FILMINATION

16-year-old Amiko is convinced that “the Japanese are unable to dance spontaneously.” She’s just tried it out herself, with some strangers in a Tokyo underground passage. Believing that she’s had more than her fair share of days where she'd do absolutely anything, she’s left behind the provincial city of Nagano to head to the capital and take her heartthrob Aomi to task. A year before, she took a long winter’s walk with him and thought she’d met her soulmate, someone else like her who wonders in which phase of life there’s actually room for being happy. But then he disappeared, headed for Tokyo, together with Amiko’s nemesis Miyako of all people, the very “epitome of mass culture”, quite unlike her anti-bourgeois and wildly romantic self.

Born in 1997, Yoko Yamanaka's debut film was achieved through her own efforts at the end of her teen years. Assembling the cast and staff through social media, the witty story of a complicated girl's romantic escapade created a stir. The film’s invitation to the 68th Berlin International Film Festival marked the youngest filmmaker in the event’s history, with the film receiving compliments from legendary musician Ryuichi Sakamoto, who likened its freshness to the nouvelle vague. The film has also played at festivals all over the world, including Hong Kong, Canada (Fantasia) and Japan Cuts in New York.