The last day of the three-day Open World Toronto Film Festival. I was strongly feeling the emotions of my friends who contacted me before leaving for Toronto for the award ceremony, the actors, and everybody involved. Mr. Tsuji, the producer, answered the questions in an interview by a foreign reporter. He also made his best efforts to deliver a speech about the Japanese view of life and death after the screening in English, which he isn’t used to (even though he was reading his notes the entire time laughter). More than that, my goal this time was to experience this important opportunity to see for myself how the movie reaches people of a different language and culture. The climax of the film – the scene where Haru, the protagonist, dances on the beach. I was sincerely happy when I felt his dance to be more beautiful than ever before. This was the moment when I felt again that we didn’t aim for a film that would become popular, but constantly pursue the will to beauty of the Japanese, which transcends the ego, and that this form of expression is an activity meant for everyone who will live after us. The three of us toasted, having left the venue behind, and naturally entered into a discussion. We each have our own thoughts, but we continued to discuss it in order to achieve the multiplying effect of ideas interacting with one another, cope with art, and deliver the results to the world. How much time and thought have we poured into this work? I’m thinking about that now, while returning to the hotel. I can say that what’s precious to me isn’t the film, but the friends with whom I can share in this work. I would like to express my sincere thanks to my family, friends, and companions who are always there to support me. And, from now on, I want to go through even more hardships and bring my aspirations into the world. Yes. The results aren’t everything that’s important to us now. It lies before that. This process called “now” is important, and I believe it will bring about results. The principle is quite simple.
