Ayukawa: The Weight of a Life (2021)
At once tranquil and bracing, Tu Neill and Jim Speers’ film is a portrait of a seaside town and its vanishing way of life. Though it is now slowly emptying, Ayukawa was once a thriving coastal community, its success based on a practice rooted in tradition, custom, and ceremony: whaling. Through the voices of local elders, the film conveys how that form of hunting developed into the lifeblood of the town before cultural changes, international condemnation, and strict regulation brought it to the brink of non-existence.
Directors: Jim Speers, Tu Neill.
| Production | Jim Speers | Producer |
| Production | Sue Thompson | Executive Producer |
| Camera | Jim Speers | Director of Photography |
| Production | Adrian Grey | Executive Producer |
| Production | Kentarô Yamada | Producer |
| Directing | Jim Speers | Director |
| Writing | Tu Neill | Writer |
| Production | Kath Akuhata-Brown | Executive Producer |
| Writing | Jim Speers | Writer |
| Production | Tu Neill | Producer |
| Sound | Finn Andrews | Original Music Composer |
| Writing | Kentarô Yamada | Writer |
| Directing | Tu Neill | Director |
| Camera | Tu Neill | Director of Photography |
| Editing | Jenna Bowden | Editor |
