Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

by Pierre Földes

Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

Synopsis

Tokyo, a few days after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Kyoko suddenly leaves her husband after spending five days in a row glued to unfolding earthquake footage on TV. Her helpless husband Komura takes a week’s leave from work and heads north to deliver a box and its unknown contents to two young women. His colleague Katagiri, a simple debt collector by profession and an awkward loner in life, returns home one evening to find a two-metre-tall frog asking for his help to save Tokyo from an imminent earthquake. Through memories, dreams and fantasies, Kyoko, Komura and Katagiri, influenced by their visions of earthquakes – which are manifested as evil willow trees, giant earthworms, secret vows, mysterious boxes and a dark, endless corridor –, attempt to rediscover their true selves.

Director

A consummate artist, Pierre Földes is a director, composer and painter. Born in the United States to a Hungarian father and British mother, Pierre Földes is the son of a pioneer of computer animation, Peter Földes, nominated for an Oscar and a César winner. Pierre grew up in Paris where he studied piano and composition. He began his career in New York composing music for film and advertising before moving to Europe. Fascinated by drawing and animation, he has written and directed several short films by adapting a production pipeline to his idea of film. He has thus developed his own unique and personal style and technique.

FILMOGRAPHY

2012 Petites scènes d’été
2010 Coffee and Bananas
2010 On the subectivity of the notion of existence in relation to the authenticity of femal climax
2009 Mikrodramas
1993 Les Allemands du Pont-Neuf
 

Cast

Ryan Bommarito - Komura
Shoshana Wilder - Kyoko
Marcelo Arroyo - Katagiri
Scott Humphrey - Sasaki
Arthur Holden - Mr Suzuki
Pierre Földes - Frog

Crew

Director Pierre Földes
Scriptwriter Pierre Földes
Based on the short stories of Haruki Murakami
Line producer Tanguy Olivier
Production designer Pierre Földes
Artistic Direction Julien De Man
Animation Supervisor Julien Maret
Compositing Supervisor Mathieu Tremblay
Editor Kara Blake
Sound Design Matthew Földes
Mixing Michel Schillings
Original Music Pierre Földes

Technical Data

Original title: Saules Aveugles, Femme Endormie
International title: Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Length: 110 min
Format: DCP / 2K / 1.85:1 / Color / 5.1
Original language: French, English
Countries of production: France, Canada, Netherlands, Luxembourg
Production companies: Cinéma Defacto, Miyu Productions
Co-production companies: Studio MA, Micro_scope, An Original Pictures, Doghouse Films

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