Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman, an animated feature film based on the novel by Haruki Murakami, will be released in Japan in early summer 2024.
This will be the first time a Haruki Murakami work will be made into an animated film. The story is an adaptation of six of Murakami’s short stories: “Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,” “Birthday Girl,” “Katchiburi,” “The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday’s Women” and “UFO in Kushiro,” and “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.”
The film is set in Tokyo immediately after the Great East Japan Earthquake and concerns Komura, who goes to Hokkaido to deliver a small box to a woman; his wife, Kyoko, who disappears after leaving a letter behind; and Komura’s colleague, Katagiri, who finds a two-meter tall “frog-kun” waiting for him when he returns home.
Directed, written and scored by musician/animation artist Pierre Földes. This is his first feature-length animated film, and was produced using a technique based on live-action photography, which he calls “live animation.
A message from the director was released on the occasion of the film’s Japanese premiere. The director will be a guest speaker at the international symposium ” Japanese Literature Connecting to the World ~after murakami~” on October 28 (Sat) and at the screening of his film at the ” 10th New Chitose Airport International Animation Film Festival ” on November 5 (Sun).
Comments from the director Pierre Földes
I am very happy to hear that “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” will be released in Japan. This film is the product of pure inspiration and ambition – inspiration from the work of one of the greatest and most inspiring artists of all time, and ambition to innovate not only technique but also storytelling in animation. and a product of his ambition to innovate not only the technique but also the storytelling in animation. Intertwining various stories and characters, the film explores how the great events of the 2011 earthquake and tsunami awakened these characters to attempt to live their own lives. I hope that the audience will feel the same great stimulation that I felt when I read Haruki Murakami’s novels, and that I felt while making this film. For me, this film is, to put it mildly, the most innovative feature animation made in recent years. I am excited that it will be released in a country known for producing excellent animation. I am even more excited because I wrote the script for this film while eating lunch on a bullet train.
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Director/Screenplay by Pierre Fordes, Based on the book by Haruki Murakami (“Super-Frog Saves Tokyo,” “Birthday Girl,” “Katchiburi,” “The Wind-Up Bird and Tuesday’s Women” and “UFO in Kushiro,” and “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman.”)
Voice Cast: Ryan Bommarito, Shoshana Bilder, Marcelo Arroyo, Scott Humphrey, Arthur Holden, Pierre Fordes
2022/109 min / France, Luxembourg, Canada, Netherlands co-production
Original title: “Saules Aveugles, Femme Endormie” / English title: “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman
Distributors: Euro Space, Interfilm, New Dire
Official website: http://www.eurospace.co.jp/BWSW
Official SNS: X: @eurospace_d Instagram: @eurospace_distribution
