Riyoko Ikeda

In 1971, due to the world premiere of Death in Venice, Italian director Lucino Visconti proclaimed his Tadzio as the world’s most beautiful boy. A shadow that today, 50 years later, weighs Björn Andrésen’s life.

Edogawa Rampo is a writer whose latest work is censored by the government, deemed too disturbing and injurious to the public to be allowed to be published. However, after burning his drafts, his publisher shows him a newspaper with an account of events just like his forbidden story. As the film progresses, fantasy and reality intermingle in a tale that draws heavily on influences from Poe and Stoker's Dracula. The film's strongly Expressionistic direction skillfully combines a variety of media (animation, computer-generated imagery, grainy black-and-white fast film stock, color negatives) for artistic effect.

Osamu Tezuka is known as the “God of Manga.” He was the genius Japanese artist who pioneered manga and anime after WWII. He’s often compared to Walt Disney, but that’s a disservice to Tezuka —that’s how much he contributed and how influential he was.

Hanayagi Genshu, who spent a winter in Tochihara Women's Prison due to an injury to the Hanayagi style Iemoto, is allowed to be paroleed. In Asakusa, she reunited with her prison companion, Sayoko Nakano. Genshu, Sayoko, and Setsuko Kanno gather at a yakitori restaurant to reminisce about their prison days. This is the second drama of her prison record that was broadcast in 1984 and caused a sensation.