Hikari – is an award-winning writer, director and producer. Her directorial debut feature “37 Seconds” (2019) premiered at the 69th Berlinale, where it won the Audience Award in the Panorama section. It also won the Cicae Art Cinema Award and was nominated for Best First Feature. Her other credits include “Tsuyako” (2011), “A Better Tomorrow” (2013) and dance short “Where We Begin” (2015).
’37 Seconds’ – seeking to escape her oppressive home life, Yuma, an artist with cerebral palsy, tries her hand at illustrating erotic manga. Despite praising her artistic talent, an editor rejects her work as unconvincing, telling her to come back once she has gained some sexual experience. After a disastrous encounter at a love hotel, she befriends Mai and Toshiya, leading her on an unexpected journey.
First and foremost, congratulations on your work and the international premiere at Berlinale. The moment I saw the very first poster of the movie, I expected it, however,...
’37 Seconds’ – seeking to escape her oppressive home life, Yuma, an artist with cerebral palsy, tries her hand at illustrating erotic manga. Despite praising her artistic talent, an editor rejects her work as unconvincing, telling her to come back once she has gained some sexual experience. After a disastrous encounter at a love hotel, she befriends Mai and Toshiya, leading her on an unexpected journey.
First and foremost, congratulations on your work and the international premiere at Berlinale. The moment I saw the very first poster of the movie, I expected it, however,...
- 1/24/2020
- by Nikodem Karolak
- AsianMoviePulse
Despite some major issues in the Japanese movie industry, mostly having to do with the lack of a middle ground between independent and blockbuster movies and continuous denial of some major companies to allow their movies to screen outside Japan, 2019 has been quite a good year for local cinema. The international festival circuit gave a lot of films the opportunity to both screen and find some source of funding outside Japan, while creativity (despite the fact that it derives from manga and novels mostly) remains one of the most significant traits of Japanese cinema.
Without further ado, here are the best Japanese films of 2019, in reverse order, with the focus being, as always, on diversity. Some films may have premiered in 2018, but since they mostly circulated in 2019, we decided to include them.
20. Okinawan Blue (Tsukasha Kishimoto)
At the same time, one could say that the film also deals with four...
Without further ado, here are the best Japanese films of 2019, in reverse order, with the focus being, as always, on diversity. Some films may have premiered in 2018, but since they mostly circulated in 2019, we decided to include them.
20. Okinawan Blue (Tsukasha Kishimoto)
At the same time, one could say that the film also deals with four...
- 12/13/2019
- by AMP Group
- AsianMoviePulse
37 Seconds, the feature debut of out-of-the-box short filmmaker Hikari, is not your conventional story about a disabled person facing and overcoming society’s prejudice. The most touching thing about its 23-year-old heroine, sweetly played in a wisp of a voice by newcomer Mei Kayama, is not that she has a disability, but that she is a beautiful soul. The fact that cerebral palsy has put her in a wheelchair is a sad fact of life that she has come to accept. In a moving moment late in the film, she compares her life to that of a normally able girl ...
- 9/17/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
37 Seconds, the feature debut of out-of-the-box short filmmaker Hikari, is not your conventional story about a disabled person facing and overcoming society’s prejudice. The most touching thing about its 23-year-old heroine, sweetly played in a wisp of a voice by newcomer Mei Kayama, is not that she has a disability, but that she is a beautiful soul. The fact that cerebral palsy has put her in a wheelchair is a sad fact of life that she has come to accept. In a moving moment late in the film, she compares her life to that of a normally able girl ...
- 9/17/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
First-time Japanese director Hikari's 37 Seconds, an honest and unflinching look at disability, has won the audience award for best movie in the Berlin film festival's Panorama section.
For her debut feature, Hikari chose the challenging story of exploring the sexual awakening of a woman with cerebral palsy.
Disabled first-time actress Mei Kayama stars, and shines, as Yuma, a wheelchair-bound woman who struggles to break free from a smothering mother, and a childhood friend turned exploitative Internet star, in the pursuit of her dream of becoming a manga artist. The title refers to the length of time Yuma was ...
For her debut feature, Hikari chose the challenging story of exploring the sexual awakening of a woman with cerebral palsy.
Disabled first-time actress Mei Kayama stars, and shines, as Yuma, a wheelchair-bound woman who struggles to break free from a smothering mother, and a childhood friend turned exploitative Internet star, in the pursuit of her dream of becoming a manga artist. The title refers to the length of time Yuma was ...
- 2/18/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Film + TV
First-time Japanese director Hikari's 37 Seconds, an honest and unflinching look at disability, has won the audience award for best movie in the Berlin film festival's Panorama section.
For her debut feature, Hikari chose the challenging story of exploring the sexual awakening of a woman with cerebral palsy.
Disabled first-time actress Mei Kayama stars, and shines, as Yuma, a wheelchair-bound woman who struggles to break free from a smothering mother, and a childhood friend turned exploitative Internet star, in the pursuit of her dream of becoming a manga artist. The title refers to the length of time Yuma was ...
For her debut feature, Hikari chose the challenging story of exploring the sexual awakening of a woman with cerebral palsy.
Disabled first-time actress Mei Kayama stars, and shines, as Yuma, a wheelchair-bound woman who struggles to break free from a smothering mother, and a childhood friend turned exploitative Internet star, in the pursuit of her dream of becoming a manga artist. The title refers to the length of time Yuma was ...
- 2/18/2019
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Who doesn’t feel like an alien in this world sometimes? Yuma Tanaka is 23 years old and wants to become a professional manga artist. She lives with her mom and is having a hard time to find somebody to love.
Sounds like a normal coming-of-age plotline to you? But wait, here comes the twist. Yuma has Cerebral Palsy and is sitting in a wheelchair. The debut film of Japanese director Hikari features the unusual story of a special girl who has to deal with the everyday hurdles, plus a little more.
Yuma takes part in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and is portrayed as a person with cultural interest and empathy. In doing so, the camera levels with her perspective, using shots often from an Ozu-like ground position.
“37 Seconds” portrays Yuma’s struggle to break free from her overprotective mother and trying to establish herself as a Manga-ka. In...
Sounds like a normal coming-of-age plotline to you? But wait, here comes the twist. Yuma has Cerebral Palsy and is sitting in a wheelchair. The debut film of Japanese director Hikari features the unusual story of a special girl who has to deal with the everyday hurdles, plus a little more.
Yuma takes part in the hustle and bustle of Tokyo and is portrayed as a person with cultural interest and empathy. In doing so, the camera levels with her perspective, using shots often from an Ozu-like ground position.
“37 Seconds” portrays Yuma’s struggle to break free from her overprotective mother and trying to establish herself as a Manga-ka. In...
- 2/12/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
Casey Affleck-directed drama Light Of My Life, starring Affleck, Elisabeth Moss and newcomer Anna Pniowsky, will get its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section. The dystopian drama, about a father and his young daughter who are trapped in the woods, is one of a raft of additions to the Panorama lineup. Scroll down for the lineup in full.
A total of 45 films from 38 countries, including 34 world premieres, will screen in the section. Panorama’s opening film will be Flatland by Jenna Bass, in which a bride and her pregnant friend make a liberating getaway across South Africa.
Among the strand’s highlights are Affleck’s first narrative feature as director, which is produced by The Imitation Game outfit Black Bear Pictures; Jayro Bustamante’s Ixcanul follow-up Tremblores (Tremors), about a father who tries to break free from his past after breaking the silence about...
A total of 45 films from 38 countries, including 34 world premieres, will screen in the section. Panorama’s opening film will be Flatland by Jenna Bass, in which a bride and her pregnant friend make a liberating getaway across South Africa.
Among the strand’s highlights are Affleck’s first narrative feature as director, which is produced by The Imitation Game outfit Black Bear Pictures; Jayro Bustamante’s Ixcanul follow-up Tremblores (Tremors), about a father who tries to break free from his past after breaking the silence about...
- 1/21/2019
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
22 films in the Panorama programme so far, with nine directorial debuts.
The first 22 titles from the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (Feb 7-17) Panorama programme have been revealed.
Scroll down for the full line-up
The European premiere of UK director Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir, starring Tilda Swinton, her daughter Honor Swinton-Byrne and Tom Burke, and the world premiere of Seamus Murphy’s Pj Harvey documentary A Dog Called Money are among the titles confirmed today.
The line-up also includes the directing debuts of actors Jonah Hill (Mid90s) and Alexander Gorchilin (Acid), and Rob Garver’s documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael,...
The first 22 titles from the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (Feb 7-17) Panorama programme have been revealed.
Scroll down for the full line-up
The European premiere of UK director Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir, starring Tilda Swinton, her daughter Honor Swinton-Byrne and Tom Burke, and the world premiere of Seamus Murphy’s Pj Harvey documentary A Dog Called Money are among the titles confirmed today.
The line-up also includes the directing debuts of actors Jonah Hill (Mid90s) and Alexander Gorchilin (Acid), and Rob Garver’s documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael,...
- 12/18/2018
- by Orlando Parfitt
- ScreenDaily
The Berlin Film Festival has revealed a large selection of movies for its Panorama strand. Section head Paz Lázaro and co-curator and programme manager Michael Stütz have revealed 22 titles, 14 of which will be world premieres.
Among highlights are Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s; Jamie Bell starrer Skin, about the USA’s neo-Nazi scene; Tilda Swinton drama The Souvenir; and What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael, about the legendary film critic.
Panorama Films:
37 Seconds – Japan
by Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki)
with Mei Kayama, Misuzu Kanno, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitō, Yuka Itaya
World premiere – Debut film
Director Hikari, aka Mitsuyo Miyazaki, tells the story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma struggles to lead a self-determined life.
Dafne – Italy
by Federico Bondi
with Carolina Raspanti, Antonio Piovanelli,...
Among highlights are Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s; Jamie Bell starrer Skin, about the USA’s neo-Nazi scene; Tilda Swinton drama The Souvenir; and What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael, about the legendary film critic.
Panorama Films:
37 Seconds – Japan
by Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki)
with Mei Kayama, Misuzu Kanno, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitō, Yuka Itaya
World premiere – Debut film
Director Hikari, aka Mitsuyo Miyazaki, tells the story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma struggles to lead a self-determined life.
Dafne – Italy
by Federico Bondi
with Carolina Raspanti, Antonio Piovanelli,...
- 12/18/2018
- by Andreas Wiseman
- Deadline Film + TV
Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, “mid90s,” about a 13-year-old skateboarder’s coming of age, and a documentary on influential film critic Pauline Kael are among the works that will screen in the Panorama section of the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.
Films starring Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell and titles from countries including Israel, Brazil and Japan were also announced in the first batch of 22 Panorama selections unveiled by the Berlinale on Tuesday. Nine of the films are debut works, and 14 will have their world premiere in the German capital. The section is curated by Paz Lázaro and co-curator and program manager Michael Stütz.
“mid90s” follows teenage Stevie as he joins up with four skateboarding punks who take him under their wing. Variety described Hill’s debut film as “a slice of street life made up of skittery moments that achieve a bone-deep reality. And because you believe what you’re seeing,...
Films starring Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell and titles from countries including Israel, Brazil and Japan were also announced in the first batch of 22 Panorama selections unveiled by the Berlinale on Tuesday. Nine of the films are debut works, and 14 will have their world premiere in the German capital. The section is curated by Paz Lázaro and co-curator and program manager Michael Stütz.
“mid90s” follows teenage Stevie as he joins up with four skateboarding punks who take him under their wing. Variety described Hill’s debut film as “a slice of street life made up of skittery moments that achieve a bone-deep reality. And because you believe what you’re seeing,...
- 12/18/2018
- by Henry Chu
- Variety Film + TV
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