Documentary film “Their Beats Must Not Be Stopped”

A man who tries to fulfill his responsibility to the local community as a sort of atonement for boyhood memories of being an unmanageable bad boy, and the
elementary school student who admires the way the man waves his matoi flag (a method of alerting people to fire in the Edo period)

The hayashi musical accompaniment performed by the protectors of fujizuka, the “mounds made in the image of Mt. Fuji,” which to this day preserve the traditional worship of Mt. Fuji, and the problem of successors.

The determination of a man with the three young men he raised to somehow preserve a shishimai dance that began as a tradition of praying for an end to plague and illness.

Amid the spread of the pandemic, there was confusion, anger and lament among people that they were unable to hold festivals.

Why do people hold festivals?

The filmmaker searched for the answer in the Ikebukuro area of ​​Tokyo, a city that on the surface seems to have no connections with folk performing arts and traditions. Three little-known festivals exist here.
Somebody says, “The sound of the festival is the community itself.” Somebody else says, “If the festival didn’t exist the community would collapse.”
In an era the like of which nobody has ever experienced, the beat went on...

This documentary film, "Their Beats Must Not Be Stopped" follows three traditional festival performance groups that remain active today in Toshima City, Tokyo: Nagasaki Shishimai, Fujimoto-bayashi, and Zoshigaya Kishimonjin Oeshiki Mando Nerikuyo.
Festivals and community events around the world continue to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Toshima City is no exception. In 2021, the annual Folk Performing Arts in Toshima event had to be cancelled again. This cancellation sparked the start of this project, with the goal of making a visual record of the community’s folk arts.
As times continue to change, why do people still love festivals? From autumn into winter, Mile Nagaoka spent three months talking mainly with members of the Nagasaki Shishimai Ren, Fujimoto-bayashi Renchu, and Oeshiki Rengokai, and captured their perspectives and thoughts on video.
Everyone is welcome to watch and experience this record of the little-known folk performing arts that carry on within the Tokyo metropolis.

1. Friday, Oct. 28, 6:00 p.m.
*There will be a talk after the screening
Speakers: Mile Nagaoka and Kimiko Shimazoe

2. Monday, Oct. 31, 1:00 p.m.

Advance ticket: 500 yen
On the day: 800 yen

Advance ticket information
On sale: Friday, September 23 from 10:00 to 23:59 the day before the screening
Available from: Toshima Ticket Center
Online ticket sales: https://www.s2.e-get.jp/tsm-mirai/pt/
(open 24 hours)
Telephone: 0570-056-777 (10:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. *Temporary closures possible)
Ticket counter: 1F, Toshima Civic Center, 1-20-10 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima city, Tokyo 170-0013 (10:00a.m. – 7:00 p.m. *Temporary closures possible)
Tickets also available at the ticket counter of Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa. Please see Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa website for details.
https://www.cinemarosa.net/annai.htm

Information on tickets on the day
Please purchase at Ikebukuro Cinema Rosa ticket window.

Organizers
Toshima Mirai Cultural Foundation, Toshima City, Tokyo Festival Executive Committee [Toshima City, Toshima Mirai Cultural Foundation, Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture (Tokyo Metropolitan Theatre & Arts Council Tokyo), Tokyo Metropolitan Government]
Supported by
Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan in fiscal 2022
Sponsored by
Asahi Group Japan, Ltd.

Toshima Mirai Cultural Foundation, Project Planning Group
4F Tokyo Civic Center, 1-20-10 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima city, Tokyo 170-0013
TEL：03-3590-7118 (Weekdays 10:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.)
MAIL：event@toshima-mirai.or.jp