Ulysses ★

Japan,Spain / 2024 / 73 min
Director： UWAGAWA Hikaru

This film is divided into three sections. The first takes as its subject a Russian mother and her eight-year-old child living alone in Madrid. In the second, a Japanese man meets a young Basque woman. They spend time together and she introduces him to her friends. In the third part, the setting shifts to Japan where a young man returns to his childhood home during the Obon season to prepare for welcoming the spirit of his deceased grandfather alongside his grandmother. As the title suggests, the film incorporates the formal ideas of James Joyce's Ulysses, and is broadly adapted from Homer's Odyssey, which Ulysses was heavily based on. It goes without saying that it is not simply a retelling of the challenging homecoming journey of the Greek hero, but rather the stories unfold around concepts of “home” and “belonging,” presenting fragments of everyday life from various parts of the world in a subtle style that leaves room for ambiguity. The film premiered at the Marseille International Film Festival (FIDMarseille) and was subsequently screened at the San Sebastián Film Festival.

• Details

After the Snowmelt ★

Taiwan, Japan / 2024 / 110 min
Director：Yi-Shan LO

The film was inspired by director Lo Yi-Shan's best friend, Chun, who died while trekking in Nepal with his boyfriend Yueh in 2017. A snowfall trapped the couple in a cave for 47 days, and Chun died three days before Yueh’s rescue. Upon returning to Taiwan, Yueh reveals the promise he made with Chun to Yi-Shan, who had originally planned to join them on this trip - the survivor must tell their story. To fulfill this promise, Yi-Shan picks up her camera and heads to Nepal, embarking on a journey in Chun's footsteps… The film is both a documentary and a story of growth, tracing one young person's sorrow and search for meaning in the profound loss she experiences for the first time. It is a first-person work that is entirely subjective, but the framing and the editing rhythm simultaneously shows an extraordinary sense of style. The effective use of letters left by Chun prior to his death intimately unfolds the complex relationship between the dead and the survivors. This film was “Made in Japan” created during a residency in snowy Yamagata Prefecture to reconsider the composition and editing of the work.

• Details

The Height of the Coconut Trees ★

Japan / 2024 / 100 min
Director：DU Jie

The story revolves around two couples. One young man loses his photographer girlfriend to suicide, and episodes with her before and after her death are woven into the story in a shifting timeline. The second storyline follows the relationship between a woman who works in a pet-related store and a man who works in a Japanese restaurant. After accidentally finding a ring inside a fish, the couple plans to get married, but tragically break up just before their honeymoon... This is the feature directorial debut of veteran cinematographer Jie Du, known for more than 20 films by star directors such as Sicheng Chen, Hu Guan, and Hao Ning. Du also undertook scriptwriting, cinematography, editing, and production design. This film is an adaptation from one of the short stories he wrote during his family trip in Japan in early 2020, when the pandemic hit. Many of the key production crew of Sicheng Chen’s “Detective Chinatown 3” (2021), which was largely shot in Tokyo, are also involved in this film. The film premiered at the Busan International Film Festival New Currents section.

• Details

Diamonds in the Sand ★

Japan, Malaysia, Philippines / 2024 / 102 min
Director：Janus VICTORIA

Yoji is a divorced Japanese salaryman living alone in Tokyo. After the loss of his caring mother, he faces an empty life without any meaningful relationship. A chance encounter with Minerva, a Filipina who works as a caregiver in Japan to support her daughter, prompts Yoji to look at his situation in a new light. Meanwhile, he discovers the decomposing body of an elderly neighbor, whose name he doesn’t know. His death is ruled to be a lonely death. Not wanting to suffer the same fate, Yoji throws caution and follows Minerva to Manila, the capital of the Philippines. The film, which began as an exploration of the Japanese phenomenon of lonely deaths, is the winner of 2013 Talents Tokyo (then Talent Campus Tokyo) and writer-director Janus Victoria's first feature film. Lily Franky, who never misses a glowing performance in any film, has an outstanding presence here, and the images by veteran cinematographer Ashizawa Akiko gorgeously project the ambience of Japan and the Philippines.

• Details