DIRECTOR'S MESSAGE

— A Word from the Director —

There was a time I lived with bipolar disorder,unable to find a reason for being alive —a time when simply being herefelt unbearably heavy.

It was then that I met Yakushima.

Touching the water of its sea and rivers,walking its forests,bathed in the sun's radiant light —for one month I lived this way.Gently, my heart began to heal.Gratitude welled up for being alive,and I was filled with love.

Before I knew it, I had returned to"my own truest self."

The film "i Land" was bornfrom my own lived experience.

In an age where people have come to livecut off from the natural world.

To those who, like I once did,
find it hard to live;
to those who sit in loneliness;
to those who cannot stop blaming themselves.

Through this film, I wish to offerthe experience of returning, once more,to the source of life.

May this story be, for someone,the spark that lets them embracetheir truest self, just as they are —and live by it.