Writer director, Pierre Földes delivers a dreamlike, fantasy film fuelled by the rich story telling of Haruki Murakami.
A lost cat, a giant talkative frog and a tsunami help a bank employee without ambition, his frustrated wife and a schizophrenic accountant to save Tokyo from an earthquake and find a meaning to their lives in the animated feature Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman. Based on stories by acclaimed Japanese author Haruki Murakami (Drive My Car), the debut of composer Pierre Földes won the Jury Special Mention award at the renowned Annecy Animation Film Festival.
Tokyo, a few days after the 2011 earthquake and tsunami. Kyoko suddenly leaves her husband after spending five days in a row glued to unfolding earthquake footage on TV. Her helpless husband Komura takes a week’s leave from work and heads north to deliver a box and its unknown contents to two young women. His colleague Katagiri, a simple debt collector by profession and an awkward loner in life, returns home one evening to find a two-metre-tall frog asking for his help to save Tokyo from an imminent earthquake. Through memories, dreams and fantasies, Kyoko, Komura and Katagiri, influenced by their visions of earthquakes—which are manifested as evil willow trees, giant earthworms, secret vows, mysterious boxes and a dark, endless corridor—attempt to rediscover their true selves.
Directed by Pierre Földes
Running time 100 mins
Rating TBC
Showing Times
Sat 15 Apr: 3.30pm*
Sun 16 Apr: 5.30pm
Mon 17 Apr: 2pm
Mon 17 Apr: 8.10pm
Thu 20 Apr: 2pm
Thu 20 Apr: 5.30pm*
Films with * will play with Descriptive Subtitles - Find out more about access here >>
Cost: £8* Standard | £5* Student / Under 25s
*Subject to a £1.50 ticketing system charge. Exeter Phoenix don’t charge this to make a profit. Find out more >>
Murakami’s Stories
Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman adapts 6 short stories from three short story collections by Japanese author Haruki Murakami.
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Accessibility Statement: There is a steep slope from the street leading to the main entrance and a flight of stairs up to our front door. More level access is possible by approaching from Exeter Central Library on Castle street. Step-free access to the building is available via a ramped entrance on the side of the building. The side entrance is equipped with automatic doors.
All ground floor spaces are fully accessible with a mix of level flooring and gentle ramps. Level access to accessible toilets is available on all floors. Please ask Box Office for the radar key if needed. We have gender neutral toilets available in Studio 74 and on the first floor.
In the main auditorium and Studio 74 we have raked seating which has steps on either side. The seats have arms. Studio 74 Seat Dimensions; Seat: 17.5" Wide, 18.5" Long (Depth) Back: 19" Wide, 22" Long (Height). If you are a wheelchair user we have removable seats or approriate spaces available in all event spaces to accommodate this.GUIDE DOGS
Guide / Hearing / Assistance Dogs are welcome. If you wish to take your dog into the performance, please let us know when booking your ticket so that we can arrange an adjacent seat.
Patrons with disabilities may also bring a companion free of charge to all Exeter Phoenix promoted events, and most externally promoted events taking place in the venue. Please call 01392 667080 or email our box office team.
SUBTITLED SCREENINGS
A selection of our films are caption subtitled. Caption subtitling is a service that makes our film programme accessible to our d/Deaf and hearing-impaired customers by displaying additional auditory information on the screen. These can be found here. Our film programme also contains many films subtitled into English from other languages. These may also be suitable for our Deaf/deaf and hearing-impaired customers, but won't include additional descriptions of sounds. These can be found here.
AUDIO DESCRIBED SCREENINGS
Each season, an audio description track will be available for a selection of our films. Audio description is a service for partially sighted or blind people, and is similar to listening to a cricket or football match on the radio – the action is described to you. These can be found here.
SENSORY NOTES
The cafe bar plays low level recorded music during the day, with moderately bright lighting. During the evening in the cafe bar the music is louder and the lighting is lower. The cafe bar can become busy at various times which makes it louder.
Events in the auditorium vary depending on what is showing, there will be signage if there is going to be haze, flashing lights or strobe.
The building can be busy with musltiple events happening at the same time, if during your visit you feel you need a quieter space please ask the duty manager who will try to accomodate this where possible.