Bangkok--13 Dec--The Japan Foundation Bangkok
“Make art not war” is the motto of Jimmy Mirikitani, the protagonist. “The Cats of Mirikitani” began when Linda Hattendorf (director of the film) happened to pass a person of Japanese descent, eighty-year-old Jimmy, who was then a street artist.
The unique communications between the two people gradually revealed Jimmy’s past. Many problems are described along this process. One of these, the issue of the internment camps for Japanese-Americans during World War II, is hardly known both in Japan and in the U.S. There are so many facts in history that should be passed down, though are not widely discussed yet.
Also, the issue that we all regarded as ‘the thing of the past’ has emerged before our eyes in the quite real form: the Sept.11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
From the description so far, you may think the film is too stiff; but there is no such worry! Jimmy’s amusing character, Jimmy’s pretty drawings, the cats that appear in the film — all these make this film full of entertainment. Secondary school students and older can fully understand and enjoy the film.
Interpretation of the meaning may be different among generations, and the difference should be one of the appealing points of the film. We hope the film will trigger a variety of discussions.
The film won the Audience Award at its premiere in the Tribeca Film Festival in New York, held in the spring of 2006. It also won the Best Film Award of the Japanese Eyes Sidebar in the Tokyo International Film Festival in autumn of the same year and many others awards in international film festivals. The film was released in March this year in about 20 cities across the U.S. It has also been in theatres since September in Japan.
I am glad and very much honored that, after submission in the Bangkok Film Festival in the summer of this year, “the Cats of Mirikitani” has the opportunity again to be shown in Bangkok, and even more, in the hall of the Japan Foundation, which has aided production of the film.
I hope many people in Bangkok will go to see the film. I will be happy if you feel sympathies for the film or the way of life of the protagonist, Jimmy, and if you are interested in a variety of problems dealt with in this film.
Peace!
Masa Yoshikawa
Producer
The Cats of Mirikitani