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Departures

(Japan, 2009, 130 mins)

Hawai'i Premiere

Screenwriter: Kundo Koyama
Executive Producer: Yasuhiro Mase
Producers: Toshiaki Nakazawa, Ichiro Nobukuni, Toshihisa Watai
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Cinematographer: Takeshi Hamada
Music: Joe Hisaishi
Cast: Masahiro Motoki, Ryoko Hirosue, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Kimiko Yo, Takashi Sasano

• www.apple.com/trailers/independent/departures/

Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language Film, DEPARTURES is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan's cultural heritage. Departures follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job. Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over. He answers a classified ad entitled Departures thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a Nokanshi or encoffineer, a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life. While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of Nokanshi, acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed. The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living. A story of love, of discovery, of revelation and of the transcending human spirit, Departures will linger in your heart and mind long after viewing.
In Japanese with English subtitles.

www.departures-themovie.com

Not yet MPAA rated.

For ticketing information please phone 808-579-9244 or email boxoffice@mauifilmfestival.com