Takushi Tsubokawa


	Takushi Tsubokawa Takushi Tsubokawa was born in Hokkaido in 1972. At first, he entered the film world as an actor, but soon his interest shifted to what happened behind the camera. His first work is an independent short film, “Jyunigatsu no Sanrinsha” (Tricycle of December, 1996) was a silent black and white film, about a man losing his direction in the woods, and in life. The short film was meant to be accompanied by a band and a benshi, like an old Japanese silent movie. Actually, in 1998 director Tsubokawa established his own band, Kumonosu Quartet, where he is in charge of accordion. The uniqueness of the sound and the funny sketches and make-ups earned the band the praise of audience not only throughout Japan, but also in Europe. Tsubokawa’s first feature film, “Utsukushiki Tennen” (Clouds of Yesterday), features both the wonderful landscapes of his naive Hokkaido and the melancholic beauty of a Japanese silent film. “Utsukushiki Tennen” won both the Grand Prix and the Audience Award at the 2005 Torino International Film Festival, and was later shown in many film festivals around the world, winning the praise of critics and audiences. “Aria is his long awaited second feature film.

Clouds of Yesterday [aka: Utsukushiki- Tennen]
(16mm / 95 min. / Standard / Black & White-Color / MONO / Japanese)
Director: Takushi TSUBOKAWA
Genre: Drama

Story
It is a day around 1930.
People are waiting at a cinema in the Japanese countryside for the arrival of the silent film, "Utsukushiki Tennen".The boy delivering the final reel of the film finds out about the tragic ending of the story in which his favorite leading actress is cast.
He buries the film on the beach and disappears.
Time passes. A woman who is sunk in sorrow due to the loss of her husband stays in her room and paints flowers.She lives with her daughter who watches after her but does so somewhat coldly. The distant relationship between the two begins to grow complicated when the father of the mother's husband suddenly comes to live at their home.
Two eras are woven together.
The old man, who was that delivery boy,　thinks about the film he buried at the beach and anguishes that someone may still be waiting for it. He sees his life fading away. The cinema that lives on in memory; a film screening that transcends time.

Cast:
Hideko YOSHIDA, Hitoshi TAKAGI, Masao KOMATSU, Kikuyo TAKAHASHi, Fujio TOKITA, Keiji MANAKO, Goichi YAMADA, Morio AGATA, Shojiro KATAOKA, Shinichiro UCHIDA, Dan KUMASAWA, Naomi ITOH

Staff:
Director: Takushi Tsubokawa / Producer: Takushi Tsubokawa / Exective Producer: Jyuichi Shirachi / Screenplay by: Takushi Tsubokawa / Music by: Takerou Sekizima & Takushi Tsubokawa / Director of Photography: Yukihide Itagaki / Production Designer: Kaori Mogi & Keiko Miura / Film Editor: Takushi Tsubokawa .

(C)2005 TENNENDOU CO., LTD.

ARIA
(35mm / 105 min. / American Vista / Color / DTS / Japanese)
Director: Takushi TSUBOKAWA

Genre: Drama

Story

The piano tuner Ota is still in mourning for the loss of his beloved wife. He would like to go on, but he can’t find the beach where his wife wanted her ashes to be scattered. While helping his friend Kojima with his unique shop, Ota meets the old Kuzo, a ventriloquist with a mysterious and fascinating female puppet, Aria, and his disciple, Senju. But during a show, the old man collapses. At the hospital, he asks Ota to find a piano he sold a long time ago to a pawn shop, and dies.
Ota and Senju decide to look for the piano, even if Kuzo will not be able to enjoy it anymore, as a way to carry on the master’s memory, one last attempt to understand his half said past.
Just before the departure, a mysterious and beautiful lady enters the antique shop, claiming to be the master’s daughter. She wants to join them in the quest for the piano.
The three leave in search for the long forgotten piano: they will meet a number of uncommon characters, who will guide them in a journey through the master’s past, and their memories, towards the future.

Cast:
Masayuki SHIONOYA, Mariko TAKAHASHI, Shojiro KATAOKA, Masao KOMATSU, Shimon YOTSUYA, Fujio TOKITA, Shinichiro UCHIDA, Toshiyuki KITA, Koji WAKAMATSU, Hideko YOSHIDA, Mickey Curtis, Utae Shoji

Staff:
Producer:Juichi SHIRAUCHI & Kimiko ISHII / Director & Screenplay:Takushi TSUBOKAWA / Director of photography:Yukihide ITAGAKI / Lighting:Toshio TANAKA / Production Designer:Takayuki NITA / Sound:Hiroshi YAMAGATA / Film Editor:Hirohide ABE / Costume Designer:Masae MIYAMOTO / Music:Takerou SEKIJIMA