VMU Centre for Asian Studies together with Asitaski and Embassy of Japan in Lithuania invites everyone to the premiere of the movie “Mikoshi Guy” in Lithuania. The screening of the movie will take place on 17th of June, at 6:00 PM at VMU Multifunctional Research and Studies Centre, room 103 (V. Putvinskio st. 23, Kaunas). The event will be held in English and is free and open to all. The movie will be screened in original language with English subtitles.

ABOUT THE MOVIE
In Japan due to the ongoing demographic changes the younger generation is moving out of smaller habitats to the big cities. Due to this a lot of local celebrations (matsuri) are not happening. In order to preserve matsuri culture the main character of the movie Nobuya Miyata is participating in 50 local celebrations every year. The documentary “Mikoshi Guy” portrays how matsuri is uniting people. This power of bonds is traveling to Europe. Nobuya begins to participate in “Karneval der Kulturen” festival in Berlin (Germany) and presents Japanese matsuri culture.

The director of the movie – Toshi Inomata. His movie “OYAKO” was nominated for the best documentary in Berlinale 2015.

This year the movie premiered in Japan on the 23rd of March.

NOBUYA MIYATA
The grandfather of Nobuya was making and restoring mikoshi shrines, overseeing the local shrine in Kamakura, where the district community celebrations are being held every year. Therefore, since a young age he has helped his grandfather to organize mikoshi carrying out rituals and after his death – took over the traditions of restoration and together with the local community he is organizing events and promote mikoshi culture in the world.

In order to spread mikoshi culture abroad in 2014 Nobuya Miyata donated the mikoshi shrine crafted by his grandfather to an organization in France. Since then, each summer this shrine travels through several European countries (France, Germany, Slovenia) and, together with Nobuya and the local Japanese enthusiasts, brings joy to locals during various festivals. The great enthusiasm and desire to preserve this element of Japanese culture does not leave indifferent – Nobuya is gathering an ever-growing group of like-minded people.

Mikoshi is a transportable shrine. It is part of the Japanese religion Shinto and 30-40 participants carry the mikoshi together. The mikoshi is carried during local festivals through the streets. By carrying and shaking the mikoshi, the gods inside the mikoshi exhilarate the people around. You will be able to see mikoshi during the event – during the day you will find it in VMU Multifunctional Research and Studies Centre near room 103.

Trailer of the documentary: https://youtu.be/yuezruNmCNw

SCREENINGS IN EUROPE:
June 7th – Berlin (Germany)
June 10th – Warsaw (Poland)
June 17th – Kaunas (Lithuania)
June 18th – Vilnius (Lithuania)
June 21st – Ljubljana (Slovenia)
June 30th – Toulouse (France)

More about the project: http://mikoshiguy.com/

Event page in Facebook.