• Director(s):

    DEBS (JACQUES)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE FRANCE, FILMS D'ICI (LES)

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2011

  • Language(s):

    German, French

  • Rights:

    TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

Sverrir Gudjonsson is one of the greatest counter-tenors of our time. Stomu Yamashta descends from a long line of Kyoto artists, and has decided to make stones and rocks sing. They have created a musical project together.

This documentary gives us an insight into the two musicians' artistic friendship during the development of their work on the theme of The Creation. Stomu composes a work that Sverrir sings, taken from 3 major texts from Mediterranean, Western and Japanese culture: the first chapter of Genesis in Hebrew, an extract from the Saga in Icelandic and a poem by Ikkyû (1394-1481), founding poet of the Japanese arts in the 13th century.

For Stomu and Sverrir, the work is a musical and spiritual bridge between Japan and Europe. As their music takes form, we discover the outstanding worlds of our two artists - their childhoods, their artistic careers, their attachment to their culture and their faith.

The film takes us to Iceland and to Japan, where we follow their work, including rehearsals, in preparation of the worldwide premiere of their musical creation at Notre Dame de Paris in Autumn 2009. The journey takes us through the mystical worlds of the Mediterranean, Iceland and Japan, where Genesis, the Saga and the Haiku resonate in osmosis.

2011 : Best European Film at the European Spiritual Film Festival.