Queens Tribune

Since Steven Spielberg’s “Schindler’s List,” not many directors have had the audacity and vision to venture into filming in black-and-white. Yasuaki Nakajima is one of those who felt he could pull it off.

Color is not the only thing missing from the Ridgewood resident’s creation, titled “After the Apocalypse,”
currently showcased at the Asian American International Film Festival in New York City. The other thing that is nowhere to be found is the dialogue. Throughout the 72-minute end-of-the-world sci-fi drama, the actors barely utter a few grunts, otherwise communicating only through gestures and body language.

The movie, which shared the top prize at the New Jersey International Film Festival in early July, is set in a bleak, post-urban environment in the aftermath of the World War III. Five survivors—a woman and four men, all strangers to one another—attempt to salvage what they can from their former lives. The matter is complicated by the fact that poisonous gasses used during the hostilities have robbed them of the ability to speak.

According to Nakajima, silencing his characters is his attempt to convey the importance of non-verbal communication, which is often the only thing available to people lacking the common language. The filmmaker experienced this firsthand during his backpacking trip to Australia in 1994, where he hitchhiked across the continent for six months.

“I spoke no English, knew nobody and felt like a ghost in the desert—a person who just appeared out of nowhere, with no past,” Nakajima said. “But I realized I needed to survive wherever I was. I needed to find food, a place to sleep, make friends. I couldn’t speak the language but I learned it is possible to connect with people in other ways—through their eyes and their body language. That experience was my catalyst, and I always wanted to tell [it] with the film.”

Nakajima hopes the film will find a wide audience because the theme of the worldwide apocalypse is of universal concern. He first began developing his movie idea in 1999, when the Y2K-fueled fears of a global catastrophe ran rampant.

“People constantly wonder what they are going to do if we suddenly lose this modern society,” Nakajima said.

He became so engrossed in his project, the events of 9/11 found him emulating his characters.

“I was walking down Chambers Street to my internship at a post-production company in SoHo when the first plane hit the North Tower,” Nakajima said. “I was in complete shock.

Here I was, making an apocalypse movie, and the thing was going to happen to me for real. So I ran to the company’s building and hid in the basement to avoid the gas. I really didn’t want to lose my voice.”

Chosing an apocalyptic theme also allowed Nakajima to fit shooting and production into his miniscule budget.

“There is very little need for special costumes or set for an apocalyptic setting,” the filmmaker said. “I found two perfect locations right around my neighborhood, both in Queens and Brooklyn—the riverfront in Williamsburg, Greenpoint and Long Island City. My director of photography loved it.”

The young director was not fazed by money shortage.

“My investments into this movie were time and effort,” said Nakajima, who borrowed what little money he needed from his sister, parents and friends. “I spent four and a half years of unpaid internships with four post-production companies to learn how to create soundtrack and get access to their equipment on weekends for free.”

“If you’re not in a hurry, there is always a way to get things for free,” he added. “My style of filmmaking is not smart for people who think time is money.”