＜STORY＞
This is a brilliant omnibus movie about movie theaters by four up-and-coming directors. Small movie theaters in Japan, so-called mini-theaters, have been closing down year by year since around 2010. They are suffering further damage from the COVID-19 pandemic. All four directors want to protect movie theaters. They share a belief that movie theaters are central to the transmission of culture. As film directors, they have memories and longings for movie theaters. Each of the four directors has created a story on single, uniting theme, “movie theaters.”

Ⓒ2021「THEATERS」製作委員会

“The Silver Screen Elegy” directed by YAMAGUCHI Yuya
　Growing up in a blue-collar family, Tomoe's only pleasure was watching movies. She had the good fortune to get married to wealthy Keitaro, a son of someone in the Yoshikuni Group. Keitaro was kind at first, but now he looks down on Tomoe and never treats her as an equal. He even physically abuses her. Tomoe asks her father for help, but he tells her to endure it because he has received financial help from Keitaro’s family. One day, Tomoe makes a decision. She realizes why she, who has been easily influenced by others, can take bold action now. 　Fukaya Cinema is a movie theater built by renovating a sake brewery. This movie tells us that people can start their lives over any number of times.

Ⓒ2021「THEATERS」製作委員会

“Cinema Complex” directed by NAKAMURA Kimihiko
　After working as an assistant director for over 20 years, TEJO Junya has finally completed his first movie as a director. However, after short-lived joy, the lead actor HIKARIDERA Atsushi causes a scandal by having an affair with the daughter of the president of the movie sponsor. Because of the scandal, the screening of the movie is canceled. In desperation, TEJO buys a gun from a gangster and shoots the producer, SUKAYAMA Sinobu. TEJO steals two million yen from SUKAYAMA and runs away. Assistant director IKE Hyuma, TEJO’s sworn younger brother, persuades him to give himself up to the police. On their way to the police station, they stop by a movie theater in Yokohama. TEJO went there many times when he was a child. TOHO Noriaki, a manager who introduced TEJO the joy of movies, is in the theater. What will become of the love and hatred for movies that swirls in TEJO's heart?

Ⓒ2021「THEATERS」製作委員会

“Me, a Movie, and a Woman” directed by SUZUKI Taichi
　About nine years ago, I directed my first feature-length film. I arrived at Yokogawa Cinema in Hiroshima after traveling all over Japan asking small movie theaters to screen it. Yokogawa Cinema agreed to show it. I interacted with the theater manager and the theater's regular customers. Then, I had a fateful exchange with a woman. 　This is a slightly eccentric, bitter, and sweet story based on the actual experience of film director SUZUKI Taichi.

Ⓒ2021「THEATERS」製作委員会

“Colorful” directed by OKI Masato
　Munenori cannot distinguish colors because of an eye disease. One day, he loses his beloved parents in a car accident. He is sent to an orphanage in Akita Prefecture, his mother's homeland. On the way to the orphanage with his aunt, they pass by a movie theater that has been closed for years. The abandoned movie theater is as lively now as it was when his aunt went there in her youth. They are invited in by the manager and have a strange experience.

＜STAFF＞
Directors: OKI Masato, SUZUKI Taichi, NAKAMURA Kimihiko, YAMAGUCHI Yuya
Cast: YAHAGI Honoka, KONNO Hiroki, WADA Misa, TAKASAKI Shota, WATANABE Tetsu, OTANI Ryosuke, Doronz ISHIMOTO, SINADA Makoto, IZAWA Hiroshi, and more
Producers: SHINYA Hidetaka, KAWAHARA Tsukasa

＜Info＞
Year of production：2021
Running time：114'（total of 4 works）
Country：Japan
Language:Japanese

＜STORY＞
Seventy-six years ago, on August 9, 1945, TANIGUCHI Sumiteru, a young postal delivery boy was on his rounds when an atomic bomb exploded overhead. Miraculously surviving the blast, he went on to live a full life, continuing to call for the abolishment of nuclear weapons until he passed away on August 30, 2017. Peter TOWNSEND, a former military journalist from the UK, conducted extensive research and interviews with TANIGUCHI. His findings were published in a non-fiction novel called The Postman of Nagasaki. This documentary film follows Peter TOWNEND’s daughter, an actor and model called Isabelle, as she travels to Nagasaki to retrace her late father’s footsteps to better understand TANIGUCHI, the impact of the bomb, and the invaluable message for peace that her late father left behind.

＜STAFF＞
Cast: Isabelle TOWNSEND, The People of Nagasaki
Editor: OSHIGE Yuji
Music: AKEBOSHI
Director: KAWASE Mika

＜Info＞
Year of production：2021
Running time：97'
Country：Japan/USA
Language:English

＜Story＞
　In September 1945, a team of budding scientists at Kyoto Imperial University signs up for the biggest challenge of their young lives: at the behest of the Japanese Navy, they are to develop “a new type of bomb that will turn the tide of war” — that is, the world’s first nuclear bomb. Under the guidance of Professor ARAKATSU (KUNIMURA), who assures them that their work will determine the fate of the war as well as the world, the young men conduct one attempt after another to split the atom, in an increasingly desperate rush against time.

　ISHIMURA Shu (YAGIRA) is particularly obsessed with the experiments, struggling to honor his obligations to science and country, as well as to his family. His younger brother, Hiroyuki (MIURA, in his final role), is heading to the front lines and his childhood sweetheart Setsu (ARIMURA) is now orphaned and living with the Ishimura family with her grandfather. She exhorts the brothers to look toward the postwar future, but the daily news reports are less than encouraging, underscoring the import of Shu’s work.

　Amid one of the scientists’ frequent evacuations to bomb shelters, talk turns to the bomb’s destructive power and the heavy responsibility they would assume for unleashing it. “If we don’t [build] it, the Americans will, or the Soviets,” says one. ARAKATSU reminds them that Japan started the war over energy: “Nuclear fission means mankind’s energy problems are solved forever. There will be no further wars.” Seventy-five years (and many wars) later, “The Gift of Fire” tackles the sticky moral issues arising from mankind’s pursuit of scientific advancement, and underscores their emotional costs.

　The secret history of Japan’s own efforts to build an atomic bomb began to emerge about a decade ago, when director KUROSAKI Hiroshi discovered a fragment of a young scientist's diary in a Hiroshima library, and began researching its revelations. His resulting script was recognized with a Special Mention at the Sundance Institute/NHK Awards, and one of the judges, NHK producer TSUCHIYA Katsuhiro, vowed to help KUROSAKI get the film made. The men were determined to create a world-class work, and with LA-based producer MORI Ko, formed an international team of creative collaborators.

　Please join us for this sneak preview of “The Gift of Fire” before the film’s release in Japan on August 6.

＜STAFF＞
Cast: YAGIRA Yuya, ARIMURA Kasumi, MIURA Haruma, TANAKA Yuko, KUNIMURA Jun, OGATA Issey, YAMAMOTO Shinya, Peter STORMARE (voice)
Director: KUROSAKI Hiroshi
Screenwriter: KUROSAKI Hiroshi
Producers: MORI Ko, TSUCHIYA Katsuhiro, HAMANO Takahiro
Executive Producers: INOUE Yoshihisa, YAMAGUCHI Shin, SANO Shohei, MORITA Atsushi, KONISHI Keisuke, ARIMA Kazuaki, HIGASHIHARA Kuniaki

＜Info＞
Year of production：2020
Running time：111'
Country：Japan/USA
Language:Japanese

＜Story＞
KAFUKU, a stage actor and theater director, was living a fulfilling life with his beloved wife, Oto. However, Oto suddenly disappears from the world, leaving a secret. Two years later, KAFUKU drives to Hiroshima to take part in a theater festival. In Hiroshima, he meets Misaki, a quiet driver appointed to him, who had a bitter experience in the past. At an audition for a play at the festival, he bumps into TAKATSUKI, an actor who Oto once introduced him to...

＜STAFF＞
Cast: NISHIJIMA Hidetoshi, MIURA Toko, OKADA Masaki, KIRISHIMA Reika
Original Author: MURAKAMI Haruki
Music: ISHIBASHI Eiko
Directors: HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke, OE Takamasa

＜Info＞
Year of production：2021
Running time：179'
Country：Japan
Language:Japanese,English,Mandarin Chinese,etc.

＜STORY＞
The year is 1991. Three years of relative peace have passed since two ruthless Hiroshima gangs, Odani and Itako, last dragged society into their warring turmoil. Following the death of legendary detective, OGAMI, who threw out the rulebook to bring a semblance of sanity to the underworld and mutual understanding with the police, his protégé, HIOKA Shuichi, picks up the mantle. HIOKA’s efforts to maintain peace are quickly thrown into jeopardy when sadistic murderer, UEBASHI Shigehiro, is released from prison. UEBASHI vows to stop at nothing to avenge the killing of his boss by the Odani gang. HIOKA finds himself in imminent danger when a media scoop reveals his involvement in the police crackdown on the gangs. Now, with the newly formed Uebashi Gang facing off against the Odani Gang, HIOKA embodies his predecessor, boldly infiltrating the Uebashi Gang. However, he soon finds himself, along with the young Chinta, thrust into a catastrophic situation created by UEBASHI’s poisonous hand. When a turn or events drags all factions even deeper into the violent abyss, all appears lost…

＜STAFF＞
Cast: MATSUZAKA Tori, SUZUKI Ryohei, MURAKAMI Nijiro, NISHINO Nanase, OTOO Takuma, SAOTOME Taichi, SHIBUKAWA Kiyohiko, SAITOH Takumi, NAKAMURA Baijaku, TAKITOH Kenichi, TERAJIMA Susumu, UKAJI Takashi, KATASE Rino, NAKAMURA Shido, YOSHIDA
Music: YASUKAWA
Original Story: YUZUKI Yuko
Screenwriter: IKEGAMI
Director: SHIRAISHI Kazuya

＜Info＞
Year of production：2021
Running time：139'
Country：Japan/Hiroshima
Language:Japanese