Fotografové vzpomínek – Hiiragi Sanaka (2024)

What happens when a person dies? Do they go to heaven, to hell, or… somewhere completely different? And how true is it that our entire life flashes before our eyes like a fast film at the moment of death? Japanese author Sanaka Hiiragi presents a short story that may or may not provide answers to these questions. In three chapters, we will glimpse alongside three recently deceased individuals into the environment of a gallery of human lives, which serves both as a photo studio and a photo lab, managed by Mr. Hirasaka, the guide for the dead. This intimate story, despite its concise scope, introduces a plethora of characters and a wide range of linguistic expression. We will meet a retired kindergarten teacher and an eccentric mobster, and Mr. Hirasaka's task is to inform his diverse guests of the fact that they are dead and to help them with the final task that awaits them before their definitive departure to the other side. However, the afterlife has its own rules, and crossing boundaries is not without consequences. In the end, even Mr. Hirasaka has his fate, his past, and a single photograph.