Love and Other Cults – Film Screening and Q&A with director Eiji Uchida and producer Adam Torel

The film screening will be following by a Q&A with director Eiji Uchida and British producer Adam Torel and hosted by Dr Marcos Centeno (SOAS).

Synopsis:

The keenly awaited follow-up to controversial satire Lowlife Love , Love and Other Cults ( Kemonomichi ) is an irreverent story that crackles with energy and style depicting the lives of marginalised youth and their struggles in contemporary Japan. Having fended for herself as a child, drifting from a negligent mother to an oddball cult and a druggie dropout community, when Ai meets Ryota, she wonders: could love be the cult that heals all?

Written and directed by independent filmmaker Eiji Uchida, the film deals with social issues such as child neglect, teenage gangs and the sex industry against a blackly comic background. This coming-of-age narrative fizzes with rich symbolism and explosions of colour and secures Uchida’s place as one of Japan’s most exciting young directors.

The main cast includes the talented Sairi Ito and Kenta Suga, who both started their careers as child actors and shed their “good kid” personas to play dark characters. Other cast members include the in-demand young actor Kaito Yoshimura ( 100 Yen Love ), Sion Sono regulars Ami Tomite ( Antiporno ) and Denden ( Cold Fish ), award-winning actors such as Hanae Kan ( Nobody Knows ) and Katsuya Maigumua ( Ken and Kazu ) plus veterans such as Leona Hirota ( Whispering of the Gods ) and Yoshimasa Kondo ( Welcome Back Mr Mcdonald ).

Speakers:

Eiji Uchida was born in Rio, Brazil to a Japanese mother, and returned to Japan in his childhood. Worked as a journalist for many major publications before becoming a film director. Made his debut with Gachapon in 2004 before going on to make a variety of features including Topless (2008), The Last Days of the World (2011), Greatful Dead (2013), Lowlife Love (2015), Double Mints (2016) and many more.

Adam Torel is the owner of Third Window Films, which is one of the UK’s largest distributors of live-action Japanese cinema, which was started in 2005. In 2012 he started producing films in Japan, starting with Sion Sono’s The Land of Hope (2012) then Yosuke Fujita’s Fukuchan of Fukufuku Flats (2014) before two collaborations with Eiji Uchida: Lowlife Love (2015) and Love and Other Cults (2017).

Chair: Dr Marcos Centeno (SOAS)

Reservation: The event is free and open to members of the public however, prior registration is highly recommended. To reserve your place, please call the Japan Society office on 020 3075 1996 or email events@japansociety.org.uk or submit the online booking form.

Organiser: The Japan Society in partnership with SOAS Centre for Media and Film Studies, Japan Research Centre

Contact email: events@japansociety.org.uk

Contact Tel: 02030751996