Japan Foundation Los Angeles and Japan Film Festival Los Angeles present award-winning directors’ talk and screening of Takafumi Ota’s “Strawberry Fields” on Saturday, May 11, from 12:00 pm at JFLA Auditorium, 5700 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 100, Los Angeles, CA 90036.
Free admission. RSVP required.
May 11, 2013 at Japan Foundation Los Angeles Auditorium
12:00 pm – 2:00 pm, Screening “Strawberry Field”
2:00 pm – 3:30 pm, Directors’ Talk with Takafumi Ota and Nobuhiko Obayashi
“Your Hometown: The Power of Place in Coming-of-Age Film”
Strawberry Fields (91 min/ 2006, Directed by Takafumi Ota) When three of her classmates turn into ghosts, a fleeting heart-to-heart moment of spiritual exchange in farewell unfolds for a high-school girl in this coming-of-age fantasy, vividly depicted in a flood of nostalgia.
With full cooperation from the city of Tanabe in Wakayama prefecture, shot completely on-location in Tanabe’s natural old-style townscape.
Nobuhiko Obayashi: A native of Onomichi city, Hiroshima prefecture, Obayashi began making movies after he came upon a film projector in a closet in his hose one day when he was three years old at the height of the World War II.
He is known for his groundbreaking experimental works and memorable commercials as well as his features, including the hit horror “House” and the crime mystery “The Reason,” which was an official selection at the 2005 Berlin International Film Festival.
Obayashi is also acclaimed for his coming-of-age films such as “I Are You, You Am Me,” part of his “Onomichi Trilogy” shot in his hometown. His latest release, “Casting Blossom to the Sky” (2012), addresses the devastating earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011.
Takafumi Ota: Originally from Tanabe city, Wakayama, Ota studied Hollywood filmmaking at the USC School of Cinematic Arts in 1985.
Gaining experience and renown with several pop culture and horror film projects such as “Tales of Terror from Tokyo and All Over Japan” and working with teen idol music group Moring Musume, he went on to direct such films as the critically acclaimed breakout “Strawberrt Fields,” screened at Cannes, and “Shodo Girls Blue Blue Sky,” shown at the Los Angeles Japan Film Festival in 2011. Both of these films were shot in his hometown.