Do You Hear the Wind in the Pine Trees?

In Do You Hear the Wind in the Pine Trees?, Belgian photographer, filmmaker, and mixed media artist Axelle Lenaerts returns to Japan seeking closure after heartbreak. Guided by her friend Kanji, Lenaerts explores the intricacies of the Japanese language—renowned for its ability to capture the subtleties of emotion and nature—mirroring the shifting seasons and their evocative sounds: the crunch of winter frost, the crash of waves on the shore. Weaving together nature’s rhythms, stanza-like thoughts in white ink, and deconstructed Japanese characters, the film becomes a meditative reflection on the meaning of goodbye.