I Was, I Am, and I Will Be!
Ich war, ich bin, ich werde sein!- JAPAN / 2025 / Japanese / Color / DCP / 100 min
Director, Photography, Editing: Itakura Yoshiyuki
Sound, Interviewer: Sato Leo
Camera Assistant, Sound Assistant: Ueda Yuiki
Sound Editing: Matsuno Izumi
Suppot Staff: Nakamura Yoko, Wei Ran, Takagi Futa
Production, Source: CALDRONS
The Airin Labor and Welfare Center, a symbol of Kamagasaki—Osaka’s day laborer district—was shut down in 2019. With Expo 2025 Osaka on the horizon and gentrification underway, the film follows individuals who have lived their lives on the streets of this neighborhood. Some reveal unbelievable pasts, others speak out about structural injustice, some live with animals, and others express a desire to die. The long, unbroken shots that accompany each person’s story compel the viewer to imagine lives that are never explicitly shown on screen. Over time, the filmmakers attune themselves to the voices of those who lost their lives in this town. (TS)
[Director’s Statement] These people will be gone, and I will never be able to shoot them again—I was gripped by such impatience as I witnessed the accelerated development of Kamagasaki, Osaka. I believe that Sato Leo probably felt something similar. We began walking the streets together, camera in hand. Behind the former Airin Labor and Welfare Center, which had just been violently shuttered, I was drawn to a street vendor in a dazzling yellow shirt and approached him. As soon as he agreed to be in my film, he talked nonstop for two hours. I was dizzy from the endless stream of words and the sunlight, overwhelmed by his presence. Since then, about once a week for a year, I shot the people I was drawn to on the streets and in parks. Again and again, I was dumbfounded by what I saw, thinking, “This can’t be real.” In our walking as we discussed how the shooting should progress, just when we’d hit on a plan we’d encounter someone else who would blow it away in two seconds. At times it left us emotionally drained, and we seriously doubted whether the film would ever be completed. At the same time, during filming, I faintly but unmistakably felt refreshing breezes blowing through my head and body, loosening the stiffness caused by impatience and preconceptions. That breeze blows from people whose lives are tossed about by politics and economics, yet who hold on to their own words, their ties with deceased friends, and their relationships with animals. It would be wonderful if that breeze could reach those who see this film.
*The title of this film are the last words Rosa Luxemburg wrote before she was assassinated.
Itakura YoshiyukiBorn in Osaka in 1981. Graduated from the Visual Concept Planning Department at Osaka University of Arts, Itakura directed Hate, Hallelujah! (2006) with support from the 2nd Cineastes Organization Osaka. Other works include Hino soko de (2003) and Jama suru na! (2012). Participated as a crew member in The Kamagasaki Cauldron War (2017), directed by Sato Leo, which was set in Osaka’s Kamagasaki district, where he became aware of the community’s current situation. He launched the website Nighthawks in 2015, under the themes of night and capitalism. Part of the footage shot for the project was compiled into the medium-length film, Nighthawks #1 Osaka Kamagasaki to sono shuhen (2025). This film was completed around the same time. More films produced by the CALDRONS collective are currently in production.