With Each Passing Breath
(Zessho rokyoku story)- JAPAN / 2023 / Japanese / Color / DCP / 111 min
Director, Photography, Editing: Kawakami Atiqa
Editing: Hata Takeshi
Sound Mixing: Kawakami Takuya
Producers: Akamatsu Ryuta, Kawakami Atiqa, Tsuchida Morihiro
Associate Producers: Hata Takeshi, Fujioka Asako, Yatabe Yoshihiko
Distribution: Tofoo, LLC.
Asakusa’s Mokubatei is the only theater in the Kanto region that regularly bills rokyoku—a form of narrative singing accompanied by shamisen. Backstage, a variety of lives intersect, and the art is passed down from practiced singers to the younger generation. The film’s main character is Minatoya Kosome. It follows Kosome from her growing enraptured by rokyoku singer Minatoya Koryu, then becoming the legend’s apprentice—to the day she is formally announced as Koryu’s successor and namesake.
Born in Yokohama, 1978. Kawakami has directed a number of short films including Pilgrimage (2001, Kirin Art Awards 2001 Second Prize), Koryu Minatoya IN-TUNE (2015), Good Luck Charm (2016), and A Storyteller (2018). Her first feature-length film. She participated in the filmmakers residency, Yamagata Documentary Dojo 3, in 2021.