ONLINE EVENT - The Japan Society Film Club: A Pale View of Hills directed by Kei Ishikawa
Date
Wednesday 1 April 2026
Time
6.30pm (GMT)
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Booking Details
Online meeting on Zoom
Please register for the meeting in advance from the link below. After registering, you will receive an automated confirmation email with meeting access details (please check your spam folder if you don't receive any emails).
Free for members of The Japan Society
Please remember to watch the film in advance.
A Pale View of Hills will be released nationwide on 13 March 2026, with screenings at BFI Southbank, Vue Cinemas and other venues across the UK (see Official Website).
Please help us to keep this event free and open to all!The Japan Society is a charity and its activities are made possible thanks to the support of its members. If you are planning to attend this event and are not a member (as an individual or through your employer), please consider becoming a member or making a donation if you can - the recommended donation is £5. Thank you!   |
Join us for our April Film Club to explore Kei Ishikawa’s evocative 2025 drama A Pale View of Hills, a haunting reflection on memory and post‑war Japan.
Based on the novel by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro, A Pale View of Hills is the story of a woman in postwar Nagasaki and her grown daughter in the UK in the 1980s. Dual timelines explore a Japanese widow's memories spanning Japan in the 1950s and England during the Cold War era, unravelling secrets that intertwine her past and present experiences across borders. The film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for three British Independent Film Awards.
Kei Ichikawa (1977-) is a Japanese film director, screenwriter, and editor whose work combines psychological depth with precise visual storytelling. He studied film directing at the prestigious Łódź Film School in Poland, an experience that shaped his cross-cultural cinematic perspective. After returning to Japan, Ishikawa directed documentaries and short films before making his acclaimed feature debut with Gukoroku: Traces of Sin (2017). He continued to build a distinguished career with films such as Listen to the Universe (2019), Arc (2021), and A Man (2022), the latter earning multiple awards and further establishing him as a leading voice in contemporary Japanese cinema.