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Clip description
A country show is underway. Women compete in a wood-chopping event, children are entertained with a Punch and Judy show, Father Christmas makes an appearance. Aya (Eri Ishida) is cooking. A woman cautions her about using too much salt and Aya tells her it is sugar, and then excuses herself so she can join Frank (Nicholas Eadie). An audience gathers to watch her perform a Japanese tea ceremony for Mac (Chris Haywood). A stranger storms off, disgusted.
Curator’s notes
Much of Aya is located indoors in the restaurant where Aya works and in her home, but this very early outdoor sequence effectively establishes Aya’s difference. The way she dresses, cooks, speaks and acts is quite unlike the way the local women behave. It is inconceivable that she would enter a wood-chopping event and, conversely, unimaginable that the wood-chopping competitors would sit on the ground and serve tea so quietly, formally and respectfully.
