June Screenings

WHEEL OF FORTUNE AND FANTASY
GUZEN TO SOZO

• Director: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
• JAPAN  / 2021 / DCP / Colour / 121’ / Japanese; Turkish s.t., English s.t.

• Screenplay: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
• Director of Photography: Yukiko Iioka
• Editing: Ryûsuke Hamaguchi
• Cast: Kotone Furukawa, Kiyohiko Shibukawa, Katsuki Mori, Fusako Urabe, Aoba Kawai, Ayumu Nakajima, Hyunri, Shouma Kai
• Producer: Satoshi Takata
• Production Co.: Neopa, Fictive
• World Sales: m-appeal

This film is screened within the No More Flowers section.

Theme Sponsor

2021 Berlin Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize

Focusing on coincidences, choices, and illusions Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is a naive romantic drama about magical incidents. The film is made up of three short films titled “Magic (Or Something Less Reassuring)”, “Door Wide Open”, and “Once Again, Moka” interconnected with tiny details and echoes. Three women explore significant relationships, revealing how sometimes coincidences and choices are more similar than we think them to be. Known for Happy Hour and Asako I & II, director Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, inspired by Schumann’s music and supported by Japan’s uncanny spaces, goes out of his usual narrative style, and mentioning his special interest in short films, offers his audience a deep but playful thinking exercise through three stories exploring different circumstances: a love triangle, a failed seduction, and a pleasant encounter.

This film was a Meetings on the Bridge participant.