Synopsis

While studying in Sarajevo under Hungarian auteur Bela Tarr, Kaori Oda visited the Breza coal mine for research on a short film assignment. Captivated by the mine, she instead turned it into the subject of her first full-length feature. Her camera follows 300 metres underground, closely documenting men at work in dark tunnels illuminated by headlamps, surrounded by a symphony of clanging metal and heavy machinery. Produced by Tarr, this documentary is spare on words but mesmerisingly rich in light, shadow and sound. In Japanese, “aragane” refers to fragments of stones from a mine; true to its title, Oda's film pieces together shards of the miners’ long days and physical labour to capture and share their underground world.