Country: Japan, Taiwan
Year: 2025
Duration: 114'
In the Meiji Period, in the 19th century Japan, transitioning towards modernization, a Man, a former hunter-gatherer who loses his connection to the gods of nature and to his spirituality in the process of becoming a farmer and becoming Japanese during the nation’s period of westernization in the Meiji Period. Transitioning from a life in the mountains to a life in the farm, one day he comes across a Black Ox. He somehow succeeds in leading the reluctant animal back to his home, and begins living with it. The ox becomes his companion in a life of seasons in the attempt to reconnect with nature. Inspired by the Ten Ox-Herding Pictures, a series of short poems and illustrations from Zen Buddhism tradition that depict the path to enlightenment and spiritual awakening.
Biography
film director
Tsuta Tetsuichiro
(Tokushima Prefecture, Japan, 1984), the grandson of Tsuta Fumiya, a nationally-renowned coach of the Ikeda High School baseball team and local legend of Tokushima, he moved to Tokyo and studied film at Tokyo Institute of Technology. He is director, producer, writer, and editor. In 2013, he debuted with his first feature, Tale of Iya, which he shot on 35mm color film in the Iya region of Tokushima Prefecture. The film premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival and has won awards at festivals around the world. In 2020, BFI listed Tale of Iya as the Best Japanese Film of 2013 in their list, “The Best Japanese Film Every Year—from 1925 to Now.”
FILMOGRAFIA
Tale of Iya (2013), Forestry (cm, 2016), Song of Rain (mm, 2022), Kuro no Ushi (Black Ox, 2025).
Cast
& Credits
DIRECTOR, EDITING: Tsuta Tetsuichiro. SCREENPLAY: Tsuta Tetsuichiro, Kubodera Koichi, Ueda Masayuki, Kumano Keita. CINEMATOGRAPHY: Aoki Yutaka. PRODUCTION DESIGN: Heya Kyoko. COSTUME DESIGN: Otsuka Mitsuru. MUSIC: Sakamoto Ryuichi. SOUND: Chou Cheng, Matsuno Izumi, Iwama Tsubasa, Omachi Hibiki. CAST: Lee Kang-sheng, Fukuyo (Ox), Tanaka Min, Sumori Ryubun, Kei Takei, Blanca Adika, Yamaguchi Kouji, Kisimoto Manabu, Everett Kennedy Brown, Sandy Kai, Kanroku, Mokugusha, Shimizu Rie, Ninomiya Ryutaro, Imamura Yukiyo. PRODUCTION: Tsuta Tetsuichiro, Ichiyama Shozo, Eric Nyari, Huang Yin-Yu, Alex C. Lo. for Niko Niko Film, Moolin Films, Cinema Inutile, Cineric Creative, Fourier Films. CO-PRODUCTION: Jennifer Jao.
CONTACT: Asian Shadows maria@chineseshadows.com
