On 11 March 2011 the largest earthquake in modern history hit Japan and then, thirty minutes later, the dark waves of a tsunami roared in over the coast of north-eastern Japan dragging cars, homes and lives out into the sea.
In the film we meet Yasu, who has done over 100 dives in search of his lost wife. Sachiko keeps writing letters to her husband who was taken by the wave. Satoko is a young woman struggling with her trauma from the disaster. On the other side of the ocean, in the Hawaiian island of Kaho’olawe, a group of volunteers are gathering to clean the beach of the Japanese debris floating in from the ocean. They are all sharing the stories of the afterlife.
Jennifer Rainsford’s debut feature takes the viewer to an epic journey, from the life on Earth as seen from outer space to the smallest microcosmic perspectives, to find out how humans, animals and nature heal after a trauma. Told in the form of a film essay, backed up with scientific research and the staggering score by Teho Teardo, All of Our Heartbeats are Connected Through Exploding Stars tells a tale of the interconnectedness of all living organisms on planet Earth.
Jennifer Rainsford is a visual artist and director based in Stockholm. Her short films and installations have been shown at festivals such as Oberhausen, Berlinale, Rotterdam and CPH:DOX. Her last film Lake On Fire was selected for the main short film competition at Göteborg Film Festival 2020. All Of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars is her first feature-length documentary.
All Of Our Heartbeats Are Connected Through Exploding Stars (2022), Lake on Fire (2020), Birds in Space (2018), When I Die the World Ends (2017), Mva Farasi (Rain Horse) (2012), Applied Theories of Expanding Minds (2011), Our Global Behavior Is Psychopathic (2010), For the Liberation Of Men (2009)
