Press release

Special show of a japanese film held at Karimaabad, hunza

Islamabad: 30th September 2015

The Embassy of Japan in Pakistan in collaboration with the district administration Hunza screened an English sub-titled Japanese film “Sougen no Isu (A Chair on the Plains)” at the Hunza Serena Hotel, Karimabad, on 30th September 2015. The Embassy of Japan with the support of the Japan Foundation has been holding Japanese film shows in Pakistan since many decades to provide an opportunity for the people of Pakistan to learn various aspects of Japanese tradition, culture, lifestyle and society.

“Sougen no Isu”, based on a novel written by a prize- winning Japanese writer Teru Miyamoto, is the first ever Japanese film shot in Hunza valley and Skardu in August 2012. The film is directed by Izuru Narushima, whose most recent film “Rebirth” won ten awards in Japan Academy Awards.

Mr. Masahiko Nishimura, a prominent Japanese actor in the film, had arrived all the way from Japan to attend the premiere show of the film as a special guest which was held in February 2013 at the National Art Gallery in Islamabad.

 The film features a middle-aged Japanese man’s quest for hope after the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake through his journey to Hunza with his close friends of the same generation; his client but close friend, a divorced woman and a boy who is mentally wounded after being abused by his mother. The film aims to encourage people to go forward in their own way, not giving up in today’s Japan. (End)