The Vegetable Garden Under The Sea | BBC StoryWorks x JCO

The Job

Project

The Vegetable
Garden Under
The Sea — a 90-second film, plus two 30-second cutdowns

Client

Japan Cabinet Office

Publisher

BBC StoryWorks

Production

Street Attack Japan

Location

Amakusa, Kumamoto Prefecture

the film

The Subject

seaweed. Japan has around 1,500 edible varieties and eats a handful of them.

The Format

observational. Two contributors, no presenter, no narrator over the top.

The Signature

the waterline. The camera keeps sitting where the air stops and the garden starts.

the contributors

The Chef

Namae Shinobu — three Michelin stars at L'Effervescence, and a freediver.

The Innovator

Teramatsu Chihiro of Sea Vegetable, growing suji aonori on dry land.

The Farmers

the Amakusa fishermen who tend the seabeds, playing themselves.

the challenge

The Breath

a freediver only has so many takes in him before the day is over.

The Dinner

forty people down on the shore, string lights, and one narrow window of usable dusk.

The Mandate

Don't explain it.
Feed them. — Deliciousness first. The argument about the ocean arrives on a plate, or it doesn't arrive.