Event at Cinematheque & Miami Beach Film Society

Description

Best Foreign Film Oscar® WINNER 2009! An MBC Premiere HD DIGITAL Presentation! In collaboration with Emerging Pictures Miami Theatrical Premiere! Departures (Directed by Yojiro Takita/Japan/2009) With Masahiro Motoki, Riyoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamakazi Academy Award® winner for Best Foreign Language Film, Departures is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan's cultural heritage. Departures follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra who is suddenly left without a job. He answers a classified ad entitled ?Departures? thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living. WINNER: Academy Award 2009 Best Foreign Language Film Ten Japan Academy Prizes including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor Grand Prix de Ameriques Montreal World Film Festival "ENORMOUSLY AFFECTING, EVEN HAUNTING film with a superb lead performance by Masahiro Motoki." -Bilge Ebiri, New York Magazine "I regard Departures as the most moving film I have ever seen commemorating the bonds between the living and the dead."- Andrew Sarris, New York Observer