Seven Weeks

Screening Schedule

Nov 22 (Fri.) 13:00 at Hiroshima City Cinematographic and Audio-visual Library

See Time Table

Details

<Story>
Mitsuo Suzuki died at the age of 92 in Ashibetsu, Hokkaido. He ran a secondhand store there, but he used to be a doctor.
Members of the Suzuki family living separately, come back to their hometown for attending Mitsuo's funeral. A mysterious woman, Nobuko Shimizu also comes there.
The dead mixes the living, and the past mixes the present. Little by little, they get to know the secret past of Mitsuo in wartime.
This film is one of the Obayashi's War Trilogy, which includes, “Casting Blossoms to the Sky” (2011) and “Hanagatami” (2017).

 

<Staff>
Cast：Tôru Shinagawa，Takako Tokiwa、Saki Terashima，Hirona Yamazaki
Director：Nobuhiko Ôbayashi
Script：Nobuhiko Ôbayashi，Tadashi Naitô
Producer：Kyôko Ôbayashi，Terumichi Yamazaki

<Info>
Year of production: 2014
Running time: 171’
Country:Japan

Director

Nobuhiko Obayashi
Born in Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture in 1938, Nobuhiko Obayashi started making films at the age of three,
with a kinetoscope he found in the family storage room. After moving to Tokyo, he screened
his independent film Émotion, shot on 16mm, at art galleries, halls and universities, and received glowing reviews.
The Person Who Is Eaten (Tabeta Hito, 1963) won the Jury Award at EXPRMNTL,
an international competition of avant-garde films held in Belgium. He then became involved in
the early days of TV commercials, and created over 3,000 commercials, often with foreign stars such as
Charles Bronson, Sophia Loren, Catherine Deneuve and many more. His first feature, House (1977),
won the Blue Ribbon Award along with Hitomi no Naka no Houmonsha (The Visitor in the Eye), released the same year.
Obayashi also made I Are You, You Am Me (1982), The Little Girl Who Conquered Time (1983) and Lonely Heart (1985)
which were shot in his hometown and adored by fans, who called them the Onomichi Trilogy. Obayashi won numerous awards
inside and outside of Japan: The Discarnates (1988) won the Mainichi Film Award for Best Director; Beijing Watermelon (1989)
won Best Director at the Yamaji Fumiko Movie Awards; Chizuko’s Younger Sister (1991) won the Saturn Award for Best Fantasy Film;
The Rocking Horseman (1992) won Best Film at the ACA Film Awards; Sada (1998) won the FIPRESCI Prize
at the Berlin International Film Festival; The Reason (2004) won Best Director at the Japan Movie Critics Award and
Honorable Mention at the Fujimoto Prize; Casting Blossoms to the Sky (2011) won the Grand Prix at the Tama Cinema Forum;
Hanagatami (2017) won Best Director at the Kinema Junpo Awards and top prize at Mainichi Film Awards, and more.
Recent works include Japanese pop idol group AKB48’s music video So long! The Movie (2013), a youth version of Casting Blossoms to the Sky,
and Seven Weeks (2014). Despite being diagnosed with lung cancer in 2016, Obayashi completed his War Trilogy,
which includes Casting Blossoms to the Sky (2011), Seven Weeks (2014) and Hanagatami (2017).