Suzaku

In the organizer's words:

萌の朱雀
Moe no Suzaku

Director: KAWASE Naomi
1997, 95 minutes, original language, 35 mm

Not suitable for viewers under the age of 18

Kawase Naomi's impressive feature film debut was awarded the Golden Camera at the Cannes International Film Festival.

Nishiyoshino is a remote village in the mountains of Nara. Until the 1970s, people lived there from the timber industry, but during the recession most of the villagers left their homes. The Taharas - father Kôzô, wife Yasuyo, grandmother Sachiko, nephew Eisuke and daughter Michiru - stayed, and at first Kôzô seemed to have been right in his decision: A tunnel was to be built so that Nishiyoshino would literally be connected to the rest of the country. But the construction was stopped and 15 years later the Taharas were living in abject poverty. One day, Kôzô takes the Super 8 camera from better days and disappears into the unfinished tunnel. (Text: Olaf Möller)

Film series
Turning Point
Japanese films from the 1990s

The decline of the studio system in the 1980s and the bursting of the speculative bubble at the beginning of the 1990s marked a turning point in the Japanese film industry. A generation of directors emerged who created independent productions with great creativity and small budgets, giving the film landscape an exciting new impetus. The series shows eight titles that impressively express this change.

It opens with a tragicomedy by Sai Yôichi about the lives of social minorities(Tsuki wa dotchi ni dete iru), followed by the story of the (sexual) relationship between two runners by Hiroki Ryûichi(800 Two Lap Runners). Suwa Nobuhiro, on the other hand, paints a multi-layered portrait of a young couple(2/Dyuo) and Kurosawa Kiyoshi, the master of thrillers and horror films, provides deep insights into the abysses of the human psyche(Hebi no michi; Karisuma). In a mixture of tragedy and comedy, Sabu tells the story of an unsuspecting letter carrier(Posutoman burûsu), while Kawase Naomi focuses on the problems of a family in a rural region(Moe no Suzaku). Finally, Miike Takashi is represented with a yakuza film full of absurdities(Dead or Alive: Hanzaisha).

The film series takes place in cooperation with the Nippon Connection film festival in Frankfurt (27.05. - 01.06.2025). Further information can be found at https://nipponconnection.com/

Price information:

Admission free