Wasurerareta kodomotachi

Filmed over 4 years, episodes in the lives of Emong, J.R., Christina and Marilou, children and teenagers who live off recuperated rubbish on the outskirts of Manila. “The rubbish dump, Smokey Mountain, houses the most wretched shanty town in the East, it is even shunned by the Filipinos themselves who consider it to be a den of criminals. On first sight, I was startled : hovels built up over the heaps of rubbish ; the stinking smell of refuse ; the flies; people sifting through the rubbish, their legs black with filth. My whole body was revolted, as if I were in hell. But the children whom I met were wonderful. They smiled at me, and not one of them asked me for money (there are many child beggars in the city). They looked at me directly and intensely. Yes, I felt something which was difficult to understand, an impression I had not had with Japanese children. I started filming in March 1989. I rented a room and went every day to Smokey Mountain. I learnt enough Tagalog to get by. I formed relationships with the inhabitants by taking photos which I gave away or sold just to break even. They called me Hiro, and I made more and more friends.” (Hiroshi Shinomiya)