Komorebi: ‘a dance of shadows emerging when sunlight filters through trees’

While travelling through Japan and working on organic farms, the UK filmmaker Steve Atkins found himself entranced by the movement of light and shadows formed by the interplay of trees, wind and sunlight on the landscape. The Japanese have a unique word for this occurrence: komorebi. Atkins celebrates the ethereal beauty of komorebi in this short film, which features fleeting scenes of the phenomenon that he captured during his time in Japan. In doing so, he offers a gentle reminder to, in his words, ‘reconsider how we see the passing light of each day; to slow down and observe the natural theatre that plays out unseen beside the busyness of our modern lives.’

For more from Atkins, watch his short documentary Épinard.