Irvine City Hall - Council Chambers
1 Civic Center Plaza
Irvine, CA 92606
Japan's entry to the Academy Awards' Foreign Language Film in 2004!
Film Screening with introduction and discussion by YUKA KANNO, UC Irvine Fulbright Scholar and Japanese contemporary film expert.
Japanese director Hirokazu Koreeda's touching film follows the empty lives of 12-year-old Akira (Yûya Yagira) and his three younger siblings (Ayu Kitaura, Hiei Kimura and Momoko Shimizu) after their mother abandons them in a tiny Tokyo apartment. Pragmatic, determined and wise beyond his years, Akira manages the household as best he can--but eventually the money runs out, and the children must find new ways to survive. The movie is based on a real 1988 event best known as the "Affair of the Four Abandoned Children of Nishi-Sugamo." Nobody Knows was Japan's entry to the Academy Awards' Foreign Language Film in 2004. Fourteen-year-old Yûya Yagira, who plays as Akira, won the "Best Actor Award" at the 2004 Cannes Film Festival.
Cost : free
