Industry legend TAKAHASHI Banmei [高橋伴明] earnestly retells ultra-leftist terrorist Kirishima Satoshi’s life, tracing how he lived dangerously by taking part in the East Asia Anti-Japan Front’s bombing campaign and his subsequent years as a man on the run from authorities, hiding under an assumed name and unable to open up to anyone, until his passing in January 2024 when his true identity was revealed. His re-emergence reawakened memories of a Japan riven by political extremism and societal change. MAIGUMA Katsuya [毎熊克哉], known for Ken and Kazu and Shoplifters, stars as Kirishima and portrays him from his days as an idealistic youth to his final years, capturing the conflicted emotions and loneliness of a fugitive.
I Am Kirishima | Original title:「桐島です」Kirishima-desu | 2025 | Japan | 105 min | World Premiere
Director: TAKAHASHI Banmei [高橋伴明]
Cast: MAIGUMA Katsuya [毎熊克哉], OKUNO Eita [奥野瑛太], KITA Kana [北香那], KOUMOTO Masahiro [甲本雅裕], TAKAHASHI Keiko [高橋惠子]
Distributor: Shibuya Production | (c) Kitanomaru Production
STORY
“I want to meet my death with my real name.”
On January 25th, 2024, Hiroshi Uchida, a 70-year-old man with terminal cancer made a deathbed confession to the Kamakura hospital staff treating him: “I am Satoshi Kirishima.” On January 29th, he died.
For 49 years, Kirishima was a fugitive pursued by the police for his involvement with the East Asia Anti-Japan Armed Front’s bombing campaign that terrified Tokyo in the 70s. While others from the group were caught and sentenced to death, Kirishima remained on the run and off the radar by working as a day-labourer and living a solitary life amongst neighbours who affectionately dubbed him “Ucchan,” a quiet guy known to like a beer and rock music.
In a dramatic retelling of five decades of Kirishima’s life, director TAKAHASHI Banmei, who also participated in the student movements while at Waseda University, revives the spirit of an idealistic generation whose hopes and regrets still touch many today while also presenting a vulnerable human side.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
TAKAHASHI Banmei [高橋伴明]
TAKAHASHI got his start with pink films alongside luminaries like WAKAMATSU Koji and WATANABE Mamoru. After his directorial debut Escaped Rapist Criminal (1972, 婦女暴行脱走犯) and sophomore Delinquent File: Juvenile Prostitution (1976, 非行少女・少女売春), he earned mainstream success with the Art Theatre Guild crime drama Tattoo Ari (1982, TATTOO＜刺青＞あり), a cult following with suspense thriller Door (1988) and critical acclaim with covid-set social drama No Place to Go (2022, 夜明けまでバス停で). His artist biopic TAKUMI: The Man Beyond Borders (2012, 道〜白磁の人〜) was premiered at OAFF 2012 as the opening film.
MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR
I thought this film would be quietly shown in a small cinema in a small town. Perhaps Kirishima himself is more surprised than me. I would be happy if this film, like a hidden silence, could gently reach someone.
ABOUT THE CAST
MAIGUMA Katsuya [毎熊克哉]
MAIGUMA Katsuya has appeared in a wide range of television and film roles, from doctors in romantic dramas to rookie detectives. His breakout performance in Ken and Kazu (2016, ケンとカズ), which won the Best Picture Award in the Japanese Cinema Splash category at the 2015 Tokyo International Film Festival, earned him notice by critics who noted his acting is reminiscent of the old TOEI and NIKKATSU style. Other works include the blackly comic and socially conscious Love and Other Cults (2017, 獣道), Dare to Stop Us (2018, 止められるか、俺たちを), a biopic of WAKAMATSU Koji and his filmmaking during the 60s and 70s, the FUKASAKU Kinji-throwback crime drama Last of the Wolves (2021, 孤狼の血 LEVEL2), and, more recently, fantasy film From the End of the World (2023, 世界の終わりから).
MESSAGE FROM MAIGUMA KATSUYA
I feel honored that I Am Kirishima was selected as the closing film from among many other candidates. While playing Kirishima Satoshi’s half-century-long fugitive life, I imagined the era before I was born, the current era, and the future. What were they angry and worried about? I would be happy if this film could help us imagine him and his era, instead of merely judging. I believe that none of us are bystanders. I hope this film will reach from Osaka to all over Japan and to the world.
