JAPAN CUTS Review: SEIJO STORY – 60 Years of making films, a love story devoted to art
In 2020, Nobuhiko Obayashi left us, leaving behind an important legacy as one of the most renowned independent japanese filmmakers in Japan movie industry.
This honest documentary follows the veteran filmmaker during the production and post production of his cinematic testament, “labyrinth of cinema” (That can be also enjoyed in Japanese cuts online festival) but most importantly goes deep into the love story between the director and his wife and producer Kyoko Hanyu, who met in 1959 as students in Seijo university in Tokyo, falling in love, getting married and devoting their life to cinema for over 60 years, until the death of the Japanese filmmaker.
The story is told through the eyes of the couple, while the directors, Isshin Inudo and Eiki Takahasi, follow them showing some old footage from their first 8mm works and travelling with them to the location of some of their old movies, including interviews in which we are going discovering their philosophy of life, and how well they complemented each other, in a relationship based in believe in each other.
A life devoted to freedom and art, in which this phrase given to Nobuhiko Obayashi by his father: “To live in peace is to do what you want” is the motto of their existence, and the documentary, a beautiful intimate homage that will please fans of the director, and will bring the attention of moviegoers who are still unknown of the work of the japanese director.
Don´t miss your chance of enjoying it in JAPAN CUTS online Festival