TORONTO, Sept 11 (Askume) – Three Japanese directors are set to appear at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival
Director Hiroshi Okuyama’s “My Sunshine” tells a touching winter love story surrounding two teenage figure skaters and their coach in a snowy village in Japan.
“I wanted to capture the story of a boy growing up in the winter,” Okuyama said in an email to Askume.
He said he left a lot of room for interpretation in the film, giving the audience a chance to fill in the gaps with their own ideas.
He added: “I hope that through this process, the audience will realise, ‘Ah, this movie is suitable for me too.'”
The film also screened at the Cannes Film Festival in May.
In 2018, 22-year-old Okuyama won the emerging director award at the San Sebastian Film Festival in Spain for his debut feature film “Jesus,” becoming the festival’s youngest winner.
Based on the novel of the same name by Japanese-French director Yukiya Kamura, “Winter in Sokcho” tells the story of a young Korean woman living in the small town of Sokcho in South Korea. As she deals with complicated feelings about the father she has never met, she embarks on a quest to define her identity after a thrilling encounter with a French man who has come to town.
For Kamura, the character’s journey feels similar to her own. “I felt a connection,” Kamura told Askume in an interview.
He always felt like a “foreigner” in France and Japan and spent his life questioning how to define himself.
“I feel like I don’t have a country of my own,” he said. “It took me a while to accept that I could live somewhere in the middle without needing to verify my background.”
Of course, Kamura’s message in his first feature film is one of self-acceptance.
“Accept yourself, accept who you are, what your background is and communicate more with yourself,” he said.
Kamura believes the story is universal and has the potential to take its message far beyond South Korea.
Another film that shows the complexities of relationships is Happy Endings. Director Neo Sora depicts the budding relationship and internal conflict between two high school friends in Tokyo, set in the near future where graduation is approaching and the future is full of uncertainty.
The film had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival this month and is expected to be released in the United States next year.
Sora is best known for the documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” released last year and paying tribute to his late father.
