okaasan (mom) 　(2018)

Short Film Written & Directed by Kana Hatakeyama

Logline

In rural Japan, a mother and daughter attempt to reconnect after dealing with the loss of a loved one the previous year.

Featured on

NoBudge
Directors Notes
Agnès Films
Future of Film is Female

Film Festivals

Dallas International Film Festival - WINNER OF SPECIAL JURY AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
New Orleans Film Festival - WINNER OF AUDIENCE AWARD FOR BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
Nitehawk Shorts Festival - WINNER OF AUDIENCE AWARD & FIRST TIME FILMMAKER AWARD
Brooklyn Film Festival
Nantucket Film Festival
Bushwick Film Festival
San Diego Asian Film Festival 
CAAMFest37
EuroAsia Shorts, a festival hosted by various embassies and cultural centers in DC
NY Indie Theatre Film Festival
Pittsburgh Independent Film Festival

Reviews

"This is director Kana Hatakeyama's love letter to her mother. It is a wonderful little film...I can't recommend the film enough...And let's put Kana Hatakeyama on our ‘people to watch out for list’ because if she can make a short this stunning what is going to happen when she is turned loose on a feature?" - Unseen Films

"...a simple and subtle film, but its emotions are very real and deeply felt...this is a quietly beautiful film that shuns cheap sentimentality and completely earns its moving payoff through hard work." - J.B. Spins

"The underlying emotions are brought out until there is a climax in a one-two punch of powerful scenes at the end which should move audiences and caps a very well shot and immersive short. Camerawork is excellent so we truly enjoy the beautiful Japanese landscape but the most beautiful thing of all is the honesty that mother and daughter show in the bittersweet ending." - V Cinema Show