I, Jiro Kawakami of the IMPERIAL

The restaurant “Imperial” was forced to close in 2021 due to the pandemic. One summer night, its owner-chef walks out of the shuttered restaurant into the quiet streets, carrying a plate of hamburger steak. An 800-meter walk unfolds into dawn, as he reflects on his life with “Imperial” in a contemplative long take that lingers on loss and faint, fragile hope.

Part of [ MIRRORLIAR FILMS Vol. 2 ], available worldwide outside of Japan  

ABOUT THE DIRECTOR

Yukiko Mishima 三島有紀子

Yukiko Mishima began making films at 18 and later worked at NHK, directing documentaries such as NHK Special and ETV Special. In 2003, she became an independent filmmaker and worked as an assistant director at Toei Kyoto Studio. She also studied at HB Studio in New York.
Her feature film Dear Etranger (2017) received multiple international awards, including the Jury Special Grand Prize at the Montreal World Film Festival, and Best Director at the Hochi Film Awards.
Her films, including A Stitch of Life (2015), Night’s Tightrope (2016) and Shape of Red (2020), all of which have screened internationally, consistently portrays the quiet struggles of everyday life, exploring intimate human emotions.
She was named after author Yukio Mishima, whose novels were admired by her father.