharing this scene…from this really beautiful film with us.…Can you first just tell us…a little bit about this documentary?…- The Birth of Sake is a film about sort of these artisans…who live in northern Japan who handcraft sake for six months…out of the year, six to seven months out of the year.…They live full time at the brewery,…away from family and friends.…For me, it's a film that's a tribute to these artisans…and more specifically, a tribute…to Japanese people and my Japanese culture.…With many films that are being made these days…about Japanese culture, it's usually…from a Western perspective, and I thought…it was really important that a Japanese person…make a film about Japanese culture,…or something that's a part of our culture.…

And I think it gives a very different feel to the film.…The whole idea of looking from the inside out…rather from the outside in, and sort of sensationalizing…or sort of exotifying something that's not familiar to them.…- You know, I'm very curious about…