The famous Japanese actress will be presenting Plan 75, in which she stars, in Udine, together with two cult titles: the first Tora-san film and Where Spring Comes Late.
Plan 75, Mention Spéciale at Cannes, will be released in Italian cinemas on 11 May under the Tucker Film banner.
Her filmography is a mile long. Her discography numbers hit after hit. Miyazaki, a great admirer, secretly modelled Sophie Hatter, the main character of Howl's Moving Castle, on her… After Takeshi Kitano, 2022's winner, this year's Far East Film Festival Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement will go to Baisho Chieko! The famous Japanese actress and singer will be bringing to FEFF 25 her latest film, Hayakawa Chie's Plan 75, and two films that she has personally selected for the Udine audiences: the very first Tora-san film and Where Spring Comes late.
“When I learned that I'd been invited to the Far East Film Festival in Udine and that I would be receiving an award,” says Baisho Chieko, “I said to myself, 'Really? For Plan 75?'. But instead… What a surprise! The Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement celebrates all the work I've done since I entered the world of cinema! I'm really happy that my work as an actress is also appreciated abroad: films are a wonderful thing… I want to sincerely thank all the FEFF staff and, of course, I promise that I'll continue to act with passion and dedication…”
Born in 1941, Baisho Chieko is very famous for having played the role of Sakura in dozens of Tora-san films between 1969 and 1995: beloved cult movies that were the result of a long-lasting artistic partnership with director Yamada Yoji. In 1980 she was awarded Best Actress at the Hōchi Film Awards for Haruka naru yama no yobigoe (A Distant Cry of Spring), also directed by Yamada Yoji, and as a very busy voice actress she has often lent her talents to the world of animation, in films like Gundam, Kimba The White Lion and, as we've already mentioned, Howl's Moving Castle.
Plan 75, presented at the 75th Cannes Film Festival (Caméra d'Or Mention Spéciale) and at the 40th Turin Film Festival, is the powerful debut film of Japanese director Hayakawa Chie and will be released in Italian cinemas on 11 May with distribution by Tucker Film. A project that, as some of you may remember, the director discussed at the industry sessions of Focus Asia of the 2019 FEFF (as well as presenting the collective film Ten Years Japan).
Japan, tomorrow. A government program, Plan 75, aims to stem what has now become a national emergency: the ageing of the population. On the one hand are the public costs of welfare. On the other, the possibility for the elderly to resort to state euthanasia in exchange for logistical and financial support. Living or dying is no longer an ethical dilemma: it's a matter of bureaucracy. All you need to be is 75 years old…
Following Michi, an old woman who is just trying to get by, Hiromu, a programme salesman, and Maria, a Filipino nurse, Hayakawa Chie gracefully and naturally orchestrates a rigorous social drama where dystopia, realism, moral inquiry and civil reflection converge. Plan 75 sees the eternal talent of Baisho Chieko sparkle in the role of Michi: symbol of an old Japan trying to resist the shocks of time and of modernity.