Kamataki
A filmmaker who is utterly unique in Quebec’s cinematic history. Starting in the 1970s, he expressed his singular perspective by travelling to Japan to direct Keiko, the story of an arranged marriage in parallel with a gay love story. He has built a coherent filmography, bringing fully realized directorial skills to explorations of marginal and complex situations, exposing social issues seldom seen in our films, including Indigenous issues (Visage pale, 1985) and the lives of people with disabilities (Kenny, 1987). Discover the work of a filmmaker who is still working, and in tune with our time.
The screening will be followed by a Q&A with the director
Ken, a 22-year-old North American man, lost his father and his desire to live. He attempts suicide but miraculously survives a deadly plunge off a bridge. His mother feels that an estranged Japanese uncle is the only person who can help him find what he has lost. Uncle Takuma is a world famous potter. Eccentric and unpredictable he lives by his own unconventional moral standards. He is an opposite of Ken’s late father. Takuma’s shock treatment of sake, mystery, sexual tension and art succeeds in stirring his nephew’s curiosity. Will those sparks be enough to rekindle Ken’s inner flame and make it as strong as the flame of Takuma’s wood-fired kiln?
This film print comes from our collections.
Trailer in VOSTA. The movie will be presented with french subtitles.
Claude Gagnon
Claude Gagnon (born 1949 in Saint-Hyacinthe, Quebec) is a Canadian film director, screenwriter, and producer, who frequently works in both Canada and Japan. His most noted films include Keiko (1979), Kenny *(1988), *The Pianist (1991), Kamataki (2005) and Karakara (2012). He won the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award in 1979 for Keiko. (Wikipedia)
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