Kyoka Tsukamoto

2001 / experimental / 16mm. & S8mm. / 10min. / Canada

Tsukamoto's film offers the spectator a sophisticated, psychological adventure through the dreams and mirrors of Sara, as she deals with her both happy and feared ghosts. - Dr. Ger Zielinski

As its title indicates, this first feature by Kyoka Tsukamoto is a love letter and a bid for reconciliation. It is the story of a woman who left Japan for Montreal, while her sister stayed behind. Geographical distance isn’t the main concern here, though: it is, instead, the unbridgeable chasm separating two visions of the women’s homeland. One of the women stayed rooted in a stifling patriarchal society; the other, the filmmaker, rejected it. She alternates brilliantly, and tragically, between her personal and family story and that of her country, questioning the foundations of a society that tolerates and even encourages psychological and physical abuse. A deeply intimate selfportrait, with many flights of poetry and lyricism that become sources of healing. (BD)

Separated for several years by time and culture, two sisters are hoping to reunite. For one of them, a trip to Japan turns into a journey of self-discovery thanks, in part, to a piano. This short experimental film has been developed into the feature-length essay documentary "My Dearest Sister". (HD & S8mm)

2001 / experimental / 16mm. & S8mm. / 10min. / Canada

Tsukamoto's film offers the spectator a sophisticated, psychological adventure through the dreams and mirrors of Sara, as she deals with her both happy and feared ghosts. - Dr. Ger Zielinski

As its title indicates, this first feature by Kyoka Tsukamoto is a love letter and a bid for reconciliation. It is the story of a woman who left Japan for Montreal, while her sister stayed behind. Geographical distance isn’t the main concern here, though: it is, instead, the unbridgeable chasm separating two visions of the women’s homeland. One of the women stayed rooted in a stifling patriarchal society; the other, the filmmaker, rejected it. She alternates brilliantly, and tragically, between her personal and family story and that of her country, questioning the foundations of a society that tolerates and even encourages psychological and physical abuse. A deeply intimate selfportrait, with many flights of poetry and lyricism that become sources of healing. (BD)

As its title indicates, this first feature by Kyoka Tsukamoto is a love letter and a bid for reconciliation. It is the story of a woman who left Japan for Montreal, while her sister stayed behind. Geographical distance isn’t the main concern here, though: it is, instead, the unbridgeable chasm separating two visions of the women’s homeland. One of the women stayed rooted in a stifling patriarchal society; the other, the filmmaker, rejected it. She alternates brilliantly, and tragically, between her personal and family story and that of her country, questioning the foundations of a society that tolerates and even encourages psychological and physical abuse. A deeply intimate selfportrait, with many flights of poetry and lyricism that become sources of healing. (BD)

Separated for several years by time and culture, two sisters are hoping to reunite. For one of them, a trip to Japan turns into a journey of self-discovery thanks, in part, to a piano. This short experimental film has been developed into the feature-length essay documentary "My Dearest Sister". (HD & S8mm)

Separated for several years by time and culture, two sisters are hoping to reunite. For one of them, a trip to Japan turns into a journey of self-discovery thanks, in part, to a piano. This short experimental film has been developed into the feature-length essay documentary "My Dearest Sister". (HD & S8mm)