The 5th Kimolos Film Festival will take place June 25-29th at the island of Kimolos, Greece. The festival has two competition sections. The Golden Tree Award focuses on international productions and the Discover Greek Cinema on Greek titles. This year, the former section has a distinct Asian flavor since four out of the six movies competing are Asian movies. Let us check the titles one by one.
1. Happy Sandwich (2023) by Tsukasha Kishimoto (International Premiere)
The setting is the northern part of Okinawa Island known as “Yanbaru”. One day, Shogo MANNA, who operates a restaurant there, is ordered by Kaminchu (Shinto priest) to “create a sandwich worthy of being offered to the gods”. In the quest for a sandwich of such fine quality, Shogo travels around to meet with numerous people involved in the food business. He learns about the ideas and lifestyles of producers and chefs and begins to think more deeply about the theme of “Food and Lifestyle”.
2. Cold as Marble (2022) by Asif Rustamov (Greek Premiere)
The life of the Son, an artist who makes his living by working for a tombstone business as the epitaph carver, changes drastically when he discovers his house door open ajar, only to find his father back from prison, much earlier than expected. This will pull off the rag from below his feet; many years after his father murdered his mother, the Son still can't enter the bedroom, and he is sleeping on the shabby living room sofa instead. Now faced with the man who destroyed his family with one blow, he realizes that there is no trace of remorse in the old man. Father's remarks about the past are cryptical, yet cold. On the other hand, he is trying hard to build a relationship with his son. He does it with wrong wording and typically macho phrases that come from a place where they still sound cool, undoubtely stuck in his head from the years spent in prison. (Marina Richter)
3. The Great Distance Delivers Crane (2022) by Lhapal Gyal (Greek Premiere)
In Tibetan villages on Qinghai Plateau, Younger siblings Gesang and Duojie lived with their grandmother. The brother and sister, who had lost their mother at a young age, were more eager to be with their busy father.Duojie and Gesang rescued an injured young black-necked crane bird whose parents were both dead. They took it home for care. The winter was coming,but due to the lack of parent birds, the little crane could not fly to migrate. After many kinds of man-made training and flying failures, they decided to ride a motorcycle and carry the crane to the wintering ground in Shangri-La.Duojie and Gesang experienced many hardships such as the lack of motorcycle oil, road collapses, rapids and shoals, and vehicle punctures, With the help of pilgrims, a yak driver,and a rapper .they traveled more than 1,000 kilometers . And they finally delivered the Little Crane to the wintering ground and helped it return to the crane group.The two children were determined to send cranes thousands of miles. It is not only the growing up of the children, but also the salvation of adults. The children have finally got their father's accompany.
4. How (2023) by Liu Teng (European Premier)
The relationship within Chinese families is dominated by silence. Fears, regrets, and even the day-to-day seem easier to deal with with the dead than with the living. This is what happens in front of the altar that they have built at home after the forced exhumation of the mother's remains.
