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Japan Society New York has announced the winner of this year’s JAPAN CUTS Obayashi Prize which was introduced in 2020 in memory of the late director Nobuhiko Obayashi and is awarded to an independently produced narrative feature from an emerging filmmaker in the festival’s sole competitive category, Next Generation. This year’s jury which included critic and essayist Moeko Fujii, Film at Lincoln Center programmer Dan Sullivan, and distributor Pearl Chan (Good Move Media, Kani Releasing), has selected Yusuke Morii’s Amiko offering the following statement:
“As Amiko peeks into calligraphy class watching other children practice discipline and character building, they play a game of who can spot her first. She is too much, too loud; she cannot be held inside the lines and there is no language to describe her. This is where the vivid auditory and visual world of the film rushes in to sketch the perspective of a child who, in her attempts to grieve, seems to only aggravate and upset those around her. Among a selection of films interested in the non-normative, Amiko stands out in its use of the surreal as a comfort, while not losing sight of the inner-lives of those looking at and after those we don’t really understand. A fantastic performance by young Kana Osawa in Yusuke Morii’s first feature.”
Hiroki Kono’s J005311 also gained a special mention for, as explained in the following comment, “its considerable formal ambition and willingness to challenge us as viewers. Made with a profound sense of economy – both in terms of its restrained yet complex execution, but also its maximisation of clearly limited means – it manages to give us a gripping, intimate and provocative filmic ride.”
Other films screened in this year’s Next Generation strand included: Yurina Kaneko’s People Who Talk to Plushies Are Kind, Aimi Natsuto’s Saga Saga, Ryohei Sasatani’s Sanka: Nomads of the Mountain, and Yuho Ishibashi’s When Morning Comes, I Feel Empty. The winner of the Obayashi prize will receive receive a trophy and monetary award of US$3,000.
Our coverage of JAPAN CUTS 2023 continues here. You can also keep up with all the latest news from Japan Society New York and the year-round film programme by following them on Letterboxd, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Windows on Worlds 