Yanagawa by Zhang Lu will open the Osaka Asian Film Festival (Japan) which will take place in cinemas from March 10 – 20, 2022; and online from March 3-21, 2022.

“Yanagawa” (漫长的告白), the latest film by ZHANG Lu (张律), which he shot on location in China and Japan, is a cross-border drama addressing issues of East Asian identity, shared history, and mortality, as explored through a love story that blurs memory with the present.

We are first introduced to two brothers with very different personalities but a shared love interest. Introspective younger brother LI Dong (ZHANG Luyi (张鲁一)) has received terrible news: stage four cancer. Without telling his fiery older brother LI Chun (XIN Baiqing (辛柏青)), LI Dong suggests the two leave Beijing and take a trip to Yanagawa, the “Venice of Japan.” His reason for going there is LIU Chuan (NI Ni (倪妮)), the woman the two brothers both loved 20 years previously before she disappeared. They never really stopped loving her and so the beautiful locale of Yanagawa becomes the landscape that draws out their shared memories, loneliness, and vague hopes for a future that is never promised. (OAFF 2022)

Screening Dates:
March 10th, 2022 | Thursday | Umeda Burg 7: Theatre 6 | 19:00 pm
March 15th, 2022 | Tuesday | Cine Libre Umeda 4 | 11:45 am

Trailer:

For more information about the festival please go to: https://www.oaff.jp