The First Gale of Spring
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Theatrical Screenings
Kinoteka 3
Online Availability
Additional Materials
Film description
There is a particular attentiveness in the way we observe the experience of growing old: to gestures, silences, and small signs of dignity that are easily overlooked. The First Gale of Spring by Jun Akagawa is a personal record of the final period in his grandparents’ lives. The director observes his grandmother, who spends her days alone and tries to see her husband one last time, as he remains isolated in hospital due to pandemic restrictions. The camera turns to the fragile moments of everyday life, in which closeness must find expression in a glance, a gesture, a single frame. The film’s contemplative rhythm evokes the cinema of Yasujirō Ozu, its tenderness towards life's transience and its ability to find emotion in the simplest of situations. Instead of grand words, we are given space to look and to recognise a dignity that endures despite loneliness, separation, and the passing of time.
The film is presented as part of the programme Subverted Gazes: Collisions of Aesthetics
Director’s Statement
Lives come to a close amidst the shifting currents of time. So as not to forget a past quietly drifting away, I felt both a personal and a social significance in capturing the final days of my grandparents during the pandemic on film. Just as the first wind of spring marks the transition of seasons, I hope this film gently encourages you to reflect on the twilight years we will all face, and the lives that continue unfolding before us.
Jun Akagawa
Jun Akagawa is a filmmaker from Tokyo, Japan. He majored in aerospace engineering at a Japanese university. Upon earning his bachelor’s degree, he enrolled in the Film Directing department at the Łódź Film School, where he is currently studying.
2022 Koji
2024 After Dark
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2025 Doki Doki
