Japanese film director Naomi Kawase, who competed for a Palme d'Or at the last edition of the Cannes Film Festival with her film Hanezu no Tsuki (2011), will be the Guest of Honor at the second edition of MAPFRE FOUNDATION's 4+1 Film Festival. This competition, which is held simultaneously in Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Madrid and Rio de Janeiro from October 26th through October 30th 2011, will honor this filmmaker's prolific career by screening the key titles in her filmogr...

by Deborah Cole (On Twitter: @doberah http://twitter.com/#!/doberah)CANNES, France Japan's devastating earthquake and tsunami in March had a powerful impact on Naomi Kawase's haunting new film in competition at Cannes, the Japanese director said on Wednesday.   "Hanezu" -- one of 20 contenders for the coveted Palme d'Or to be awarded by jury president Robert De Niro on Sunday -- tells the story of a love triangle in the mountainous Asuka region, seen as the birthplace of the Japane...

With Mogari No Mori (The Mourning Forest), the Japanese director Naomi Kawase is in Cannes once again, 10 year after her Camera d’Or for Moe No Suzaku, and four years after Shara was presented in Competition. In this new feature film, the young filmmaker focuses on an old man and his relationship with one of the home’s nursing staff. They are both heavily haunted by the loss of someone dear. Bereavement fuels The Mourning Forest: the word Mogari from the original title denotes the period of ...