As the Sanrizuka conflicts waned, the members of Ogawa Productions relocated to the village of Magino in the prefecture of Yamagata in North Japan, where they lived together for the next decade, farming and filming. This resulted in a monumental and open-ended film that brings together all the ideas and themes developed in the previous works of the collective: village life and heritage, farming and science, history, oral tales, the customs and spiritual life of the people and their connection to the land, as well as the long culture of dissidence of the farmers and their resistance to authority. The present, historical and mythical times of this place are layered through the storytelling of the people, the cycle of rice harvests and the changing seasons. An archaeological excavation opens up a meditation on history as the film expands following the rhythm of the slow growth of crops and the passing of the years. The people tell their stories, recite ancient myths, and come together under Ogawa’s direction, to re-enact fictional sequences about ghosts and gods (also featuring actors, such as Hijikata Tatsumi, the founder of Butoh). In order to screen and celebrate the result of their work, Ogawa Shinsuke imagined and constructed a theatre made of wood, grass and mud, which he named The Theatre of a Thousand Years.
