Suzume (2023)
Director: Makoto Shinkai Run Time: 122 min. Rating: NR Release Year: 2022
Starring: Eri Fukatsu, Hokuto Matsumura, Nanoka Hara, Sairi Ito, Shôta Sometani
Country: Japan
Language: Japanese
About the film:
Official Selection, 2023 Berlin Film Festival
Nominated for Best Animated Feature at the 2024 Golden Globe Awards
On her way to school, 17-year-old Suzume meets Souta, a mysterious young man in search of a door. Her curiosity leads her to a single weathered door standing upright in the midst of ruins as though it was shielded from whatever catastrophe struck. On an impulse, she turns the handle, and sets free all the calamities the portal was meant to contain.
Doors begin to open one after another all across Japan, unleashing destruction upon any who are near. Suzume and Souta set out on a journey to set things right.
About the filmmaker:
Makoto Shinkai is a Japanese animator, filmmaker, author, and manga artist. He made his directing debut with his self-produced short film Voices of a Distant Star (2002). His first feature film, The Place Promised in Our Early Days (2004), won Best Animated Film at the 59th Mainichi Film Awards. His subsequent films also won several prizes at national and international festivals. In 2016, Your Name (2016) was a commercial and critical success, winning numerous international awards and going on to become the second-highest grossing Japanese film. His follow-up Weathering With You (2019) was selected as the Japanese entry for Best International Feature Film at the 92nd Academy Awards.
His latest film Suzume (2023) premiered internationally in competition at the 2023 Berlin Film Festival, marking the first time an anime film competed in the festival since Spirited Away in 2002. Shinkai penned the screenplay for the film alongside Masayoshi Tanaka as the character designer, Kenichi Tsuchiya as the animation director and Takumi Tanji as the art director with animation production at CoMix Wave Films.
See our upcoming films