Nobuhiko OBAYASHI 大林宣彦
Hanagatami
花筐
Nippon Cinema ª
In 1941, 17-year-old Toshihiko returns from Amsterdam to Japan to live with his aunt and sick cousin. He and his new friends celebrate their youth as, in the face of impending war, they know it could end anytime. Veteran director Nobuhiko OBAYASHI fulfills one of his lifelong dreams in adapting Kazuo DAN’s novel from 1937 into a mesmerizing visual feast whose hyper-stylized artificiality is all the more haunting.
花筐
Japan 2017
169 minutes
Director
Nobuhiko OBAYASHI
Script
Nobuhiko OBAYASHI, Chiho KATSURA based on a novel by Kazuo DAN
Cinematography
Hisaki SANBONGI
Production
PSC
World sales
Free Stone Productions
About Nobuhiko OBAYASHI
大林宣彦
Nobuhiko OBAYASHI was born in Onomichi (Hiroshima Prefecture) in 1938. He directed several experimental films throughout the sixties before making his commercial feature film debut in 1977 with the horror movie HOUSE (NC ’12 and NC ’20), which is now considered a cult classic. SADA won him the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1998. In his work, he often dealt with the struggles of life in wartime, as in CASTING BLOSSOMS TO THE SKY (NC ’12), SEVEN WEEKS (NC ’15), and HANAGATAMI (NC ’18). In addition to his cinematic oeuvre, he also shot over 3,000 commercials with international actors and actresses. He passed away on April 10, 2020.