HANAGATAMI 花筐
Directed by Nobuhiko Obayashi • 169 min • Canadian Premiere
Saturday June 16th • 3:30pm • Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (6 Garamond Court)
The 5th annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival runs for a whopping three weeks from June 7th – 28th at the beautiful Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. Don’t miss the best showcase of Japanese cinema in Toronto this month. Directors from Japan will be in attendance for select screenings!
In 2017 veteran filmmaker Nobuhiko Obayashi (Casting Blossoms to the Sky, House) learned he had stage four cancer. His response was to fulfill a 40-year old filmmaking dream in the time he had remaining.
In spring 1941, Toshihiko returns from Europe, showing up at the home of his aunt in Karatsu, Saga Prefecture. He entertains a crush on his tubercular cousin Mina while reveling in “depraved” adolescence with the girls and indulging in bravery-testing escapades with his school buddies. The pacific war soon erupts and their fragile, idyllic world is torn asunder.
Based on Kazuo Dan’s novella, this luminous, dream-like film delivers a timeless story of the pureness of youth beset by the terrible chaos of war. On the Best 10 Films of the Year lists of Kinema Jumpo and the Japan Times.
Co-presented with:
