FILM DAYS limited edition – 21 – 23 April 2023

FILMS 2019: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2018: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2017: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2016: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film
FILMS 2015: A – E | F – L | M – P | Q – S | T –  Z | Feature Film | Short Film

An (2016 Feature Film)

Kawase Naomi | Japan, France, Germany | 2015 | 113 min | Japanese | d.s.

Sweet red-bean paste - an - out of a can or homemade, it makes all the difference. Not only in your dorayaki pancakes, but in your life. That’s what a mirthless dorayaki seller learns from an elderly female cook. Director Kawase also asks the viewer for attention to beauty. Because after all, what use is cherry blossom if you never look up?
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Japanese director Kawase Naomi (The Mourning Forest, 2007) makes films in which ordinary folk come to face existential pressure in their lives and have to find a way to cope and come to terms with loss. Aided by the contemplation of nature, with its beauty and cyclical pattern of death and resurrection. In An, a food stall selling dorayaki (pancakes filled with the sweet red-bean paste an) is surrounded by cherry trees. The grumpy stallholder Sentaro doesn’t pay them any mind, until the older Tokue (Kiki Kirin), whom he hesitatingly takes on as assistant, draws his attention to their foliage, which transforms according to the seasons during the film, from blossom to falling leaves. Tokue (who just like Sentaro harbours a secret), with her cooking skills shown in close-up, and regular Wakana (Uchida Kyara, Kiki’s granddaughter) bring new life into the eatery. A quiet story, told in a naturalistic style, around a fundamental question: what is worthwhile in life as it is lived from day to day?

Place: CINEMA 2

Date: 7 April 2016

Time: 19:45

Duration: 1:45

Place: CINEMA 2

Date: 8 April 2016

Time: 13:45

Duration: 1:45

Place: CINEMA 1

Date: 9 April 2016

Time: 22:00

Duration: 1:45

Year in
Festival

2016

Director

Kawase Naomi

Camera

Akiyama Shigeki

Cast

Kiki Kirin
Nagase Masatoshi
Uchida Kyara
Mizuno Miki
Asada Miyoko
Ichihara Etsuko

Country

Japan
France
Germany

Editor

Tina Baz

Language

Japanese

Length

113 min

Music

David Hadjadj

Producer

Sawada Masamichi
Fukushima Koichiro
Thanassis Karathanos
Yoshito Oyama

Production Company

Comme des Cinémas
Nagoya Broadcasting Network
Twenty Twenty Vision

Production Design

Heya Kyoko

Sales

MK2

Scenario

Kawase Naomi
based on the novel by Sukegawa Durian

Sound Design

Roman Dymny

Year of Production

2015

Website

www.kawasenaomi.com

KAWASE Naomi (1969, Japan) was educated in directing at the Visual Arts College in Osaka. Her first feature, Suzaku, was selected for the Tiger Awards Competition in 1997 in Rotterdam and was awarded the FIPRESCI prize. Kawase’s film The Mourning Forest (2007) was awarded the Grand Prix at Cannes and was nominated for the Palme d’Or, as were the films Hanezu (2011) and Still the Water (2013). Family is a recurring theme in her work.

 

Filmography

(selection) Ni tsutsumarete/Embracing (1992, short), Katatsumori (1994, short), Moe no suzaku/Suzaku (1997), Somaudo monogatari/The Weald (1997, doc), Manguekyo (1999), Hotaru/Firefly (2000), Kya ka ra ba a/Sky, Wind, Fire, Water, Earth (2001, doc), Tsuioku no dansu/Letter from a Yellow Cherry Blossom (2003), Shara sôju/Shara (2003), Tarachime/ birth/mother (2006, short), Mogari no mori/The Mourning Forest (2007), Seven Nights (2008), Hotaru (2009), Genpin (2010, doc), Hanezu no tsuki/Hanezu (2011), Chiri/Trace (2012, short doc), Still the Water (2013), An (2015)