Hanako
- Director: SATO Makoto
2001 Japanese Subtitled in English Color 35mm 60 min
Production Company: Siglo, Ltd.
Producer: YAMAGAMI Tetsujiro
Photography: OTSU Koshiro
Editing: HATA Takeshi
Music: IMAWANO Kiyoshiro, Ruffy Tuffy
Sound: TSURUMAKI YutakaInternational Sales: Siglo, Ltd.
210, Nakano Daini Coop. 5-24-16 Nakano, Nakano-ku, Tokyo 164-0001 JAPAN
Phone: 81-3-5343-3101
Fax: 81-3-5343-3102
E-mail: siglo@cine.co.jp
[Festivals and prizes] Yamagata IDFF 2001, Tokyo IFF 2001
[Synopsis] An unusual family portrait questioning the definitions of art, family, and what it means to be disabled.
Imamura Hanako is a 22-year-old girl with severe autism. Once a week she attends a painting class, where she paints pictures in oils. Every evening after dinner, she creates what her mother Chisa has named “food art.” This may only involve arranging the leftovers from the day’s meal on the floor or a tray, but Chisa records the works every day, accumulating some thousands of photographs. The collection of photographs has now been exhibited around the country. Following Hanako’s daily life in the routine of the four members of the Imamura family, we watch as a portrait of a “very ordinary” family unfold.
| SATO Makoto
Born in Hirosaki city, Aomori in 1957. Assistant director for The Innocent Sea in 1981. Lived with his film crew for Living on the River Agano from 1988 until its completion in 1992, and this became his debut film as director. It won a number of awards around the world including the Prize for Excellence at YIDFF ’93. His second film Artists in Wonderland (1998) celebrates the world of artists with mental disabilities. Works in numerous fields such as editing, TV production, and writing. Currently teaches documentary at several schools. Has just published a two-volume book on documentary. |
• SATO Makoto | Artists in Wonderland | Self and Others | Hanako | Memories of Agano | OUT OF PLACE |