Family

"A film is not a vehicle to accuse, or to relay a specific message. If we reduce a film to this, we lose all hope for cinema to ignite a richer conversation."

Among the film directors currently active in Japan, Hirokazu Kore-eda has a solid base of dedicated fans. Originally a documentary filmmaker, he says, "A writer does not dominate the world but accepts the unfreedom of the world. And I find that unfreedom interesting." His films engage the audience in the story by highlighting actual events or plausible scenarios, rather than narratives controlled by the director.

Particularly distinctive in his works is the unconventional approach to 'family'. Unlike traditional family films, his stories explore fragmented families through separation, as seen in 'Like Father, Like Son', 'After the Storm', 'Still Walking', and 'Nobody Knows' which deal with stories of absent families.

The concept of 'family' he reexamines is not a natural group formed over time but an independent history formed within the relationships of each member. His films question the societal definition of 'family' through the individual histories created by the actors.