\n<\/p>\n
\n\tIn the opening moments of Yukari Sakamoto\u2019s \u201cWhite Flower and Fruits,\u201d which premieres in San Sebasti\u00e1n\u2019s New Directors competition, a girl climbs a school tower clutching a strip of white fabric. We cut to Anna, played by newcomer Miro, as she arrive at a Protestant girls boarding school, as a quiet transfer student. Her mother warning her \u201cThis school is your last chance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\n\tInside a Last Supper painting hangs in an austere room of dark wood chairs and cotton clothed tables: It\u2019s a place that runs on autonomy and discipline. Formal order frames the story of three students whose lives are upended by an act of sudden loss.<\/p>\n
\n\tAnna is withdrawn and set apart by her ability to see ghosts. Her roommate, Rika (Nico Aoto), is her opposite: admired, graceful, seemingly perfect. During a ribbon dance rehearsal, the lights flicker, \u201cSorry,\u201d Anna whispers to the wall, acknowledging the presence her classmates cannot perceive. A year passes and Anna remains a loner, with Rika all the more popular but wanting to help her roommate \u201cIsn\u2019t it tiring to not get along with people,\u201d she asks. \u201cWhy not try being me?\u201d she offers.<\/p>\n
\n\tWe see Rika climb the tower again. By morning, she has jumped, leaving her ribbon tied to the railing. It is here, after 15 minutes, that the film\u2019s title \u201cWhite Flower and Fruits\u201d is revealed. Her death reverberates through the school: classmates lie together on the dance hall floor; a Christian funeral is held. Anna discovers Rika\u2019s diary, where trivial notes give way to fragments of the pressures of being the popular one.<\/p>\n
\n\tFrom here, the narrative bends toward the spectral. Reading by the river, Anna sees a glowing orb that hovers in her palms before entering her body. She returns changed, smiling, suddenly fluent in dance, though her movements sometimes jerk as if directed by another will. Shiori Rika\u2019s closest friend, played by Anji Ikehata, grows close to Anna while grappling with grief, and doubt.<\/p>\n
\n\tSakamoto frames these apparitions within Japanese traditions, where spirits are welcomed home during summer festivals as reminders of continuity. Ghosts, she suggests, are not there to terrify but to connect. Dance, particularly Butoh, becomes another language for what words cannot convey.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhite Flower and Fruits\u201d is produced by Oscar winner Teruhisa Yamamoto\u2019s Chiaroscuro Inc,\u00a0 (\u201cDrive My Car,\u201d \u201cGannibal\u201d), who first encountered the project through New Directions in Japanese Cinema (ndjc,) a feature initiative run by Visual Industry Promotion Organization (VIPO). Bitters End handles international sales. Joining the young actors are Aoba Kawai, Ryo Iwase, Takako Yamamura, Ayumi Ito, Mitsuo Yoshihara and Mugi Kadowaki. Release in Japan is set for Dec. 26, 2025, with world rights available outside the territory.<\/p>\n
\n\tVariety<\/em>\u00a0spoke with Sakamoto ahead of the world premiere:<\/p>\n \n\tThe age at which the suicide happens is pivotal for Anna and Shiori, a moment of immense sensitivity and pressure to conform. Do you see this as a story of growth as much as it is about processing grief?<\/strong> \n\tWe could see Anna as a character who always speaks her mind frankly, sometimes to the point that feels self-centered. However, through meeting and accepting Rika\u2019s spirit and growing closer to Shiori, she gradually learns to listen to others more attentively and starts to discover what she can do.<\/p>\n \n\tOn the other hand, by seeing how Anna stays true to herself, Shiori also begins to listen to her own heart, and starts to take a first step towards the life she wants. So yes, we could say it\u2019s a story of two teenagers influencing each other, and growing together.<\/p>\n \n\tYou\u2019ve said you want young people who feel pressured to conform to see this film. How do you hope different audiences \u2014 Japanese, wider Asian, European \u2014 will respond to its religious, institutional and supernatural elements?<\/strong> \n\tAlso, during those moments, we must not let our \u201cself\u201d be swept away by the existing set of thoughts or a passing trend. Instead, it is best to face, think and judge everything by oneself \u2014 just as Anna did when she faced the unknown, supernatural spirit of Rika.<\/p>\n \n\tI truly believe this concept \u2014 without connecting one-on-one, we wouldn\u2019t be able to get closer and understand each other\u2019s heart \u2014 is a very universal thing regardless of country, religion or what kind of society we live in. And because it\u2019s a timeless idea, no matter what background you are from, no matter if the time may change, I hope you can feel the urge to engage things with your own heart, not being guided by others\u2019 voices but by your own way, just like the bond between Anna and Rika.<\/p>\n \n\tFolklore often presents spirits as both unsettling and familiar. How did you draw from those traditions while still grounding the story in the very contemporary issue of teenage suicide?<\/strong> \n\tGrowing up in such an environment, I look at the spirits as something that is very close, as something that is continuous from our world. When people pass away, it\u2019s not the end of it. They are still involved with our reality in some kind of shape and form, and that\u2019s the reason why I believe that we \u2014 who are still living here \u2014 have no rights to interpret a life of the deceased ones for our own convenience, nor wound their dignity.<\/p>\n \n\tYet I often saw the news reports of teenage suicide that interpret the incident in a gossip-like manner \u2013 and I think what is forgotten in such cases is the dignity of the deceased.<\/p>\n \n\tYou studied philosophy at Sophia University and later trained in editing at Tokyo Geidai. How have those two disciplines shaped your approach to this film\u2019s story, structure and rhythm?<\/strong> \n\tLater, the main concept that I learned at Tokyo University of the Arts is that \u201cediting\u201d is basically an act of being patient. We have to wait for the right moment where the footage talks back to us.<\/p>\n \n\tThe only certain thing about filmmaking is that nothing is certain. Things rarely go as planned and it is full of unexpected stuff \u2013 and while it made me feel anxious about where this film is heading to, I tried not to force it too much just because it is different from what I imagined in the first place.<\/p>\n \n\tI always keep in mind during the editing of this film that we must shape and guide the footage like clay, creating an atmosphere where it is able to breathe most naturally \u2013 and it becomes how I created the rhythm of the film. Looking back, I feel like editing and philosophy share a deeply similar process and influence.<\/p>\n \n\tWe return to dance often in this story, all without music. Why was this thread of movement in the story important to keep returning to?<\/strong><\/p>\n \n\tIn this film, Butohis a concept that came up in my mind when I tried to depict things that words and dialogue are not enough to do. I personally like Kazuo Ohno, a legendary Japanese Butoh artist, and am struck by how he linked his presence and mind very intimately with the Butoh itself.<\/p>\n \n\tThe fact that one person is standing in one place, just being what they are, is the thing that makes everything special and irreplaceable. We are not talking about being good or bad at it, nor about doing it in order to be a part of something else. This is a process of \u2018Butoh\u2019 that happens just for one to be themselves. That is why I tried to build sequences and progression in the film that leads towards the ending where Anna, alongside with Rika, can present us with such movements.<\/p>\n \n\tThe adults in the film seem unable to truly communicate with the girls. Was this gap between generations something you wanted to draw attention to?<\/strong>Yes, it was something I intended. It\u2019s only after growing up that I realized sometimes, many adults who stand in front of children as parents or a teacher \u2013 they actually don\u2019t always know how to behave as \u201cadults.\u201d So rather than hiding it, I thought it was better to just show reality as it is \u2013 that there are times when adults and kids simply can\u2019t \u2018connect\u2019, and invite people to reflect about what we can do in those moments.<\/p>\n \n\tHowever, I later realized this phenomenon might be especially obvious in Japan\u2019s society. There seems to be a strong reluctance towards adults who try to live as individual human beings rather than as \u201cadults\u201d and children who try to live as independent human beings. For example, a teacher stopping by a convenience store could spark complaints in a society, parents are expected to hide family issues from their kids, and children who express their own opinions too freely often get criticized.<\/p>\n \n\tI feel like this unspoken undercurrent exists within myself, and perhaps even among the cast.<\/p>\n \n\tIs there anything you\u2019d like to add that I haven\u2019t asked?<\/strong> \n\tI feel that when we take a look at the same thing together, even in the slightest way, there is some connection in that moment. Whether it\u2019s a random glance up at the sky, or watching someone strolling in the park. Those are the moments when we unconsciously and quietly \u201cshare\u201d the same view of the world.<\/p>\n \n\tWhat each person feels when they see something can, of course, be completely different. That\u2019s totally fine. But for me, the moment when people are looking at the same thing is the only time when it allows us to be together, even if we hold completely different values.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In the opening moments of Yukari Sakamoto\u2019s \u201cWhite Flower and Fruits,\u201d which premieres in San Sebasti\u00e1n\u2019s New Directors competition, a girl climbs a school tower clutching a strip of white fabric. We cut to Anna, played by newcomer Miro, as she arrive at a Protestant girls boarding school, as a quiet transfer student. Her mother<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":23663,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[14429,8481,14428,14427,4901,13840,2168,14426],"class_list":{"0":"post-23662","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-bows","9":"tag-flower","10":"tag-fruits","11":"tag-sakamotos","12":"tag-san","13":"tag-sebastian","14":"tag-white","15":"tag-yukari"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23662","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=23662"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23662\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/23663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=23662"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=23662"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=23662"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Yes, I think we could also see this film as a story of growth. At the same age as the characters, we were so stubborn \u2014 insisting on being who we are, yet so sensitive and open in the sense that even the smallest things could reshape us.<\/p>\n
For me, the one and only way to build an authentic relationship is by connecting people one-on-one. It has to be simply between \u201cme-and-you\u201d rather than \u201cme against the crowd\u201d or \u201cme with someone,\u201d or else I believe we will not be able to know each other profoundly.<\/p>\n
In Japan, when summer arrives, we welcome our departed ancestors\u2019 spirit into our house and spend time together in the present world. To us, their spirit and their visit don\u2019t bring any terrifying feeling, and these also remind us how two worlds are connected to each other.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The main concept that I learned at Sophia University is that \u201cPhilosophy\u201d is about continuous self-criticism and a lifetime of questioning. So I think this idea somehow shaped the way I create the story, reminding me not to fall into the trap for quick answers, easy solutions nor short-term conclusions.<\/p>\n
There was something I hadn\u2019t planned to emphasize when we first began shooting, but only came to realize throughout the process. It\u2019s that in this story, I would be glad if you could pay some attention to the simple gesture of how characters are gazing at something.<\/p>\n