Last year, there was a real excitement, with about 500 spectators. “We hope to have the same reception this year,” says Caroline Larroche, the association’s president. The entire casino will therefore be decked out in Japanese colors, offering Japanese menus and snacks. The films selected by the Kinotayo festival in Paris were released in Japan in recent months and will be screened in their original version with French subtitles. Here is our selection of fiction and documentaries.
1. “Rivers Returns”: a dive into the Japanese forests
This fiction by Masakazu Kaneko was released in 2025. “Rivers Returns” takes place in the summer of 1958, in a rural Japanese village between a river and a forest, threatened by a typhoon. A young man named Yucha discovers the legend of Oyo, a young girl with a broken heart who allegedly drowned during a kamishibai session (a form of mobile storytelling). The film navigates between ecological fable and ode to tolerance where legend meets an intimate and personal quest. Screening on Friday, April 17th at 9:00 pm.
2. “The Last True Samurai”: the phenomenon of Japanese cinema
Released in Japan in 2024, this fiction and comedy by Jun’ichi Yasuda was a great success in the Land of the Rising Sun. It will be released in France on June 10, 2026 for the general public. Also selected by the Kinotayo festival, “The Last True Samurai” will be premiered in Fouras this Saturday, April 18th at 9:15 pm. Playing with different eras, a samurai from the Edo period (17th – 19th centuries) is struck by lightning in Kyoto. When he wakes up in contemporary Japan, he is mistaken for a film extra and finds himself on a film set.
3. “Numakage Public Pool”: a window on suburban Tokyo
This documentary by Shingo Ota is set in Numakage, in the suburbs of Tokyo, where a municipal pool, open for 52 years, must be demolished and replaced by a school. This place, so dear to its swimmers and the people who work there, was like “an ocean in a city without an ocean”. As it nears its closure, the Japanese director decides to capture its last moments of life and the heart-wrenching goodbyes of the pool’s regulars. A collection of unique stories also delivering a strong political message. Saturday, April 18th at 5:30 pm.
An Ikebana demonstration (Japanese floral art) will also be offered on Sunday, April 19th at 3:00 pm at the Casino. The full program can be found on their website.
