BABIN

SYNOPSIS

Nitobe and Sakamoto are friends from childhood who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. Nor do any of the lives out of it for that matter. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. With crustaceans as leitmotif, the themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’lives.

SYNOPSIS

Nitobe and Sakamoto are friends from childhood who now work at the front desk of a capsule hotel. Nitobe has a particular fondness for philosophy and crustaceans. Sakamoto, meanwhile, is fixated on suicide. The capsule hotel draws a variety of guests, including a Finnish mother who has lost her child, a fugitive woman, and a researcher studying Daphnia. None of their lives ever intersect. Nor do any of the lives out of it for that matter. They exist, but never cross, like cells in a capsule hotel. With crustaceans as leitmotif, the themes of life and death are explored through a fragmentary view of the characters’lives.

Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.

Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.

Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.

Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.

Isamu Hirabayashi was born in 1972 in Shimada City, Shizuoka Prefecture. He was born into a family of precious metal craftsmen of three generations as the second of three sons.

BABIN

2008 / 30 min

SYNOPSIS

In the forest, a man is buried up to his waist and repeats an interminable and incomprehensible monologue. His seclusion is about to be disturbed by the arrival of a little boy…

Cast

Keisuke Horibe
Naoto Nojima
Satoshi Takahashi

STAFF

Director : Isamu Hirabayashi
Producer : Yoshinari Natsumeda
Producer : Takao Odamiya
Cinematographer : Miki Ogawa
Gaffer : Yasuhiro Nomura
Recording : Takashi Ito
Production Design : Noriko Kato
Music : Takashi Watanabe
Make : Yoshito Shiraishi
Stylist : Yuina Matsunaga
Costume Design : HIkaru Komatsu
Special Effects : Yuji Tanaka
Art : Kiyoshi Kagiyama
Assistant Producere : Takuya Fukui
Production Manager : Yu Yamazaki
Assistant Director : Yujiro Mukai
Assistant Director : Masakazu KIkuchi
Assistant Director : Shigeto Okada
Assistant Director : Mina Yonezawa
Camera Assistant : Yusuke Suga
Camera Assistant : Ryo Ishida
Camera Assistant : Fumiko Mishiro
Light Assistant : Hidehiko Ehara
Light Assistant : Hidenori Ehara
Light Assistant : Yoshitaka Igarashi
Recording Assistant : Shinichi Oinuma
Assistant Designer : Hirokazu Abe
Sound Mixer : Takeshi Kino
Sound Effects : Naoki Takahashi
Still : Kaname Kondo
Driver : Takumi Yanagawa
Sound Recording : Yusuke Toyoura
Piano : Michiko Furumoto
Vocal : Midori Kurata
Shamisen : Katsujuro Kineya
Guiter, Bass & Vocal : Hideo Kusumi
Bass Clarinet : Terumichi Aoyama
Drums : Dai Hamamoto
Recording Studio : Kobe Institute of Computing-College of Computing
Post Production : Studio Inter Field
Post Production : TOEI Labo Tech
Production Company : Paradice Cafe inc.
Production Company : Gauguins International inc.
ndjc 2007
New Directors in Japanese Cinema 2007
commissioned by Agency for Cultural Affairs
Supervisor : Shiro Sasaki
VIPO

Film Festival

Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland)
Award / Film and Video Subtitling Prize
Award / Prize Cinema e Giovent

Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival (France)
Image Forum Festival 2008 (Japan)
Off Courts Trouville (France)
Vancouver International Film Festival (Canada)
London Film Festival (U.K.)
Cork Film Festival (Ireland)
Clark Theater 2008 (Japan)