An experimental short film!
The exact same conversation about Parents’ Day is repeated in five different households.
🏆Japan Film Festival Los Angeles 2022 Best Screenplay Award
🎉Damah International Film Festival 2023 Jury Selection
Director & Screenwriter : Mana YASUDA
Cast : Reiko Kataoka, Keiko Izumi, Akio Maeda
(2021,23min)
【Story】
In Japan, parents’ days are held several times a year for parents to observe classes at school.
In this experimental and moving short film, the exact same conversation about parents’ day is repeated in five different households.
For Noriko Sakaguchi, her job as an English teacher at a junior high school is her life. She always arrives at work early in the morning. She is bad at turning down work, and often works late. She lives a stable life, despite the loneliness of being single.
There are a variety of students in her class.
Hikaru, whose parents both work, is a model student.
Akina is a cheerful girl despite losing her mother.
Kazuma is well-off but unmotivated.
Yukari takes on the household chores because her mother is sloppy.
Ryota is frightened of his violent father.
Tomorrow is parents’ day.
The same conversation unfolds in each household, but each family is different…
【Director Statement】
Parents’ days are a rare opportunity for parents to observe their children learning. When they are small, most children are happy to see their parents, but in junior high school, the reaction is different from child to child. This is an event that shows the embarrassment and defiance that are unique to adolescence, as well as the everyday lives of the parents and children.
I have long been deeply interested in the theme of families, and parents and children. In my theatrical debut, “Shiawase no switch (The Switch to Happiness)”, I portrayed the love between a father and his three daughters. In the NHK drama “Yasashii Hana (A Tender Flower)” for which I wrote the script, I portrayed child abuse. Through working on these creations and caring for my own child, I have seen many parent-child relationships, and I feel that there are many cases where parents and children grow apart despite loving each other. Japanese people are not very good at expressing their love and affection, and this is probably a contributing factor.
I wanted to make a film that would make people want to talk about parent-child relationships, and wish happiness to all parents and children after watching it. This is how I planned this film, and the cast and staff worked together to create the world of the film. In particular, Reiko Kataoka, the talented actress who played the protagonist, a teacher, gave a wonderful realistic performance.
This work has an experimental structure in which the exact same conversation is repeated in the homes of five students. I took the seven pieces of dialogue related to parents’ day, which I use in my acting and screenwriting workshops, and incorporated them into the script.
Even with the same dialogue, the performance and look of the film can change drastically depending on the relationships and characters. I hope you enjoy the unique nature of this film and give a thought to all parents and children.
Director,Sceenwriter
Mana Yasuda