Mamiko Kawamoto and I interviewed Katsuyoshi Kumakiri and his two stars, Susuma Terajima and Yuriko Kikuchi, at the press suite of the Focus on Asia -- Fukuoka Film Festival, where "Sora no Ana" was screened to a full-house crowd. Kumakiri was agreeably sincere and Kikuchi becomingly modest, while Terajima had the kind of electric presence that made me want to hang on every word.
Your second film "Sora no Anna" is quite different from your debut feature "Kichiku" (1997), but I also felt that there are links between the two films.
Director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri