Bare Essence of Life

Kento enjoys cooking with canned foods and eating them at a camp-ground. Nanako likes cooking with natural ingredients she obtains herself from nature. The only thing in common between them are that they eat and sleep alone at camp.

It follows a group of people who are still living in temporary housing 12 years after a natural disaster called "Nani" destroyed their town.

In a coastal town attracting artists, 14-year-old Sosuke and his friends stay busy painting and helping with school projects. As carefree children interact with secret-laden adults, the sunlit ocean reflects their contrasting struggles—kids embracing challenges while adults seek elusive answers.

Four dramas about brothers and sisters, each of whom lacks a certain emotion.

Kasumi Arimura suddenly gets a break from filming and returns to her hometown for the first time in a long while. Her mother, Yumiko, comes to the train station to pick her up and they head for the family home.

A shy country girl chooses a part-time job at a maid cafe where she serves customers while dressed up as a maid.

Takuji Kameoka is a 37-year-old bachelor whose occupation is a “miscellaneous actor”. His only interest is drinking. One day he falls in love and his boring life begins to change. The film is based on the book “Actor, Takuji Kameoka” by Akito Inui, a five-time nominee for Japan’s most prestigious literary prize, the Akutagawa Prize. Satoko Yokohama, a much-admired up-and-coming newcomer, directs the film and we can immediately tell that she is a special talent, with a unique understanding that flows through to her actors and crew.

The Mikami family lives within the foot of Mount Iwaki. The Mikami family makes a living by running an apple farm. Eldest daughter Rinko is a middle school student who keeps running away and coming back home with her boyfriend Kenichiro. Rinko’s mother Mayumi has difficulty raising her kids and the apples. One night, before Rinko's birthday, Rinko's father Tamao brings a horse with a ribbon as her birthday present. Tamao actsas he pleases. The mother suffers from his impulsiveness. To borrow money, Rinko comes back home after a long time away from home. There, Rinko sees the horse.

A short film about a childlike wife and her husband's love. With mundane conversation and familiar scenery, each day passes without any changes. But, in fact, every day is full of small adventures and nothing is the same as yesterday.

Nakagawa shot “Coming Future” on the nights of December 24 and 25, 2009, in Shibuya, making it his location for an idealized Bohemia in the heart of Tokyo. Interesting interviews/discussions with Kenji Murakami, Nobuhiro Yamashita, Kenji Onishi, Tetsuaki Matsue and more... By far the most interesting sequence is with Kenji Onishi (“A Burning Star”). Wielding a super-8 camera, Onishi documents his own interview, taking random shots of street-life and buildings. He leavens his monologue with statements bordering between cliché and outré. “A movie that aims to make a message is boring.”

This wild and outrageous Japanese film by Satoko Yokohama tells the story of a 16 year old girl named Yoshiko, who lives all alone since her mother died and father entered the hospital. There isn't much opportunity in a small town for a teenage girl to make a living, so Yoshiko gives recorder lessons to the neighborhood kids - but when she learns that some of her pupils have caught the eye of a local pedophile, she takes up a part-time job as a vigilante! Her plans to do right by her odd array of students include brutal emasculation, but at the end of the day, the sweet young thing never forgets to reward her precious tykes with treats.

A short film by Satoko Yokohama