ON THIS DAY
- 21 Days Until the End of the World by Teona Strugar Mitevska
- Following the Sound (Kanata no uta) by Kyoshi Sugita
21 DAYS UNTIL THE END OF THE WORLD
Nord Macedonia, 2023, Director Teona Strugar Mitevska, Running Time 78‘
One was President of the Jury at Venice79. The other was in the Orizzonti competition with her film The Happiest Man in the World. Céline Sciamma and Teona Strugar Mitevska return to the Lido for the 20th edition of Venice Days at this 80th Venice Film Festival. They will be the stars of the special event that presents the short film This is How a Child Becomes a Poet, dedicated by the French director to the poetess Patrizia Cavalli (who passed away in 2022), and 21 Days Until the End of the World with which the Macedonian director narrates “a countdown made up of daily parentheses in the age of lockdown.” Twenty-one thoughts from which to rebuild a destroyed world, but also an intimate diary, a political reflection, an act of rebellion, a word that unites these two “outsiders,” introducing the works of which artistic director Gaia Furrer says, “These are two real gifts that the Days receive from two of the most valuable voices in European cinema. The perseverance with which these women fight for what is right through their cinema is transformed into two films that are like pauses for reflection from their paths while being perfectly part of them. Two works that share with the outside world an individual quest, between introspection and poetry.”
Mattia Pasquini
KANATA NO UTA (FOLLOWING THE SOUND) prima mondiale
Japan, 2023. Director Kyoshi Sugita. Starring An Ogawa, Yuko Nakamura, Hidekazu Mashima Duration 84′. Production: Nekojarashi
Japanese director Kyoshi Sugita, winner in 2021 of the Festival International de Cinéma de Marseille, thanks to his Haruhara-san no uta, a portrait of a young woman’s inner world, returns to explore the female universe. Haru (An Ogawa), a young clerk in a bookstore, stops Yukiko (Yuko Nakamura) on the pretext of asking her for some directions but notices a deep pain on her face. At the same time, she also discreetly follows Tsuyoshi (Hidekazu Mashima), checking their expressions. When Haru was still a student in middle school, her mother died, and then she happened to meet and talk with Yukiko and Tsuyoshi. Both of them seemed to be heartbroken, and years later, Haru is still on their trail, almost out of remorse that she was unable to help her mother even though she knew her sadness. Haru continues to watch over Yukiko and Tsuyoshi, and in those encounters, he confronts his feelings toward his mother and the pain of those two people.
Oscar Cosulich
