The current COVID-19 pandemic distorts ordinary human interaction. For instance, it deforms the conventional style of teaching and learning in higher education in many places in the Pacific region. University students in Japan are facing the same problem; they are confined to their own space separated from friends, classmates, and teachers, while taking online classes, internship programs, and job interviews. The unnatural detachment caused by the new normal puts our daily communication, both verbal and non-verbal, at risk. This is one of the serious modern issues occurring at present.

 

     To tackle it, from September 2020 to January 2021, I collaborated with students majoring in intercultural communication at the Prefectural University of Kumamoto (PUK) in Japan, formed a film production team, and made a short film entitled A New Normal for Our Future together. This filmmaking project aimed to bring people together, enhance communication, and establish bonds by collaborating online. The filmmaking processes (i.e., brainstorming, exchanging ideas, planning, and post-production) were proceeded online. The created film values our verbal and non-verbal communication in this difficult time. Verbally, using English and Japanese, the film expresses the interconnection of time, ranging from the longing past and the suffering present to the hopeful future. Non-verbally, through emoticons (kaomoji), it shows production team members’ emotions and a shift from the pessimistic to the optimistic state. Furthermore, by linking the video clips that were individually recorded by the members, the film suggests the importance of joining together since collaboration itself can be regarded as a traditional solution to the issue happening this very moment.

 

     Collaboration leads the production team members to recognize diversity and respect each other. The artwork resulting from the collaboration as such reflects diversified voices and creates a space for interaction between the filmmakers and the viewers. I, the project facilitator/editor/executive producer of the film, visited Guam in my teenage. I was struck by not only the beauty of the island but the multicultural, tolerant, and warm atmosphere. The production team dedicates this film to the Annual ARC Visual Arts Exhibition and hopes it will treasure the roots of each viewer and promote further communication and collaboration in the Pacific region beyond borders, believing the arts can show us a route for the better future.

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