Skip to main content
Living in Two Worlds film image; a man and a woman standing side by side

Living in Two Worlds

Bokuga Ikiteru, Futatsu no Sekai / ぼくが生きてる、ふたつの世界

Panorama

This event has passed

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

     

Director
Cast

Ryo Yoshizawa, Akiko Oshidari, Akito Imai, Yusuke Santamaria

Credits
Country of Origin

Japan

Year

2024

Language

In Japanese with English subtitles

Film Contact
Links
18+
105 min
Cinemas of Asia Drama Family Relations Women Directors
Dai Igarashi, GENTOSHA, Living in Two Worlds Film Committee

Book Tickets

This event has passed.

Credits & Director

Producer

Hideyuki Yamakuni

Screenwriter

Takehiko Minato

Cinematography

Hajime Tanaka

Editor

Hanako Tabata

Production Design

Shimpei Inoue

Original Music

Takuto Tanaka

Mipo O headshot; Living in Two Worlds director

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

Monk in Pieces

Dir. Billy Shebar & David C Roberts
95 min

A playful and engaging portrait of the avant-garde singer, composer, choreographer and performance artist Meredith Monk. Philip Glass, David Byrne and Bjork share their observations.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley
It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley film image; close on man's face beside a microphone

It's Never Over, Jeff Buckley

Dir. Amy Berg
106 min

Oscar-nominated documentarian Amy Berg resurrects the tragic story of the sublime singer Jeff Buckley, whose 1994 record Grace is one of the greatest albums of the modern era.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Petite Maman

Dir. Céline Sciamma
72 min

This "small" film from the director of Portrait of a Lady on Fire speaks volumes. It's a poetical modern fairy tale about an 8-year-old girl who meets a new friend her own age in the woods behind her late grandmother's house.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Portrait of a Lady on Fire

Dir. Céline Sciamma
120 min

Céline Sciamma's queer costume drama -- about a painter covertly studying a young noblewoman who refuses to sit for her portrait -- was voted 30th Greatest Film Ever Made in a 2022 poll, the highest ranking film of the past decade.

VIFF Centre - Lochmaddy Studio Theatre
More info

Sold Out

Synecdoche, New York

Dir. Charlie Kaufman
124 min

Charlie Kaufman wrote Being John Malkovich, Adaptation and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind -- all great, all successful -- then turned director with Synecdoche, which is a masterpiece and which basically went unseen. It's overdue rediscovery.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema

Boogie Nights

Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
155 min

Being the rise and fall of a prodigiously-endowed performer on the seventies porno scene. Paul Thomas Anderson's flamboyant 1997 calling card movie revels in the wild success of xxxcess, before crashing to earth with a bump.

VIFF Centre - VIFF Cinema