To honour the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Great East Japan earthquake and tsunami, the National Film Board of Canada (NFB) is offering free streaming of award-winning Vancouver filmmaker John Bolton’s short documentary Debris, from March 10, 2 p.m. PT/5 p.m. ET, to March 13, 6 a.m. PT/9 a.m. ET.

Debris is a moving portrait of Tofino, BC, intertidal artist Pete Clarkson as he crafts an evocative memorial to victims of the 2011 disaster, primarily out of mangled timber washed ashore from the other side of the ocean. In Clarkson’s caring hands, the remnants of the lives and homes of people from Japan’s Tohoku region take on new meaning as he shapes them into a poignant public sculpture. The result is a site of remembrance and contemplation, and an emotional bridge connecting an artist, his community and a people an ocean away.

Debris had its world premiere last September at the Vancouver International Film Festival and went on to screen at festivals in Montreal, Paris and Torino, Italy.

Written and directed by John Bolton, Debris is produced for the NFB by Shirley Vercruysse, with Teri Snelgrove as associate producer. The film is edited by Jenn Strom, with Andrew Coppin as director of photography. The composer is Scott Morgan, with sound design by Chris McLaren. The executive producer for the NFB’s BC & Yukon Studio is Shirley Vercruysse.

For those of you wishing to watch this poignant and thought-provoking short film, click on the video below at the specified times in your area.

Debris by ONFB, National Film Board of Canada