Overview

Yuki Higashino’s film Extinguishment (2020) explores what might await a society where the rapid aging of its population is combined with a reluctance of the country to open itself to foreigners. As the fastest aging country in the world, which also severely limits immigration, Japan finds itself undergoing a depopulation that has led to the shrinking of some communities. Speculating on a "post-society" landscape where the natural world is taking over, the causal links between industrialized society and fragile eco-systems finds parallels in our sudden dramatic awareness of nature’s autonomy, as the presumption of our ability to maintain and control the natural world comes under question.