Natsuka Kusano

Directing

She/Her

Born in 1985, raised in Kanagawa, Japan. After graduating from Tokai University’s School of Cultural Studies (Department of Creative Writing), Kusano completed the 12th Fiction Course of the Film School of Tokyo. In 2014 she directed her first featurelength film, Antonym (Rasen Ginga), which received the SKIP City Award and Best Director Award at the 11th SKIP City International D-Cinema Festival in Saitama, Japan. Her second feature-length film, Domains, was created on the invitation of Aichi Arts Center, Japan.

Popular Movies/Shows

Domains

Aki and Naoko are childhood friends who are drifting apart as adults. Immersed in her family life, Naoko now has a husband and daughter; Aki, on the other hand, remains single and is on leave from work due to a personal crisis. The plot might sound familiar but it has never been told like this. The director Kusano Natsuka stages the interactions through an actors’ table-read and, as the lines are ...

Would You Like to Go to the Cinema Today?

An omnibus movie produced to commemorate the 10th anniversary of Motomachi Eigakan.

Antonym

Antonym is a slow-burning drama about human connection, told through the story of two women who come together to write a radio drama. Vain and self-centred Aya is forced to find a writing partner to work on the radio script she is developing. Heavily reluctant to collaborate, she partners shy co-worker Sachiko, who eagerly embraces the project. Peppered with coincidental occurrences and failed rel...

Till the End of the Dream

We’re not far from Hiroshima, where Yoshimi lives alone since the death of her partner. To capture the variations of feelings, the filmmaker focuses sensitively on the young woman’s everyday life and the nondescript, hollowed-out landscapes surrounding her. In a few light strokes, this inner turmoil is portrayed with grace and gentleness. Like so many imaginary offerings, the film reproduces the d...

Performing Hiroshima

To the Window with No Signs" by Asahi Mima depicts a woman living with her partner in an apartment in Hiroshima City who meets regularly with a friend by the river to co-write poetry. Performing Hiroshima with Hiroe-san" by Saki Yamada depicts a woman who was exposed to radiation in utero about 1 km from the hypocenter when the atomic bomb was dropped, as herself, her mother, and the narrator of a...

Top Rated Movies/Shows

Domains

Aki and Naoko are childhood friends who are drifting apart as adults. Immersed in her family life, Naoko now has a husband and daughter; Aki, on the other hand, remains single and is on leave from work due to a personal crisis. The plot might sound familiar but it has never been told like this. The director Kusano Natsuka stages the interactions through an actors’ table-read and, as the lines are ...

Movies (Production)

Performing Hiroshima

Till the End of the Dream

Would You Like to Go to the Cinema Today?