"Young Pines" grew out of three trips to Japan between May 2009 and November 2010. Invited to Japan for a series of film screenings, I began filming in Yokohama, Tokyo and Kanazawa. Even in the big cities, I experienced how strongly the Japanese feel connected to nature and how they tend to see no contradiction between culture and nature. I found this stimulating and in harmony with some of my own impulses. I wanted to return and film more in other seasons. In Spring 2010 I visited Kamakura, Kyoto and Nara, in November, I went Northeast and filmed in Matsushima, Tono, Miyako, in Atsumi, Yamadera and Nikko. All of my film images have been filmed before the disaster of the Tsunami and Fukushima, but the final editing was done in the following months.

"(...) Ute Aurand activates resonance between shots in her meditation on Japan, Young Pines. While the subjects in Young Pines are undoubtedly iconic, it isn’t so much the content that captivates as the way in which the kinetic energy is carried from one shot to another, crafting a precise and purposefully rendered experience. The crux of the film lies in accentuating rare symmetries—we hear the voiceover of a few women talking while we look onto groups of umbrellas from above, the correlation playfully insinuating a dialogue between umbrellas. Aurand deliberately transitions between sound and silence to command attention. (...) She reminds us to look rather than be swept away by sonic seduction. (...) " Aily Nash "Postcards from the Avant Garde - Hightlights from the 49th NYFF's Views", in: The Brooklyn Rail.