SHOTA KAMITANI



『Message』



2024



Message



Directed by Shota Kamitani



Story



After Nao's mother left when she was young, her father was her only family. Even after he remarried and Nao struggled to get along with her new family, her father always stood by her side. But then, her father suddenly passed away. Unable to accept the harsh reality of his death, Nao also struggled to connect with her new stepfamily. One day, she received mysterious postcards from her father, a photographer. These postcards depicted places filled with memories of father and daughter. As Nao visited these places, she confronted her feelings about her father's remarriage and her new family, gradually coming to terms with his death.



Character



Nao Kawashima (18)

A high school student and Dasuke’s daughter. Since childhood, she has struggled to express her emotions but has always been able to share her true feelings with her free-spirited and kind father. She has little memory of her biological mother, who left when she was very young, and thus she considers her father to be her only family. After her father's death, she expresses her loneliness and grief as anger towards her stepmother and stepbrother, who hid her father's illness from her.

.


Yumiko Kawashima (47)

Daisuke’s second wife and Nao's stepmother. She had Shintaro with her previous husband, who passed away from illness eight years later. She met Daisuke while working part-time at a photo studio to live. Wanting Nao to like her, she ends up being overly permissive. However, it ironically worsens their relationship.



Shintaro Kawashima (17)

Yumiko's son from her previous marriage and a high school student. After the death of his biological father during his elementary school years, he longed to get closer to his new family, Daiksuke and Nao. He is extremely attached to Yumiko, having been with her through difficult times, which is one reason for Nao's distrust towards him.


Daisuke Kawashima (49)

A photographer and Nao's father. During his struggling years, he married his ex-wife and had Nao with her. However, thirteen years later, his excessively free-spirited nature caused his ex-wife to leave, resulting in their divorce. His relationship with Nao is more like that of friends, which they both find comfortable. Nao often consults him about many things, but he tends to make decisions without consulting Nao. This is especially true regarding his remarriage, for which Nao harbors resentment towards him. Additionally, in this work, it is revealed that Daisuke hid his illness from Nao, which becomes one of the reasons for Nao's distrust towards Yumiko and Shintaro.


Yuri (26)

A model for Daisuke’s photography. Despite Daisuke’s often intuitive directions, she strives to understand his intentions. She has been cast by Daiki several times before, but this film marks her first visit to his studio for an indoor shoot.



Background



This project began two months before I, the director, was set to embark on a year-long study abroad program and was scheduled to be completed one month after my departure. As a result, I positioned this project as a work that signaled my journey and approached its creation with this in mind.


Therefore, the first keyword that emerged was "departure." Departure signifies both a time for "new encounters" and a period of "farewells." As I pondered the concept of "farewell," I recalled something I had learned in a psychology class. It was that humans go through several stages of grief before accepting a loss. There were about twelve stages, but the three that stood out to me were "denial of reality," "unjust feelings and anger," and "fantasy formation." Remembering this, I decided to depict the protagonist going through this process.



Additionally, when portraying death, I believed it was essential to incorporate a key element in the story. As a filmmaker, my works will remain even after my death. Although it is often said that the dead cannot speak, such works will surely convey my messages to future generations. (At least, I hope they will.) This line of thought led to the idea of "a message from the deceased," which became the title of this film.


In crafting the screenplay, I incorporated elements that were well-received in my previous work, such as the use of detailed props and decorations, and color and sound editing to create the atmosphere for each scene. Additionally, I used camera work that focuses more on the expressions of the actors and the spatial relationships between characters. With these components, the film "Message" was completed.



Cast & Crew



Nao Kawashima ・・・Kurumi Aonuma

Yumiko Kawashima ・・・Sayuri Tanaka

Shintaro Kawashima ・・・Takuya Arikawa

Daisuke Kawashima ・・・Hidenari Honda

Yuri ・・・Hiromi Kakehashi

Attendant 1 ・・・Shintaro Kawasaki

Attendant 2 ・・・Dai Kuzuhara

Attendant 3 ・・・Shintaro Yoshida


Cinematographer ・・・Yuma-Ayalguu Muraki

Assistant Directors・・・Suzuka Sakaino​

Assistant Directors・・・Shintaro Yoshida
Assistant Directors・・・Jinei Sato

Lighting Designers・・・Itaru Nomoto

Lighting Designers・・・Dai Kuzuhara

Sound Designers・・・ Ittoku Tanaka

Sound Designers・・・Kota Saito


Special thanks to ・・・ Yuki Tanaka

Subtitle Supervisor ・・・Ella O’Neill

Subtitle Supervisor ・・・Kiera Stankewich


Director/Editor/Screenplay・・・Shota Kamitani



Awards



Awarded or selected

at over 8 film festivals in over 7 countries.

​

Golden Lion International Film Festival 2024

Best international Short Film - Winner


Post-Cinema Film Festival 2024

Best Short Film - Honorable Mention


Intuition Earth Film Festival 2024

Long Shorts under 25 Minutes - Selected


Kinosuite International 2024

Best International Student Short Film - Selected


New York Istanbul Short Film Festival 2024

Best Short Film - Selected


Top Indie Film Awards 2024

Best Student Film - Selected​


etc.



Shota Kamitani



Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Sed malesuada faucibus ex nec ultricies. Donec mattis egestas nisi non pretium. Suspendisse nec eros ut erat facilisis maximus. In congue et leo in varius. Vestibulum sit amet felis ornare, commodo orci ut, feugiat lorem.