Somewhere in the middle of Hokkaido, lives a man with an inexplicable bond to a potato. Unwilling to be found yet at the same time yearning to reach out, the enigmatic story of his proximity to a root plant is told through the few unaddressed letters he decides to send out. The film captures moments from Daniel Jacoby’s journey through the Northernmost island of Japan in search of this secluded man. Images of unrelated landscapes, situations and objects that the artist encounters in the way acquire an otherworldly aura when presented in the context of the potato-man.

Jagata

Deepening confusion becomes a delightful experience watching this collaborative film by Daniel Jacoby and Araki Yu. The documentary observes the idiosyncratic sounds and rhythms of Ban’ei, a rare kind of draft horse race that takes place only in Obihiro, Japan. Capturing the behind-the-scenes operations of the race, the film gradually twists itself into a knot as the excited voices of the commentators merge into a frenzy of gibberish.