To the Ends of Earth
Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari
Japan, Uzbekistan | 2019 | DCP | Color | 120 min | Kiyoshi Kurosawa
SUNDAY 4 | CINEMEX INSURGENTES SALA 5 | 20:00 HRS. | 120 MIN
SATURDAY 10 | CINETECA NACIONAL SALA 3 | 14:30 HRS. | 120 MIN
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Screenplay: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Producers: Hiroshi Yamamoto Toshikazu Nishigaya Kazuhiro Ohta Jason Gray Tatsuya Yoshino Eiko Mizuno Gray Toshiaki Sakamoto Nobuo Miyazaki Furkat Zokirov
Cinematography: Akiko Ashizawa
Editing: Kôichi Takahashi
Sound: Shinji Watanabe
Music: Yusuke Hayashi
Production Company: “To the Ends of the Earth” Film Partners
Cast: Atsuko Maeda, Ryo Kase, Shota Sometani, Adiz Rajabov
Synopsis:
Yoko (Atsuko Maeda) hosts a popular global travel show yet is cautious and insular like many young Japanese. But she has a bigger dream. On assignment in Uzbekistan, Yoko and her small TV crew attempt to catch a mythical fish but fail. They also film segments in Samarkand but feel it’s lacking. Indifferent to her job, Yoko prefers texting her boyfriend in Tokyo. At night, she comes across a tied up goat and suggests releasing it on camera. The plan goes awry and Yoko feels indignant and naive. The team moves to Tashkent where Yoko wanders into an opulent theatre, fantasizing she’s on stage. She confides her ambitions to her cameraman but admits her heart’s not ready. While filming, Yoko’s timid nature inadvertently gets her in trouble with the police. At the station she hears of a disaster in Tokyo and realizes how important human communication truly is. Some of the team return to Japan but Yoko stays. As she ventures into the mountains she sings from the heart and her spirit is freed.
Biography:
Born in 1955 in Hyogo Prefecture, Kiyoshi Kurosawa made his debut as a director of commercial feature films in 1983 with Kandagawa Wars. He garnered worldwide attention with Cure (1997), shortly after delivering more notable works License to Live (1998), Barren Illusion (1999) and Charisma (1999). Pulse (2000) received the FIPRESCI award in the Un Certain Regard section of the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Tokyo Sonata (2008) won the jury prize in the Un Certain Regard section at Cannes and the best film at the 2009 Asian Film Awards. His recent works include Seventh Code (2013), which won the Best Director award at the Festival of Rome Cinema of that year, Journey to the Shore (2014), winner of the Best Director in the Un Certain Regard section of Cannes. Winner of the Samurai Prize at the 2016 Tokyo International Film Festival. Before We Vanish screened at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard in 2017 and the spin-off Foreboding at Berlinale’s Panorama in 2018.
Festivals:
Locarno Film Festival, 2019, Switzerland
Toronto International Film Festival, 2019, Canada
Tokyo International Film Festival, 2019, Japan
Hong Kong Asian Film Festival, 2019, China
Viennale film festival, 2019, Austria
Latin America premier: Festival de cine contemporáneo, Black Canvas 2020 – Mexico.
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