To the Ends of the Earth (Tabi no Owari Sekai no Hajimari)
Special Screening - Ajyal Film Festival 2019
Kiyoshi Kurosawa / Feature Narrative / Japan, Uzbekistan, Qatar / 2019 / 120 min / Colour / DCP / In Japanese, Uzbek / MENA Premiere
Rated: Mature subject matter which may not be suitable for minors. Parental guidance is strongly advised.Individuals under the age of 15 are not admitted into cinemas.
Synopsis
A young Japanese reporter named Yoko finds her cautious nature tested when she travels to Uzbekistan to shoot the latest episode of a travel variety show. Failing to capture a mythical fish on camera—the TV crew have a string of segments go awry due to cultural misunderstandings and lost-in-translation encounters between them and the native Uzbeks. An upbeat and outgoing pro on camera, Yoko in her private life is a more obscure and introverted character. As the assignment unfolds, she starts to question her chosen career, and embarks on her own journey of self-discovery through the meandering streets of Tashkent.
Breathtakingly capturing the natural beauty of Uzbekistan, and deftly dealing with the many culture-clashes that occur along the way—‘To the Ends of the Earth’ is an intimate portrait of someone cast into a foreign land and struggling to find their bearings. Indeed, after Yoko’s timid nature inadvertently gets her in trouble and arrested, a police chief sums up the complexity of the story wonderfully by simply remarking “We can’t know each other unless we talk”.
About the Director
Kiyoshi Kurosawa made his feature film directorial debut in 1983 with ‘Kandagawa Wars’. He attracted global attention with ‘Cure’ (1997), following it with notable works ’License to Live’ (1998), ‘Barren Illusion’ (1999), and ‘Charisma’ (1999). In 2001, ‘Pulse’ won the FIPRESCI Prize and in 2008, ‘Tokyo Sonata’ was the Cannes Un Certain Regard Jury Prize winner. His recent works include ‘Seventh Code’ (2013), which won Best Director at the Rome Film Festival, and ‘Journey to the Shore’, winner of Best Director in Cannes Un Certain Regard (2015).
Credits
- Director
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Screenwriter
- Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- Producer
- Eiko Mizuno-Gray, Jason Gray, Toshikazu Nishigaya
- Editor
- Koichi Takahashi
- Production Designer
- Norifumi Ataka
- Executive Producer
- Toshiaki Sakamoto, Eiko Mizuno-Gray, Kazuhiro Ohta, Nobuo Miyazaki, Tatsuya Yoshino, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Furkat Zokirov
- Music
- Yusuke Hayashi
- Cinematographer
- Akiko Ashizawa
- Sales Company
- Free Stone Productions
- Production Company
- Loaded Films Ltd., Tokyo Theatres Inc.
- Sound
- Shinji Watanabe
- Assistant Director
- Atsushi Unno
- Distributor
- Loaded Films Ltd.
- Cast
- Atsuko Maeda Ryo Kase Shota Sometani Adiz Radjabov Tokio Emoto