North American Premiere
O Mipo’s stirring, elliptical family drama traces 28 years in the life of Igarashi Dai (Yoshizawa Ryo), a “Child of Deaf Adults” from rural Japan. Blaming his mother (Oshidari Akiko) for his social differences, he leaves his family for Tokyo as a young man, eventually landing a job as a magazine writer. The new friends he makes through a sign language group open his eyes to a diversity of deaf experiences, helping him see his mother in a poignant new light.
Based on a true story, this latest film by O Mipo (director of Japan’s 2015 Oscar submission for Best Foreign-Language Film, The Light Shines Only There) features a beautiful performance from Deaf actors Oshidari Akiko and Imai Akito as Dai’s parents, as well as impressive range from lead actor Yoshizawa Ryo (Kingdom). With handheld camerawork and an evocative contrast between sound and silence, the film makes powerful use of flashbacks that tug at the heartstrings, unfolding a nuanced and emotional depiction of Dai’s experience of Living in Two Worlds.
Supported by
Media Partner
Ryo Yoshizawa, Akiko Oshidari, Akito Imai, Yusuke Santamaria
Japan
2024
In Japanese with English subtitles
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits & Director
Producer
Hideyuki Yamakuni
Screenwriter
Takehiko Minato
Cinematography
Hajime Tanaka
Editor
Hanako Tabata
Production Design
Shimpei Inoue
Original Music
Takuto Tanaka
Mipo O
Born in 1977. Mipo O began her career as a script supervisor. Her short film Grandmother (2003) won the grand prize in the Digital Shorts category of the Tokyo International Fantastic Film Festival. Her feature directorial debut, The Sakais’ Happiness (2006), won the Sundance Institute/NHK International Filmmakers Award. The Light Shines Only There (2014) won the Best Director Award in the World Competition section at the Montreal World Film Festival and was selected as Japan’s representative for the Best International Feature Film at the Oscars. Being Good (2015) won the NETPAC Award (Best Asian Film) at the Moscow International Film Festival.
Filmography: The Sakais’ Happiness (2006); Okan no yomeiri (2010); Quirky Guys and Gals (2011); The Light Shines Only There (2014); Being Good (2015)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Breaking the Waves
Kicking off our 2026 Pantheon series of the greatest films ever made, Lars von Trier's 1996 masterpiece is a devastating melodrama featuring an indelible performance from Emily Watson as the woman whose love for her husband knows no bounds.
The Track
In the middle of a mountain forest above Sarajevo, three boys train for the Olympics in a bullet-ridden luge track abandoned since the 1984 Winter Games. An ambitious, hopeful look at the next generation striving to overcome the sins of their fathers.
Yunan
In this haunting mood piece, Munir is a middle-aged Syrian writer in exile in Germany. In crisis, he takes himself up to one of the Halligan islands in the North Sea, a suitable place to end it all...
The Secret Agent
Having run afoul of an influential bureaucrat in Brazil’s military dictatorship circa 1977, Marcelo decamps to Recife to live under an assumed name — but he’ll soon come to understand precisely how rampant the country’s corruption has become.
The Mother and the Bear
Johnny Ma’s film stars Kim Ho-jung as a Korean woman who flies to Winnipeg when her immigrant daughter is hospitalized there. This crowd-pleaser plays up cultural differences to hilarious effect and offers a touching take on mother-daughter tension.