Desert of Namibia

Namibia no sabaku

Quinzaine 2024 | Feature film | 137 min | Japan

World premiere

Yôko Yamanaka’s second feature follows a 21-year-old Japanese woman of vacillating and unpredictable humour as she swaps one boyfriend for another. A beautician with little commitment to her work and no real desire to achieve anything, she can sometimes be cruel and aggressive. A wild child? She is simply alive. Nevertheless, unconvincing doctors diagnose her with bipolar disorder. With its dry editing and zooms, the film conveys the disarray of a woman battling against a society that is still rigid and patriarchal.

Director

Yôko Yamanaka

Born in 1997 in Nagano, Japan, Yôko Yamanaka’s debut feature Amiko won the Audience Award at Pia Film Festival in 2017 and was later invited to the 68th Berlin International Film Festival, when she was 20-years-old, making her the youngest director ever to be featured at the festival. The film subsequently screened in over 10 countries. Since then, she directed a section in an anthology film 21st Century Girl and also made the short film Born Pisces.