Koto: The Last Service

The plot

Joella Cabelu  2021 Canada  14:35 

After nearly 40 years in operation, the family-run Koto Japanese Restaurant is closing down in Campbell River, Canada. Over the course of its final service, the small Vancouver Island community bids farewell in this meditation on how to say goodbye with grace and the legacy of investing care in relationships through sushi.

Director Biography - Joella Cabalu

Joella Cabalu is a Filipino Canadian documentary filmmaker based in Vancouver. It Runs in the Family (2015) was her first mid-length documentary, receiving Audience Choice Awards at the Seattle Asian Film Festival and Vancouver Queer Film Festival and a special jury mention at CAAMFest for the Loni Ding Award for Social Justice Documentary. Since then, she has worked as a producer, supporting emerging women directors in creating critically acclaimed short documentaries, including On Falling (Tribeca 2020), Biker Bob’s Posthumous Adventure (Lunenburg 2019), Do I Have Boobs Now? (Slamdance 2017), and FIXED! (DOXA 2017). Currently, she is producing her first feature documentary Back Home with support from the Telefilm Talent to Watch fund. Koto: The Last Service marks her return to the director's seat, exploring stories about intimacies, identities, and relationships.

Director Statement

Koto Japanese Restaurant turned off their lights on May 25, 2019, after nearly 40 years of operation. Owned and run by the Maeda family, they introduced raw fish sushi, before it was a cool trend, to the Vancouver Island town of Campbell River, on the unceded territories of the Laich-Kwil-Tach Peoples - the We Wai Kai, Wei Wai K u m, and Kwiakah First Nations. They soon became known as one of the first authentic Japanese restaurants in the “Salmon Capital of the World”, and more importantly a hub in the community for Indigenous and non-Indigenous families to come together and engage in Japanese food and culture. The Maeda family – matriarch Kazue, the late Takeo (Tony), and their sons Taigi and Kenji were fixtures in the community as their generosity and friendship extended beyond serving fresh sushi. In a time when small town folks are painted as small-minded towards immigrants, the Koto restaurant and Campbell River counters that stereotype and serves up an example of community cohesion and intercultural exchange.

In discussing race with Asian-North American audiences, it has become clear that Canada does not yet have an established language to unpack anti-Asian racism. However, in recent years, there has been a surge of Canadian media that examines racism, including the hit podcast Colour Code (Globe & Mail, 2016) and the powerful documentary nipawistamasowin: We Will Stand Up (Tasha Hubbard, 2019). Koto is distinct in its aim to tackle this issue by showcasing positive community relationships in small towns and offering a soothing balm to anti-Asian racism.

Specifications

• Project Type: Documentary, Short
• Runtime: 14 minutes 33 seconds
• Completion Date: January 20, 2021
• Country of Origin: Canada
• Country of Filming: Canada
• Language: English, Japanese
• Film Color: Color

• Age Rating General (12 and under)
• Running time 00:14:34 mins



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