Student film captures musical journey

Graduate student Oscar Bucher followed Toshio Hirano on a journey to the heartland of America, driven by a lifelong love of bluegrass. Bucher’s documentary of this journey, “Waiting for a Train,” is traveling nationwide itself, landing most recently at the San Francisco International Film Festival.

Hirano, a native of Tokyo, learned to play the banjo, guitar and mandolin in college, inspired by country musician Jimmie Rodgers, Hirano is a fixture at cafes and bars in San Francisco, where he has lived since 1986. “Waiting for a Train” was shot on location, capturing performances by Hirano and his trio, performing in the city, on moving vintage passenger trains and by the riverside. He speaks about novelty, authenticity and heritage—how the fact that he is Japanese both helps him—in that it attracts a crowd interested in the novelty aspect—and hinders in that his ethnicity has little to do with his love and passion of the music.

The documentary will also screen at the Los Angeles Asian Pacific, Mendocino, New York Asian American International, Slant (Houston), and D.C. Asian American Pacific film festivals.

“It goes without saying that I couldn’t have made this film without the creative support of the members of the Cinema Department,” Bucher said.