"Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" wins Teddy Award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival

The movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" directed by Ogigami Naoko and starring Ikuta Toma won the Teddy Award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival as announced on 17 February. During the festival, the award which was first established in 1987, is presented to the best film among those with a LGBT theme. In this year's edition, a total of 37 films were shortlisted in this category and this is the first time that a Japanese film has won this award.

The movie was conceptualised by Ogigami after she returned to Japan from the United States in 2013 where she went for further studies. While there, she felt that Japan was still far behind in terms of its acceptance of the sexual minority and got the idea for the movie after reading an article about a mother who knitted fake breasts for her transgender son. The movie also features Kiritani Kenta, Mimura, Koike Eiko, Kadowaki Mugi, Lily and Tanaka Misako in its cast.

Ogigami commented that she hopes that the movie will be the trigger for people to think about the various forms a family can take and be more accepting of the differences among people. In addition, she also hopes that people will develop a better understanding of the LGBT community and change their perception of what is the norm.

Source: Oricon