Greetings from Fukushima

Young German woman Marie (Rosalie Thomass) escapes to Fukushima to change her life. Working with the organization Clowns4Help, she hopes to bring joy to 2011 nuclear disaster survivors, some still living in emergency shelters. Marie soon realizes she‘s absolutely unsuited to the task of making tragedy less wearisome. But instead of running away, Marie decides to stay with cantankerous old Satomi (Kaori Momoi), the last geisha of Fukushima, who of her own accord has decided to retreat back to her ruined house in the formerly radioactive Exclusion Zone. Two women who couldn‘t be more different, but who – each in her own way – are trapped in the past and must learn to liberate themselves from guilt and the burden of memory.

With GREETINGS FROM FUKUSHIMA Doris Dörrie was drawn again to Japan, a country she has been repeatedly travelling to since the beginning of her film career. Her attachment to Japan and the Japanese mentality had already been apparent in her films and even sometimes been central to them, as in Erleuchtung garantiert (Enlightenment Guaranteed, 2000) with Uwe Ochsenknecht and Gustav Peter Wöhler in the leading roles, or in the documentary How To Cook Your Life (2007) about Zen teacher Edward Espe Brown. And not least in the popular success of her 2008 film Cherry Blossoms, featuring Elmar Wepper and Hannelore Elsner in the leading roles, a film which in a certain manner can be seen as Doris Dörrie’s paen to Japan and Japanese cinema. The first steps in Hanover-born Dörrie’s career included study-visits to California and New York before she commenced studies at the University of Television and Film Munich in 1975 whilst concurrently writing film reviews for the Süddeutsche Zeitung. After completing her studies, Dörrie initially worked as a freelance for various television broadcasters and made documentary films. Her first great film success was the relationship-drama Mitten ins Herz (Straight Through The Heart, 1983). The film premiered at the Venice Film Festival and in early 1984 won the audience prize at the Max Ophüls Film Festival as well as taking an advancement award and being part of the programme of the Tokyo International Film Festival. Doris Dörrie won fame in 1985 with the sensational success of Männer… (Men…), for which she was awarded numerous prizes. The film also inaugurated the success of the German relationship comedy, something that flourishes to this day. It was followed by films such as tragicomedy Paradies (Paradise, 1986), the international film adaptation of Alberto Moravia’s bestseller of the same title, Ich und er (Me And Him, 1988), for which she managed to recruit legendary producer Bernd Eichinger, and the adaptation of the Jakob Arjouni detective novel Happy Birthday, Türke! (1992). Since 1987, Doris Dörrie has been publishing novellas and short stories which she increasingly peoples with her film characters. She brings characters from her short story collection Für immer und ewig (Forever and Ever) onto the silver screen in Keiner liebt mich (Nobody Loves Me, 1995) and the film characters from Bin ich schön? (Am I Beautiful?, 1998) can also be rediscovered in her stories. Doris Dörrie has been lecturing since 1997 as professor for applied dramaturgy and story development at the University of Television and Film Munich. Between 2001 and 2006, Dörrie staged several operas such as the Berlin State Opera’s production of Così fan tutte (2001) with Daniel Barenboim, as well as working with Kent Nagano on Turandot (2003) and Mozart‘s La finta giardiniera (2006) for the Salzburg Festival. At the same time she created her cinema films Erleuchtung Garantiert (Enlightenment Guaranteed), the relationship comedy Nackt (Naked, 2002), featuring Heike Makatsch, Nina Hoss, Jürgen Vogel and Benno Fürmann) as well as Der Fischer und seine Frau (The Fishermen And His Wife, 2005) with Alexandra Maria Lara and Christian Ulmen in the leading roles. Director, screenwriter, professor, opera director and still a writer. Besides the volumes of stories mentioned above, Doris Dörrie has been writing a series of successful children‘s books since 1998. In 2003 she won the German Book Prize for Das blaue Kleid (The Blue Dress). She brought her novel Alles inklusive (The Whole Shebang), to the silver screen in 2014 featuring Hannelore Elsner, Axel Prahl and Nadja Uhl in the leading roles. Most recently her documentary Dieses schöne Scheissleben (This Lovely Shitty Life, 2014), about the few female mariachis of Mexico, has been playing in cinemas. Doris Dörrie is an exceptional director and writer who perpetually fascinates and surprises her public. Her stories tell of the ups and downs of life, of the vagaries of love and of growing older and old whilst always maintaining an authentic view of reality and expressing enormous sympathy. Doris Dörrie is a member of the German PEN Centre and lives in Munich.

FILMOGRAPHY
2016 GREETINGS FROM FUKUSHIMA
2014 THE WHOLE SHEBANG
THIS LOVELY SHITTY LIFE (DOKUMENTARY)
2012 BLISS
2008 CHERRY BLOSSOM - HANAMI
2007 HOW TO COOK YOUR LIFE (DOCUMENTARY)
2002 NAKED
2000 ENLIGHTENMENT GUARANTEED
AM I BEAUTIFUL?
1995 NOBODY LOVES ME
1992 HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TÜRKE!
1989 MONEY
1988 ME AND HIM
1986 PARADISE
1985 MEN...