{"id":34557,"date":"2026-06-15T14:53:13","date_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:53:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=34557"},"modified":"2026-06-15T14:53:13","modified_gmt":"2026-06-15T18:53:13","slug":"tribeca-festival-exclusive-interview-with-director-miiku-sakanishi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cinemadailyus.com\/?p=34557","title":{"rendered":"Tribeca Festival : Exclusive Interview with Director Miiku Sakanishi\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\u00a9Courtesy of Tribeca Festival\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Memoriz<\/strong> : Yuta arrives at a remote rural town in the island of Kyushu to take care of his fastidious father-in-law Makoto, a photographer recovering from a leg fracture. While assisting at Makoto’s traditional photo studio, where portraits are carefully composed to endure, Yuta stays connected to his wife Yuki and daughter Hana in Tokyo through spontaneous and casual smartphone videos. As Yuta settles into the comfortable flow of his new countryside rhythm, he starts noticing and documenting routine tasks and exciting fragments of his daily life. These little details accumulate and gather emotional weight, revealing a family shaped as much by distance and absence as by presence, in an intimate reflection on memory, time, and the fragile act of preserving everyday life.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Director<\/strong> : Miiku Sakanishi<\/div>\n
Producer<\/strong> : Masato Date, Yoshiho Fukuoka, Tomoo Tsuchii<\/div>\n
Screenwriter<\/strong> : Miiku Sakanishi<\/div>\n
Production Co<\/strong> : Little More Co.<\/div>\n
Genre<\/strong> : Drama<\/div>\n
Original Language<\/strong> : Japanese<\/div>\n
Runtime<\/strong> : 1h 37m<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/ins><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\"Memoriz<\/div>\n
\u00a9Courtesy of Tribeca Festival\u00a0<\/span><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Exclusive Interview with Director Miiku Sakanishi\u00a0<\/strong><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

Q: I know you graduated from an art university in Kyoto and began making films during your studies there. Could you provide information on the types of films you were involved in at that time, and which films inspired you to begin making them?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: I started out by taking a seminar led by Takashi Ito, a professor of experimental film in Japan. His class was completely free-form; we were allowed to film whatever we wanted. At the time, I was interested in a Dutch filmmaker\u2014or rather, a contemporary artist\u2014named Marijke van Vlamendam. When I saw her work at the Ebisu Film Festival, there was a 30-second clip of an elderly couple sitting on a bench, and on the other side, a window covered in condensation inside a house. and when an old woman\u2019s hand wiped the condensation, an empty chair appeared. After seeing that, I realized that even seemingly mundane, everyday moments could be conveyed in interesting ways through film alone. So, starting from capturing those fleeting moments of daily life, the very first piece I shot during my university days was a 9-minute film of elementary school students simply playing in a park. I filmed it exactly as it happened, following the natural timeline\u2014from the moment they entered the park until they left.<\/p>\n

Q: I see. I heard that after graduating from an art university in Kyoto, you worked on making-of videos for directors like Yuya Ishii and Hiroyasu Doi. What techniques and filming methods did you learn from them at that time, and are there any aspects of that experience that have influenced your current filmmaking?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: I think it\u2019s true that my current style is quite different from theirs, but as a director, I\u2019ve simply learned so much from both of them. The biggest lesson I\u2019ve taken away is that they\u2019re both incredibly flexible and always try to incorporate the staff\u2019s ideas into the film as much as possible. I\u2019ve worked on other sets, of course, and while filmmakers and directors naturally have their own artistic vision\u2014and there\u2019s certainly an appeal to directors who take the lead in that way\u2014 but what I found truly appealing about those two was how they created an environment where everyone felt comfortable speaking up. Even if an idea surpassed something I personally found interesting, they would always adopt it on the spot and say, \u201cLet\u2019s go with that.\u201d<\/p>\n

As a co-producer and in terms of filmmaking, I believe the director is the one who maintains the big picture, but incorporating those other interesting points\u2014that\u2019s probably what I learned the most from them.<\/p>\n

Q: So you were in an environment where you were constantly incorporating feedback from actors and staff. I heard that your father directed music videos, but I also heard that he passed away when you were in high school. Music videos often feature very emotionally charged direction, and I think the way they\u2019re edited\u2014being so short\u2014makes them particularly interesting. Did your father\u2019s work have any influence on you personally?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: I\u2019m not sure\u2014this is just my personal feeling\u2014but from my sophomore year of high school until he passed away, my father would sometimes show me his work, saying things like, \u201cI shot this,\u201d or, since he was also involved in music, \u201cWhat do you think of this song by such-and-such artist?\u201d But I have this sense that he passed away before I\u2019ve never got around to asking him, \u201cHow did you make this?\u201d or \u201cWhat was your intention?\u201d<\/p>\n

So, in that sense, I\u2019ve always thought that I came to understand \u201cmy father\u2019s style\u201d in the same way as any other audience member. However, after the press screening, I invited some of my father\u2019s colleagues from his generation\u2014people I\u2019m still in touch with today\u2014as well as some of his seniors, because I really wanted them to see it. They told me that some kind of latent \u201cfather\u2019s style\u201d was definitely reflected in the film.<\/p>\n

They pointed out specific parts of certain scenes, but I didn\u2019t consciously direct those scenes\u2014it was just a coincidence. As you just mentioned, I used to watch movies at home, watch the NBA, and watch them right beside him, so that kind of thing is really just a matter of instinct. I do break down the works of my favorite filmmakers and put them into my own words, but I\u2019ve never done that with my father, so I think that\u2019s just how I feel about it. That\u2019s why I find it interesting.<\/p>\n

\"Memoriz\"<\/p>\n

\u00a9Courtesy of Tribeca Festival\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: I\u2019d like to talk about this film. I think it\u2019s a story that weaves together what you might call \u201crecords\u201d and \u201cmemories.\u201d After all, from the era of flip phones to today\u2019s smartphones, people\u2019s memories have been preserved in various forms as records. But even before that, in the early \u201990s, there was the \u201cUtsurun-desu\u201d(Fujifilm\u2019s iconic disposable camera, which allowed memories to be preserved through photographs). However, I feel there\u2019s a sense that we\u2019ve come to rely on these too much, leaving our own memories somewhat vague or diluted. What inspired you to create this work?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: It all started when I was asked if I\u2019d be interested in making a short film funded by a small-town municipality in Kyushu\u2014with a very limited budget of around 200,000 to 300,000 yen. Since there was no budget, I wondered if there was anything interesting I could do. As you just mentioned, as long as the storage on our smartphones keeps increasing, the amount of video footage keeps growing. I don\u2019t mean to judge this footage as good or bad at all; it\u2019s just that, how should I put it\u2026 Since I\u2019d been going to my father\u2019s work sites all the time, the joy of pressing the shutter button or the act of filming itself\u2014that sense of strength\u2014had become somewhat diluted. I realized that those moments when I was just casually filming might actually be interesting.<\/p>\n

At the time, I started with the idea of making a film based solely on the off-camera reactions to video letters exchanged between my family back in Kyushu and my husband, who had moved to Tokyo\u2014all we had were their smartphones. Since we had no budget, I began there. But when I tried to turn this into a feature-length film, I realized that wouldn\u2019t be enough on its own. I wondered if I could add some other elements, and the first thing that came to mind was that I\u2019d had a hard time watching my father\u2019s footage after he passed away.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s because I couldn\u2019t quite accept his death. But once I decided to make the film, people\u2014seniors, teachers, and various others in the film industry\u2014would say things like, \u201cIsn\u2019t this your father, Sakanishi-kun?\u201d They\u2019d send me footage they\u2019d seen of him, or tell me, \u201cI grew up watching this footage.\u201d In those moments, I found myself facing my (deceased) father in a way that felt less like watching a finished work and more like experiencing indescribable sensations\u2014like reliving the days I spent with him. That\u2019s when I realized what I mentioned at the beginning: \u201cthese smartphone videos I\u2019ve been casually filming\u201d\u2014people today have grown up with video being a familiar part of their lives.<\/p>\n

I mean, it\u2019s not like people of my generation felt video was distant to me from a young age, but for someone my age, I grew up close to video\u2014going to my father\u2019s work sites or watching him shoot on MiniDV at home. So I started to think that maybe people today can relate to that feeling as something universal. The idea that photos serve as a device to help us feel connected when someone is gone\u2014that was the starting point for this film.<\/p>\n

Q: So, I\u2019d like to ask about the locations. Was the location selection based entirely on the concept, or did you also do some location scouting? This film has a real sense of the places and people blending together, and I could tell that a lot of attention was paid to location scouting during filming. Could you tell me a little bit about how the atmosphere of the locations\u2014including the filming itself\u2014was captured?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: Although the original plan was to start in Kyushu, that idea fell through, and since the project became a feature-length film, those elements were completely absent from the final narrative. However, since the first scene involved \u201cfield burning,\u201d I traveled around the region searching for the perfect location for that final scene. The setting there was truly magnificent. Also, since Taketa City is situated against the mountains, there are many streetscapes where the atmosphere changes little by little as you drive to the next town.<\/p>\n

From my perspective as someone born and raised in Tokyo, I felt a real sense of being able to capture many elements that felt like the archetypal rural landscapes from books. By combining those elements, I thought I could create a new, somewhat abstracted town\u2014a rural landscape\u2014where both the people and the town itself take on a fresh form. For this project, the producer, Mr. Date, skillfully organized the process as a combination of script development and location scouting, so some scenes were actually born out of the locations themselves. I ended up taking as many photos as I could and arranging them on the wall at home like a puzzle.<\/p>\n

Q: When it comes to actor Tasuku Emoto\u2019s portrayal of stillness and movement, the scene where he stands in a quiet space really left a strong impression on me. It was a truly wonderful piece of direction\u2014one that evoked the contrast between stillness and movement, reminiscent of Ozu\u2019s films. Having worked with Mr. Emoto, what kind of discussions did you have beforehand regarding scenes without dialogue at the filming location?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: At first, I talked with Tasuku about the character\u2019s background\u2014well, of course, the details, and though it might sound strange to call it \u201ctrivial,\u201d I just explained the premise of what kind of work he does. After that, Tasuku and I would just hang out normally, having meals or drinks together. Even during those times, when we weren\u2019t talking about the movie at all, I feel like we developed a shared sense of understanding\u2014and he still tells me that now. There was another approach where we could have discussed the walking sequences in greater detail with the assistant director beforehand.<\/p>\n

We could have worked with Tasuku to create a blueprint\u2014like, \u201con your step, turn this way,\u201d or \u201cturn that way\u201d\u2014but this time, we didn\u2019t really go with that kind of pre-planned approach. Instead, Tasuku, as an actor, did a \u201ctest shoot\u201d (a term in film and video where the actor makes slight variations in movement from the initial test to the actual take).<\/p>\n

Of course, the dog\u2019s movements were significant, and if the dog went in a certain direction, he\u2019d be influenced by that. Or, for instance, if he saw the city or heard a sound, he\u2019d turn his head that way. He picked up on all those subtle details.<\/p>\n

When I saw that footage, I could see his reaction to the city as a man from Tokyo exactly as it was, so we discussed how it would be great if we could preserve that rhythm and atmosphere just as it was. I felt that if we could just achieve that, it would be enough.<\/p>\n

As for the final scene where he just stands there, we actually discussed the number of steps beforehand and agreed that we wanted him to stop right there. I think we were able to work through the process step by step together.<\/p>\n

\"Memoriz<\/p>\n

\u00a9Courtesy of Tribeca Festival\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Q: Actress Moeka Hoshi has already made quite a name for herself in the TV series \u201cShogun\u201d, but she speaks Chinese in this film. Was there an audition process beforehand? Or was she offered the role because you wanted to leave it up to her?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: When we were deciding who should play the role of Yuki, I was introduced to Hoshi-san and had the opportunity to meet him once. It wasn\u2019t exactly an audition; rather, they arranged a meeting for the two of us to talk with the producer. Of course, I\u2019d seen her in shows like \u201cShogun\u201d, but I told her I wanted to talk about what kind of role this might be. As we talked, I realized we had a lot in common\u2014a sense of loss, perhaps\u2014and when she told me, \u201cPlease ask me anything,\u201d I felt that since Yuki is someone who lives her life while carrying a great sense of loss, we\u2019d be able to share that feeling\u2014even if it wasn\u2019t expressed in words\u2014right away.<\/p>\n

As for Hoshi-san\u2014and this is just my impression at the time\u2014even while he was speaking very naturally, there was something mysterious about his gestures and tone of voice that seemed to reveal multiple facets of his personality.<\/p>\n

I felt that someone whose true nature is hard to pin down\u2014or rather, someone who makes you want to imagine who they really are\u2014would be perfect for a film that weaves together these matter-of-fact, everyday moments. With those two things in mind, I went ahead and offered him the role right then and there.<\/p>\n

Q: What really stands out to me is Issey Ogata\u2019s acting. I feel that his performances are designed to bring out the best in his co-stars. Even though he\u2019s such a brilliant actor, he never overshadows them; instead, he seems to time his lines and deliver his performance in a way that truly highlights his co-stars. Having worked with him, what aspects of Issey Ogata\u2019s work did you find particularly compelling?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: If I had to say who really brought this scene to life, I\u2019d actually say it was Tasuku-san. That\u2019s because I feel that Issey Ogata really added a lot of humor to the character of Makoto, both within and beyond the script. I only wrote the bare minimum of dialogue\u2014things like the teacup being different, I wrote the dialogue that forms the core of Makoto\u2019s story, but Issey Ogata suggested that he wanted to entertain the audience a bit more before and after those scenes, so he added some ad-libbed humor. That probably wasn\u2019t part of the vision Mr. Doi and Mr. Ishii had in mind, but there was a process where if I found it funny, I\u2019d just go with it. And there was this dynamic where Tasuku-san was the one absorbing all of that.<\/p>\n

I felt that the process of building the set\u2014the sense of a father-in-law closing the distance with his son-in-law\u2014was becoming very similar to my own approach. If we could have captured that dynamic directly\u2014if the film had simply focused on the relationship between these two characters\u2014I think the first half would have worked. But the sense of distance, or rather, the rhythm created by Issey Ogata\u2019s humor and Tasuku\u2019s way of receiving it, really elevated the film. I feel it ended up being more entertaining than I had imagined.<\/p>\n

Q: How did you cast this child actress? She seemed to interact so naturally with Hoshi and Emoto, and they really looked like a family. Did you have them spend time together during rehearsals beforehand, or did you provide any kind of acting coaching within that family dynamic?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: Well, since this was her first time appearing in a movie, the assistant director and I would meet with her and go over her lines. Some days she was eager to do it, and other days she wasn\u2019t, but we spent time working through that together.<\/p>\n

So, we were actually planning to ask Hoshi-san ourselves, but Hoshi-san beat us to it. She mentioned that she wanted to spend some family time with this girl, Shiki-chan\u2014playing together or going to the aquarium or something like that. So, separately from that, we were able to arrange for Hoshi-san to take her to the aquarium and play with her, giving them some time alone together as mother and daughter.<\/p>\n

Q: Now that this film is being screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, I imagine that the audience\u2019s perspective will naturally differ somewhat from that in Japan. Are there any specific aspects you\u2019d like viewers\u2014whether they\u2019re particularly interested in Japanese culture or simply curious about Japanese cinema\u2014to focus on when watching this film?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Miiku Sakanishi: But yesterday, after the opening day, when I received feedback, I noticed that while the names of Ozu and Ryusuke Hamaguchi came up during the talk show, the other questions were basically no different from the ones asked during the screenings in Tokyo and Oita\u2014 The comments were things people shared based on their own memories, or questions about the final scene\u2014the kind of things I\u2019ve been answering all along.<\/p>\n

When I received similar doubts or questions, even though I can\u2019t speak English at all, I felt that somehow, through the film, the dialogue was succeeding. It wasn\u2019t about regional differences; it was more about what the film itself possesses. I also enjoy watching films with subtitles in Japan on my own, so I have a strong sense that this message is probably getting across.<\/p>\n

\"Memoriz\"<\/p>\n

\u00a9Courtesy of Tribeca Festival\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If you like the interview, share your thoughts below!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Check out more of Nobuhiro’s articles.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

Here’s the trailer of the film.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n