Firefly (Japanese: 組画, Hepburn: Hotaru) is a 2000 Japanese drama film directed by Naomi Kawase. It was her second drama feature after her 1997 debut drama feature Suzaku and won the FIPREPSCI Prize at its 2000 debut at Locarno for its "personal and universal approach towards the conflict between tradition and modernity".[1] Like Suzaku, the film explores life in rural Japan and draws on Kawase's background as a documentary filmmaker.[2][3][4] Together, these two films established Kawase as one of Japan's key contemporary female directors.[1]

Firefly
Directed byNaomi Kawase
Written byNaomi Kawase
Produced byTakenori Sentô
StarringYūko Nakamura
CinematographyMasami Inomoto
Edited byNaomi Kawase
Release date
  • 2000 (2000)
Running time
164 min
CountryJapan
LanguageJapanese

Plot

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Ayako, a striptease dancer, falls in and out of a relationship with Daiji, a potter, and returns to her childhood hometown in Nara province, Japan.[2]

Cast

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Reception

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Winner of the FIPREPSCI Prize and the C.I.C.A.E. Award at the Festival del film, Locarno, 2000.[5]

Yūko Nakamura won Best Actress at BAFICI (Buenos Aires International Independent Film Festival), 2001.[6]

References

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  1. ^ a b Taylor-Jones, Kate E. (2013). Rising Sun, Divided Land: Japanese and South Korean Filmmakers. Columbia University Press. pp. 157–158. doi:10.7312/tayl16586. ISBN 9780231850445. JSTOR 10.7312/tayl16586.
  2. ^ a b "NYC Happenings: MoMA's Naomi Kawase Retrospective Explores Her Poetic and Intensely Personal Cinema". ScreenAnarchy. 2016-06-27. Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  3. ^ Anderson, Joel Neville (2020-01-02). "Home birth, world cinema: Kawase Naomi's films in circulation". Studies in Documentary Film. 14 (1): 50–62. doi:10.1080/17503280.2020.1720091. ISSN 1750-3280. S2CID 213788581.
  4. ^ McDonald, Keiko I. (2006). Reading a Japanese Film: Cinema in Context. University of Hawai'i Press. ISBN 978-0-8248-2939-1. JSTOR j.ctvvmxwh.
  5. ^ "53rd Locarno International Film Festival". Retrieved 2021-12-26.
  6. ^ "HOTARU / Firefly". JFDB (in Japanese). Retrieved 2021-12-26.
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