17th New York Asian Film Festival

Jun 29 - Jul 15, 2018

FilmsGuestsTalks & EventsSchedule & Tickets

Photo: © 2017 The Hungry Lion

North American Premiere

The Hungry Lion

飢えたライオン

When a high-school teacher is arrested for statutory rape, his sex video is leaked and rumors spread that the girl in it looks just like his student Hitomi. She vehemently denies the accusations, but the hearsay penetrates her previously picture-perfect life, leading to unrelenting harassment and abuse by those around her. The frenzy erupts into a terrifying indictment of society, human nature, and its unconscionable media. Featuring a stark aesthetic that reflects the film's avoidance of easy answers, The Hungry Lion is a tragic and powerful cautionary tale.

Director: Ogata Takaomi
Cast: Takenaka Naoto, Tsutsui Mariko, Mizuishi Atomu, Matsubayashi Urara
Languages: Japanese with English subtitles
2017; 78 min.; DCP

SCHEDULE:

Saturday June 30, 2:45pm
Film Society of Lincoln Center

Q&A with director Ogata Takaomi

Ogata Takaomi
緒方貴臣

Fukuoka-born Ogata Takaomi dropped out of film school after three months. At 25-yeas-old, he self-financed his debut feature after quitting his salaryman job. Like his later films, Never Ending Blue (2009) focuses on the despair of youth, here featuring incest and real wrist-cutting. His next feature, Body Temperature (2011) is about a man in love with his live-in lifelike doll only to encounters her real life doppelgänger. Sunk in the Womb (2013) is based on a true incident of child abuse and murder in Osaka. His The Hungry Lion (2017) is a scathing indictment of "fake news" and its consequences.