Welcome Back, Farewell (Bem-vindos de novo)

Director: Marcos Yoshi, Producer: Meus Russos, Language: Portuguese, Country: Brazil, 105′, 2021, Rights: World 

Parents and children reunite after 13 years apart. This is the starting point of “Welcome Back, Farewell”, a documentary that follows the emotional process of rebuilding a family, that is part of a culture of family separation known as the Dekasegi phenomenon, which is a term that is used in Brazil to refer to people, primarily Japanese Brazilians, who have migrated to Japan, having taken advantage of Japanese citizenship or nisei visa and immigration laws to work short-term in Japan.

The debut feature film by Marcos Yoshi, director and a character, portrays his family’s immigration trajectory as it stresses the conflict between the desire to guarantee the family’s future and the impossibility to remain together. It’s one of the thousands of stories about families torn apart by immigration as it highlights the Japanese presence in Brazil, home to the largest Japanese-descendant community in the world.

In collaboration with Punctum Sales