Sara Ito

Ashita no Friends can be interpreted two ways: Tomorrow no Friends, or Friends of Tomorrow. Each reflects two different fantasies: a capitalistic fantasy that isolates us from each other, and another created with community in this project.

My research began in a pachinko hall in Tokyo, where players sit alone with gambling machines that offer an escape from themselves. But this escape traps us deeper inside capitalistic forces that take away our agency, growing larger by feeding on individual loneliness. Modern fantasy pushes us further from others, turning even other people into content to consume. How can we break free from this cycle of consumption and loneliness, and reconnect with the feelings we want to escape, and with each other?

Before capitalism offered an escape from oneself, communities had other tools to engage with the world, such as yokai. Yokai are monsters that pre-modern Japanese society used to name the unknown, whether from nature or our own minds. These creatures were shared through stories and rituals, so that no one had to face the unknown alone.

I had participants create their own monsters and imaginary friends, and filmed the everyday places where these beings appear. I animated their creatures into that footage, weaving imagination and reality together. By doing so, I give form to the uncanny inside us, the way our predecessors once did with yokai. The film illustrates that what is imagined does exist, manifesting the inner reality of people into physical form.