The 11th Okinawa International Movie Festival is screening films about or shot in Japan’s southernmost prefecture. Called “A Great Gathering of Films About Okinawa,” the series includes comedies, love stories, and even a zombie movie!

The second day of the series on Saturday April 20th started with the sixth program, a collection of three short films all presenting very different views of Okinawa. The Yoshimoto Okinawa Kagetsu was packed with people, including several that said they travel from Tokyo every year for the festival.

The comedy “Mother of the Groom” opens with young man (Akira Ota) returning to Okinawa five years after leaving. He has brought his fiancée from Tokyo to ask for his parents’ blessing to get married. He is shocked to learn that his father has died in his absence, and his mother wants nothing to do with him. Eventually the mother agrees to give her consent on once condition: her son’s fiancée (Moeko Fukuda) must help with a festival to send the spirits of loved ones on their way. But with the Okinawan words for things like incense completely different from those used in other parts of Japan, it is a high hurdle indeed.

The drama “The Deer in Me” centers on a successful actress (Rinako Matsuoka) who comes to visit Aka island in Okinawa. She has told the family she is staying with that she has simple come to relax, but she is actually escaping from problems with her career in Tokyo. She is shown around the island by the family’s teenage son, who is said to be a “deer,” a local term for a coward. The two strangers are able to give each other courage.

The beautifully-filmed "Yachimun" is set in the Okinawan village of Yomitan. The story unfolds with a narrated poem, rather than conventional dialogue. Jun Murakami plays a potter who works in seclusion, surrounded by nature. When a woman suddenly appears and breaks one of his works, it makes him face the temporary nature of life. The haunting work made a big impression on the audience.

The three films were all filmed in different parts of Okinawa, telling unique stories in original ways, giving an impression of how diverse the prefecture is.

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