The Land of Hope
(希望の国) (Kibo no Kuni)

New York Premiere

Director Sion Sono, whom The New York Times calls “the Japanese provocateur,” once again challenges viewers’ emotions, this time millions of miles away from the cult shockers for which he is best known. The Land of Hope is the world’s first fictional film about the 3/11-related nuclear power plant meltdown, and recounts disaster, aftermath and personal tragedy in two ordinary families. “So passionately filmed it commands emotional involvement” (Deborah Young, The Hollywood Reporter), the film offers a psalm to those who, far from falling in the throes of despair, stay resilient and cling to the hope of  better tomorrows. But a hovering sense of an even greater calamity, from which this time there may be no return, tugs at the edges of the movie, giving it the cold splendor of the best broken-backed tales.
 
Japan. 2012. 133 min. HD Cam color, in Japanese with English subtitles. Written and directed by Sion Sono. With Isao Natsuyagi, Naoko Ootani, Jun Murakami, Megumi Kagurazaka. NETPAC Award for Best Asian Film at the 37th Toronto International Film Festival.

TICKETS
$12/$9 Japan Society members

Buy tickets online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm.