Yoriko (Takako Matsu) lives a quiet life in rural Nagi, where she creates and teaches art. When Yuri (Shizuka Ishibashi), her former sister-in-law, comes to the village to sit for a sculpture, the two women find themselves free from the repressions of male-dominated society and slowly begin to open up. Meanwhile, Yoriko’s art students Keita (Kiyora Fujiwara) and Haruki (Waku Kawaguchi) begin to engage with their desire for each other.
Nagi Notes is a film about subtle exploration — of creativity, of eros, of the self. Writer-director Koji Fukada (Harmonium, VIFF 2016) weaves a complex web of backstory, character psychology, sexuality, and art, and watching it come together is a serene pleasure. In this filmmaker’s work, ideas can come from a wealth of sources — speech and silence, gesture and poise, distant sound or imposing image. Discreet yet profound, graceful in its exploration of disquiet, Nagi Notes is a triumph of humanist drama. It carries the force of revelation but delivers it quietly.
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Takako Matsu, Shizuka Ishibashi, Ken’ichi Matsuyama, Waku Kawaguchi, Kiyora Fujiwara, Sawako Fujima
Japan/France/
Singapore/Philippines
2026
In Japanese with English subtitles
At Lindsay Family Stage at Granville Island
At The Park
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
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Credits & Director
Producer
Atsuko Ohno, Ryo Nagai, Michiaki Tsunoda
Screenwriter
Kōji Fukada
Cinematography
Hidetoshi Shinomiya
Editor
Sylvie Lager
Original Music
Lee Pei-Chin
Kōji Fukada
Born in 1980 in Tokyo, Kōji Fukada joined the directing department of the Seinendan theater company in 2005 under the direction of Oriza Hirata. Fukuda’s 2010 film Hospitalité won Best Film in the “Japanese Eyes” section of the Tokyo International Film Festival, as well as Best Asian Film at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. His 2016 film Harmonium won the Jury Prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the Cannes Film Festival, and in 2018 he was named Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France.
Filmography: Harmonium (Jury Prize: Un Certain Regard, Cannes 2016); The Real Thing (2020); Love Life (2022); Love on Trial (2025)
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