Still the Water (film)

Still the Water (Japan, 2014) 
Direction: Naomi Kawase 
Distributor: Cinéart 

Death and grief, it sounds so heavy, but with Naomi Kawase (Shara, An) it really never is. She speaks of grief often in her films, mainly because of the simple reason that everybody dies and everybody experiences the death of others. Here, in Still the Water, it's the sixteen-year-old Kyoko who has to say goodbye to her mother, who is terminally ill. The film mainly takes place on the small Japanese island Amami; it's beautiful there, nature rages and flaunts itself in all its beauty. Kawase lets the film wander - there's no catharsis, there never is -, but with a steady hand she knows how to guide you through life on that silver screen. In her hands, something that could have easily been tedious and esoteric, turns into a soothing, pleasant, maybe even cleansing experience.  

The film will be briefly introduced by Gerlinda Heywegen, Poetry International film programmer.

Gerlinda Heywegen is a film scholar and speaks about films for film exhibitors and festivals in the Netherlands and writes about it for Elders literary magazine, the website of Netherlands Society of Cinematographers and Schokkend Nieuws. Among other things, she published her book The Other Director, about directors of photography, and co-wrote Passie voor cinema. She is also a film programmer for various festivals such as Film by the Sea, International Film Festival Assen and Poetry International. 

Her own organization is called Koning Film, which offers film specials and offers a collection of talented speakers on film.