Japan - USA | 2024 | Color | Observational Film | 119 min
DCP | Japanese | 24fps | 16:9 | Stereo
SYNOPSIS
Gokogu is a small, ancient Shinto shrine in Ushimado, Japan. Home to dozens of street cats, it is also known as Cat Shrine. Many people visit the shrine for various reasons: some to worship gods, others to enjoy gardening. Some people come to clean the shrine as volunteers while others just stop by on their way to fish Japanese sardinella –– and it is the perfect place for kids to play after school. It is a heaven for cat-loving residents and visitors too. Some people visit Gokogu to feed the freely roaming stray cats. Others just come to see these cats or to take pictures of them. But some residents complain about the waste the cats leave around the neighborhood. Gokogu looks peaceful on the surface, but it is also the epicenter of a sensitive issue that divides the local community. Master Soda started rolling his camera to observe and depict the aging, traditional community and its spiritual center Gokogu.
FESTIVALS
- Berlinale Forum 2024
- East Asia Film Festival Ireland
Opening Film
- Hong Kong International Film Festival
- San Francisco International Film Festival
- JeonJu International Film Festival
- Taipei Film Festival
- New Horizons International Film Festival
- Melbourne International Film Festival
- BFI London Film Festival
- IDFA Festival
CAST & CREDITS
DoP
Editor
Producer
Production
International Sales
SODA Kazuhiro
SODA Kazuhiro
SODA Kazuhiro
KASHIWAGI Kiyoko
Laboratory X, Inc.
ASIAN SHADOWS
DOWNLOAD
Press kit
PRESS REVIEWS
That's exactly the point of The Cats of Gokogu Shrine: that people come together, engage together, talk, discuss, sometimes agreeing in their disagreement.
- K. Doerksen, Culture Mag
“The Cats of Gogoku Shrine” defend supposedly old-fashioned virtues that our divisive society so desperately needs. - C. Peitz, Tagesspiegel
Kazuhiro Soda's documentary shows tangible biopolitical measures and exemplary community building - with a lot of humor, a good eye and a feel for small and large gestures.
- L. Krähmer, critic.de