Issue:
October 2024
Join the Film Committee
Join us on Tuesday, October 15 at 6 pm for a special screening of Yu Irie’s early-summer hit, A Girl Named Ann, as part of our annual collaborative event with the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF). An intensely dramatic story based on a real-life character, the film reveals a side of Japan that remains all too invisible, and features a tour-de-force performance from in-demand actress Yuumi Kawai, who has attracted global attention after star turns in festival favorites Plan 75 (2021) and Desert of Namibia (2024). A Girl Named Ann follows a young woman (Kawaii) on the margins who has struggled since her brutal childhood to find a place for herself. Forced into prostitution in her mid-teens, she has also developed a methamphetamine addiction, and is eventually arrested. During interrogation, she meets an unusual detective, Tatara (Jiro Sato), who runs an NPO offering support and guidance for drug users. Tatara takes Ann under his wing, and with the help of a magazine reporter who’s doing an article on him, Kirino (Goro Inagaki), she is soon working, going to night school and living independently for the first time in her life. But when Covid becomes widespread, Ann finds herself isolated and struggling, facing a mounting crisis. Irie has been named TIFF’s Nippon Cinema Now Director in Focus this year, and five of his works will be showcased during the festival. He will be on hand for the Q&A session. (A Girl Named Ann, Japan, 2024, 114 minutes, in Japanese with English subtitles).
Karen Severns is chair of the FCCJ Film Committee
