Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi's "Chance and Imagination" was selected for the Jury Grand Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, one of the three major film festivals in the world.
This year's 71st "Berlin International Film Festival" began online on the 1st of this month, and on the 5th, the screening results were announced in the competition section where 15 films from all over the world were exhibited.
Of these, "Chance and Imagination" directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, which consists of three short films, was selected for the Jury Prize.
The Berlin International Film Festival has decided to hold the film festival this month and this June in response to the spread of the new coronavirus, and the award ceremony is scheduled to be held in June.
This year's film festival abolished the "Best Actor Award" and "Best Actress Award" as it strongly emphasized the attitude of not distinguishing gender, and newly established "Best Leading Award" and "Best Supporting Award". It also attracted attention.
What is "Imagination by chance", the work selected for the Jury Prize?
"Chance and Imagination" directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi is a movie consisting of three short films.
In the first episode, "Magic (more uncertain)", while the main character woman is being consulted by a friend for romance, she realizes that the other man is a dating partner in front of her and wonders how to behave. I'm drawing.
In the second episode, "Keep the door open," a college student tries to seduce a professor in the laboratory because a classmate who has a grudge against a professor who won the Akutagawa Prize and became famous causes a scandal. It is a story to do.
In the third episode, "Again," the two women who reunited for the first time in 20 years gradually pass each other as they talk about their memories, and the story goes in an unexpected direction.
Each work is characterized by the fact that the story begins to move significantly in the wake of accidental encounters and events, and most scenes consist only of conversations between two characters.
What is Ryusuke Hamaguchi?
Director Ryusuke Hamaguchi is 42 years old from Kanagawa prefecture.
The graduated work "PASSION" from Tokyo University of the Arts was exhibited at film festivals in Japan and overseas and attracted attention. Since then, he has worked on many works such as documentary films on the theme of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
The movie "Happy Hour" released in 2015 is a masterpiece that depicts the friendship between women and the conflict of marital relationships over five hours, and at the Locarno International Film Festival in Switzerland that year, there was no acting experience before. Four of the leading women were selected for the Best Actress Award and became a hot topic.
In 2018, "Even if you sleep or wake up" was selected in the competition category to compete for the highest award at the Cannes Film Festival.
Last year, Kiyoshi Kurosawa was selected as the director's award at the Venice International Film Festival in Italy, and he is in charge of the script in collaboration with the directors.
Director Hamaguchi told NHK that "It's not a flashy movie, so I'm wondering how many people will understand its goodness, so I'm making it as one of the main competition works from a big film festival. I am very honored to be there. "