2014 / Palm Springs Film Festival to feature “The Great Passage,” Japan’s entry for Best Foreign Language Film, Jan 3, 8, 9

Great Passage English Subtitled Trailer from Global Film Village on Vimeo.

The Great Passage (舟を編むFune o Amu) is a 2013 Japanese film directed by Yuya Ishii, starring Ryuhei Matsuda as a dictionary editor.

The film was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 86th Academy Awards, and the nomination will be announced on Jan. 16.

The film runs for 133 minutes in Japanese language with English sub-titles.

Palm Springs International Film Festival will screen The Great Passage as following schedule:

January 3 (Friday) 12:30 pm at Palm Springs Regal 9, 789 East Tahquitz Canyon, Palm Springs, CA 92262

January 8 (Wednesday) 4:00 pm at Palm Canyon Theatre, 538 North Palm Canyon Drive, Palm Springs, CA 92262

January 9 (Thursday) 4:00 pm at Palm Springs Regal 9

Synopsis

Mitsuya Majime (Ryuhei Matsuda) is an unsuccessful salesman. But his love of reading and dedication, as well as a post-graduate degree in linguistics, catches the eyes of Masashi Nishioka (Joe Odagiri) and Kouhei Araki (Kaoru Kobayashi), dictionary editors who are seeking a replacement for Araki himself, as his wife is sick and he would like to spend more time by her bedside.

With Majime on the editing team, the group plans to produce a new dictionary called “Daitokai” (The Great Passage/大渡海) which would bridge the gap between people and the sea of words and would take years to complete.

Back at his home, the Sou-Un-Sou Rooming House, Majime meets Kaguya Hayashi (Aoi Miyazaki), his landlady’s granddaughter who has just returned from culinary school. He is struck by her beauty. Upon discovering this, the chief editor Matsumoto (Go Kato) asks Majime to write the definition for the word “Love”.

The Great Passageis based on the best-selling novel by Shiwon Miura.

Every year the Palm Springs International Film Festival brings the world’s largest lineup of Oscar submissions for Best Foreign Language film. In this year, forty-five films will be presented. www.psfilmfest.org