The Witches of the Orient

They are known as the ‘Oriental Witches’: the Japanese women’s volleyball team who won Olympic gold at the 1964 Games in Tokyo. They started out as the team of a textile factory, winning victory after victory, and their record of 258 successive wins remains unbeaten to this day. The team were so popular that a whole raft of manga characters, cartoons and anime series was based on them. Julien Faraut’s sparkling documentary makes use of fantastic manga and anime sequences, such as Attack no 1 (1968), with archival footage of blood-curdling matches and extreme training sessions, driven by rhythmic editing and great music from French musician K-Raw. Faraut has previously dived deep into the world of sports, such as in L’Empire de la perfection, featuring 16mm footage of tennis player John McEnroe. This time he adds a smattering of pop culture references. When the women – now in their seventies – get together again after many years, they are playfully introduced like the heroines of a 1960s spy film. Volleyball like you’ve never seen it before. (International Film Festival Rotterdam)