Academy Award® winner for Best Foreign Language Film, DEPARTURES is a delightful journey into the heartland of Japan as well an astonishingly beautiful look at a sacred part of Japan's cultural heritage.

“Departures” follows Daigo Kobayashi (Masahiro Motoki), a devoted cellist in an orchestra that has just been dissolved and who is suddenly left without a job.  Daigo decides to move back to his old hometown with his wife to look for work and start over.  He answers a classified ad entitled “Departures” thinking it is an advertisement for a travel agency only to discover that the job is actually for a "Nokanshi" or "encoffineer," a funeral professional who prepares deceased bodies for burial and entry into the next life.  While his wife and others despise the job, Daigo takes a certain pride in his work and begins to perfect the art of “Nokanshi,” acting as a gentle gatekeeper between life and death, between the departed and the family of the departed.  The film follows his profound and sometimes comical journey with death as he uncovers the wonder, joy and meaning of life and living.

ACADEMY AWARD® WINNER - BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM

WINNER - 10 JAPAN ACADEMY PRIZE AWARDS

WINNER
Mercedes Benz Audience Award, Best Feature, Palm Springs International FF
Grand Prix de Ameriques, Montreal World Film Festival
Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor (Masahiro Motoki) Golden Rooster Award
 Audience Award, Hawaii International Film festival
Best Film, Hochi Film Awards
Best Film, Best Director, Nikkan Sports Film Awards
Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor (Masahiro Motoki) Kinema Junpo Awards

RT: 131 min., 35mm color, 1.85 flat, sound is Dolby SRD, 8 reels, Digital exhibition format: HD-Cam or Digital Betacam, aspect ratio 16x9 anamorphic (1.78), sound: stereo, in Japanese with English subtitles, Rated PG-13 for thematic material

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Masahiro Motoki  |  Ryoko Hirosue  |  Tsutomu Yamazaki
Kazuko Yoshiyuki  |  Kimiko Yo  |  Takashi Sasano