Awards: Japan Film Academy Awards- Best Picture/Best Director/Best Screenplay/ Best Actor/ Best Actress, Far East Film Festival - Audience Award, Hawaii International Film Festival - Best Feature, Hong Kong Film Awards - Best Asian Film, Hochi Film Awards - Best Actress/Best Film, Kinema Junpo Awards - Best Actor/Best Actress/Best Director/Best Film/Best New Actor/Best Screenplay/Best Film, Mainichi Film Concours - Best Actor/Best Cinematography/Best Film/Best Supporting Actress

This Oscar-nominated, poignant story of Iguchi is set in the waning days of the Japanese feudal system. Winner of 12 Japanese Academy Awards and directed by one of Japan’s best known and most prolific directors Yoji Yamada (The Tora-san series), TWILIGHT SAMURAI is the story of Seibei, a lower caste samurai played by Hiroyuki Sanada (RING). He is a widower and must care for his two daughters, his ailing mother, the house, the garden, even the crickets. He works all day as a clerk in the clan office but at dusk he must go straight home instead of going to the local pub for a drink – earning him the rather demeaning nickname ‘twilight samurai’. Despite his hard work, he remains hopelessly poor. Then Tomoe, Seibei’s best friend’s sister, re-enters his life after many years away. Seibei must fight her jealous and violent ex-husband to keep him away and to claim Tomoe’s heart. Taking notice of his swordsmanship, the superiors of his clan order him to assassinate a certain samurai. Watch for the fantastic duel scene – with no CGI or hidden wires – and a love story with a tragic twist. Although this film is set at the end of the Edo period (1600-1867), it presents Japan in a contemporary way, complete with recession, corporate restructuring, political shifts and men who cannot say what they feel. ~ Synopsis by the Cambridge Film Festival

Principal Cast: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa,Nenji Kobayashi, Ren Osugi, Mitsuru Fukikoshi

Producers: Hiroshi Fukasawa, Shigehiro Nakagawa, Ichiro Yamamoto
Cinematographer: Mutsuo Naganuma
Editor: Iwao Ishii
Music: Isao Tomita