How can people live happily with others? I have been pursuing this theme through filmmaking with my team members. This film is a story about the energy of individuals resisting unreasonable situations and their formation of new communities. I have made stories against the backdrop of earthquakes, economic hardship, deafness and pandemics. In this filmI portray characters with PMS and panic disorder. Inevitably, there are many irrational difficulties in this world that one person can never manage alone. However, the wonderful actors in this film prove with great power that it is possible to overcome these difficulties – not alone, but with others. My job is to capture and affirm the beauty and freedom of all of them. As a filmmaker and a member of the international community, I strongly oppose the genocide and ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the Israeli forces, including the killing of even young children, and call on the governments of Japan, Germany and other countries to work for an immediate ceasefire and lasting peace in Gaza. I also express my personal affection and respect for the Berlinale teams, who have shown their love for the films and their diligent preparation for the festival, which is still going strong despite the long-term crisis in the film industry. I hope that the films which have chosen to boycott will eventually be successfully presented and that all audiences and film professionals from all countries will be guaranteed the right to participate in the festival safely and freely.
Sho Miyake
