About the film
Based in the forgotten, cross-cultured town of Koza, in Okinawa, Japan, this film follows Kuichi, an 10-year-old boy who is lost amidst his own beliefs.
Kuichisan
— BY Maiko Endo
status
Completed
type
Fiction
year
2011
director
Maiko Endo
producers
Maiko Endo, Jessica Oreck
Synopsis
Based in the forgotten, cross-cultured town of Koza, in Okinawa, Japan, this film follows a 10-year-old boy who looks like a monk and drifts amidst his own beliefs. As he searches for an outlet for his spirituality, he encounters the magical force of nature and the history behind the creation of a place that is not quite American yet not Japanese. The boy, who seems to live on the outskirts of an already outsider society, likes to get a cola float and watch the American soldiers get their tacos at the tacos stand. People around the town prepare for summertime festivals, welcoming ancestors and ghosts. A gang of abandoned children, barefoot and homeless, wreaks havoc amid the ruins of the once prosperous city. As reality seems to melt and drift, the boy sips his cola float and waits for the end of the world.
About the team
Maiko Endo (Director) moved from Tokyo to New York in 2000. Since then she has been playing violin in bands and orchestras as well as composing and recording music for movie soundtracks and art exhibitions. Kuichisan is Maiko’s first feature length film.
Kuichisan is a Cinereach grantee.