Council on East Asian Studies film screening: “Destruction Babies”

Event time: 
Friday, October 11, 2019 - 7:00pm
Location: 
Whitney Humanities Center, Room 106 See map
53 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06520
Event description: 

The Council on East Asian Studies presents a film screening:

“Destruction Babies”.

With Director Tetsuya Mariko and Producer Eisei Shu.

In Mitsuhama, where a small port town in the west of Ehime prefecture in Japan. Abandoned by their parents, the two brothers Taira (Yuya YAGIRA) and Shouta Ashiwara (Nijiro MURAKAMI) live in a shipyard by the sea. Taira often fights with students from a city nearby, but he disappears from the port town after being beaten up. Taira appears in Matsuyama, the largest city in the area and hangs around the downtown street looking for tough guys to fight with. Even if he gets battered and bruised, he never stops fighting. A young man fascinated by Taira, Yuya Kitahara (Masaki SUGA), persuades him to “have some fun” for Destruction. “Having some fun” means playing a knockout game, where you randomly hit people in the street. After making an uproar in the city, Taira and Yuya run away from Matsuyama stealing a car with a young woman Nana (Nana KOMATSU) inside. At the same time, Shouta too is heading toward the city to search for his brother.

Director & Writer: Tetsuya MARIKO 真利子哲也
Born in Tokyo in 1981. At 20, he shot a short film, “The Far East Apartment” (2003), invited to screen at various film festivals. He won many awards at different film festivals including the Grand Prix at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival’s Off-Theater Competition. The following year, he released “Mariko’s 30 Pirates” (2004) which was also invited by 18 different film festivals including the International Film Festival Rotterdam. During his studies film at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media, his graduation film “Yellow Kid” (2009) was premiered nationwide in Japan and receives multiple awards. His next short film “Ninifuni” (2011) was selected to premiere at the Locarno International Film Festival and draws much positive attention in Japan. In 2012 he shot “Fun Fair” (2012) in Malaysia which was acclaimed worldwide.

Cast:
Yuya YAGIRA 柳楽優弥 (Nobody Knows, Gasso, Unforgiven) Masaki SUDA 菅田将暉 (The Light Shines Only There , Girl in the Sunny Place, Backwater)
Nana KOMATSU 小松奈菜 (The world of Kanako, Silence, BAKUMAN)
Nijiro MURAKAMI 村上虹郎 (Still the Water)
Sosuke IKEMATSU 池松壮亮 (Pale Moon, Our Family)
Theatrical release in Japan: May 21, 2016

Born in Tokyo in 1981. When Tetsuya Mariko was a student of Hosei University, his short film entitled “The Far East Apartment” (2003) and another entitled “Mariko’s 30 Pirates” (2004) was evaluated at home and abroad. He won the Grand Prix at the Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival’ s Off-Theater Competition two times, and an award by the International Short Film Festival Oberhausen (the oldest festival in the world for short films) etc. After that he studied film at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media. His graduation film “Yellow Kid” (2009) was premiered nationwide in Japan, which is very unusual for a student film. He received multiple awards for this film including: The Nikkan Sports Film Award at the Mainichi Film Awards, and the Best New Director Award from the Takasaki Film Festival and Japanese Professional Movie Awards. Through the mid-length films entitled “Ninifuni” (2011) and “Fun Fair” (2012), his second feature film “Destruction Babies”(2016) won the best emerging director prize at Locarno Film Festival, Silver Montgolfiere at the Festival des 3 Continents, 6 awards at Yokohama Film Festival, and many awards at different film festivals in and out of the country. His latest work is the third feature “MIYAMOTO”(2019).
 

Admission: 
Free
Open to: 
General Public