''Ainu Mosir'' () is a 2020 Japanese

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Takeshi Fukunaga Takeshi Fukunaga is a Japanese filmmaker based in New York. His first feature film, '' Out of My Hand'' (2015) premiered in the Panorama section at the 65th Berlin International Film Festival and won the US Fiction Award at the 2015 Los Angeles ...

. The film follows a young Ainu boy grappling with the tensions between his traditional heritage, modern Japan, and his personal beliefs. It premiered at the

Tribeca Film Festival The Tribeca Festival is an annual film festival organized by Tribeca Enterprises. It takes place each spring in New York City, showcasing a diverse selection of film, episodic, talks, music, games, art, and immersive programming. The festival ...

Plot

Kanto is a fourteen-year-old Ainu boy living in a small town in

Hokkaido is the list of islands of Japan by area, second-largest island of Japan and comprises the largest and northernmost prefectures of Japan, prefecture, making up its own list of regions of Japan, region. The Tsugaru Strait separates Hokkaidō fr ...

. His mother runs an Ainu gift shop after his father’s death. Kanto is disgruntled with life in the town and wishes to move away from it to a big modern city, away from the Ainu people. The town itself is a traditional Ainu community, essentially carrying on the traditions and surviving through the tourism industry. After his father’s death, Kanto is mentored by Ainu elder Debo (Debo Akibe), who teaches him Ainu traditions. The community is reviving

Iomante , sometimes written as , is an Ainu ceremony in which a brown bear is sacrificed. The word literally means "to send something/someone off". In some Ainu villages, it is a Blakiston's fish owl, rather than a bear, that is the subject of the cere ...

, a controversial bear-sacrifice ritual, sparking debate among the residents. Kanto discovers and befriends a bear in the forest, forcing him to confront his feelings about the ritual. A Japanese journalist (

Lily Franky , known professionally as , is a Japanese illustrator, writer, and actor. He has appeared in more than 40 films since 2001. Career In 2016, Lily Franky received the Cut Above Award for Outstanding Performance in Film at Japan Cuts: Festiv ...

) visits to document the community and the Iomante rite. Ultimately, Kanto decides he opposes the bear killing. Kanto finds videotapes of the Iomante rites and watches them. He begins to discover more about Ainu culture, including some of the more mystical elements, and eventually comes to appreciate some of the rites.

Cast

* Kanto – Kanto Shimokura * Debo – Debo Akibe * Emi – Emi Shimokura * Japanese journalist –

Production

The movie was filmed on location in Hokkaido, Japan in 2020. The film runs for 84 minutes.

Awards and film festivals

''Ainu Mosir'' received a number of nominations, and won two awards: * Guanajuato International Film Festival 2020 – winner – best International Feature competition * Hainan International Film Festival 2020 – nominee – Future New Talent Award * Hong Kong Asian Film Festival 2020 – New Talent Award * Image Awards (NAACP) 2021 – nominee – Outstanding International Motion Picture * Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival 2021 – nominee – Visions Jury award and Audience award * Taipei Film Festival 2020 – nominee – New Talent award * Tribeca Film Festival 2020 – Special Jury Mention

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ainu Mosir 2020 films 2020 drama films 2020s Japanese-language films Japanese drama films American drama films Chinese drama films Films set in Hokkaido Ainu in fiction 2020s American films Indigenous cinema in Asia