Kanashimi
Haunted by grief, the loss of his father and the mounting pressure of becoming a father himself, Adam finds a mysterious baseball glove on the beach. In attempting to track down the owner, he learns of his unlikely connection to a stranger across the world in Japan, a stranger he has more in common with than he ever realized.
Interview with Writer/Director Michael Horwitz
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
Kanashimi is my personal response to dealing with grief after my father passed away from congestive heart failure in May 2019. Still a good seven months before Covid hit, I was on a rollercoaster of emotions and so I felt the only way I could channel that grief, fear and sadness was to channel it into making a film. It was the only way I could really process everything I was going through. It was not easy making this film and at times, looking at the monitor, I would tear up. Often after calling cut and moving on to another setup, normally I'd jump in and help the crew move lights and get ready, but this time, I had to just find a quiet space and process everything. It was intense but also incredibly cathartic. I am incredibly grateful to my producers, Todd Felderstein and Fran Harvey for helping me see the project through to the end. I'm eternally grateful to my cast led by the fiercely talented Austin Basis who is so talented and has such range. He can do comedy and is currently starring in the final season of the award-winning hit show, The Marvelous Ms. Maisel on Amazon, but in my film, he gives such a beautiful and understated performance. I'd also like to thank my entire crew that worked on the film whether they were on set for a few days or spent months on Zoom with me during post-production. A big shout-out goes to my fantastic editor, Nicole Opyr who really helped me find the story in all the footage we shot. Lastly, bringing it all together was my amazing Emmy-nominated and Grammy-winning composer, Sharon Farber who gave the film its musical soul. A final thank you of immense gratitude goes to my amazing wife who has supported me and stood by my side throughout all my filmmaking efforts.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
Admittedly, this film is not for everyone and that's okay. However, if you've ever lost someone close to you, a parent, sibling, or a close friend and you've been through the grief process, you will definitely relate to the struggles our main character is going through and working to overcome. Grief is very universal and anyone in any country who speaks any language can relate and hopefully be moved by the story.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
To expand further on these themes, at the time I had recently become a father and my daughter was a little over 2 years old when my dad passed away. So in addition to grief, fatherhood and being a parent without my own father in my life was something I constantly think about and still do to this day. You have to keep in mind that this was about 7 months before Covid started so just when I thought I was getting a grasp and finding some clarity.... everything changed. Like most people, I had no idea what was happening, just taking it one day at a time. After a year of Covid (I got it early on in the pandemic), I started to think about the collective grief all across the world. People were losing loved ones left and right, talking about very heavy and uncertain times. When you hear about a tragedy that's thousands of miles away or you see it on the news, you think, oh how awful, but then you move on. Meanwhile, all the people going through that tragedy are suffering intense grief. And so It was around this time that a random memory popped into my head that had everything to do with grief and resolve and nothing to do with Covid.... and that led me to the next steps of writing a script.
How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?
While dealing with all this personal grief, I knew I had to channel it into a script. Where to begin? I had no idea. But surprisingly the writing process began because somewhere in the far recesses of my mind, I remembered around ten years ago hearing stories of random personal items being found on the beaches of North America. As it turned out, these items were all lost in the aftermath of the great earthquake that struck Japan in 2011. The tsunami was devastating, I remember seeing those images on the news of houses and people being swept away. And then many of these random items floated across the sea and washed up on the shore. I read a true story about how one such item was found by a fisherman who with the help of his wife (who was an American Japanese woman) figured out where it came from and decided to do a random act of kindness, track down the owner and send it back. To their complete surprise, the owner was shocked and reached out to thank the fisherman and his wife. What a story, I thought. Taking inspiration from that story and my own grief journey from my father, I managed to draw a line (probably not a very straight one) to connect these seemingly random events. My father and I had a strong bond of sports, especially baseball. I knew baseball was big in Japan, but in my research, I learned just how significant the game is in Japanese culture. I also learned that after the tsunami, communities gathered in solidarity to play baseball as a means of supporting each other and saying that despite this great tragedy, life can and must go on. That's when I knew the random item found had to be a ball or a glove. All the pieces started falling into place. I loved the imagery of the ocean, that sometimes grief can overcome a person, like a tidal wave or a tsunami. So on a surface level, this is a mystery, a story of a lost heirloom making its way back to its owner, but on a much deeper level, this is a story of loss and connection, of resilience and hope. I knew I wanted the title to be a Japanese word and that's when I learned how to say "grief" in Japanese - Kanashimi.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
The reactions have been mixed and I realize that for people who have been through grief and understand its power, they are incredibly moved by the film. Others who have yet to really be visited by grief don't have as strong a reaction and find the film hard to relate to, which is understandable. We are just screening at our first festival, the Pasadena International Film Festival and so this will be the first public screening. I'm very excited and a little nervous to see the reactions to the film.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The feedback hasn't challenged my point of view, but it has surprised me. I set out to make something very personal and it filled a void for me, but I'm still collecting feedback and reactions.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
I would be thrilled for more people to see this short film and if they reach out, share their grief story. It's all about connection and remembering and honoring the memory of those we've lost. During our crowd-funding campaign, one of our pledge perks was the opportunity to dedicate your pledge in memory of someone you lost and then we put that person's name in the end credits in a special memorial tribute.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
At this stage, we are looking for sales agents, buyers, festival directors and journalists who are interested in either screening the film and want to move forward on it or setting up a podcast interview, however, we can get the word out. As this is my second short film hitting festivals, I'm also looking for agents or managers interested in representing the film and taking my career forward with authenticity.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
I hope people are moved by the story. I hope people are impacted by my desire to put out something so personal and yet to feel like they know exactly what I've gone through because they've gone through it themselves. Grief doesn't have to be a solo journey 100% of the time. When it's shared with others, with the community, that's where the healing process lives.
What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?
When you experience grief, how do you heal? What do you turn to find solace and comfort?
Would you like to add anything else?
I was born and raised in Los Angeles, in the heart of the film industry and I never thought I'd live anywhere else. I was SO wrong. If there's one thing I learned during the whole pandemic it's that I don't need to live in Los Angeles to make movies thanks to Zoom and Teams calls. Yes, I need to be there for work on occasion, for festivals or screenings and events, but I don't need to raise my children there. Don't get me wrong, I love LA and all that has to offer (except the traffic of course) but ever since I became a parent, I've decided that I want to raise my kids and live my life outside of the daily Hollywood grind. All those years I spent editing and pounding the pavement paid off and I was fortunate to be offered a wonderful full-time job working in video games - another visual medium I love. We live in Bend, Oregon now and it's fantastic. I go to LA as needed, but it is so much better for the blood pressure living in the mountains.
What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?
I'm developing a documentary project now that deals with Holocaust denial and antisemitism. Powerful and important stuff. We can't let people who spread misinformation win. I'm also starting to write a dramatic thriller that is set up here in beautiful Central Oregon.
Interview: May 2023
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Kanashimi
Haunted by grief, the loss of his father and the mounting pressure of becoming a father himself, Adam finds a mysterious baseball glove on the beach. In attempting to track down the owner, he learns of his unlikely connection to a stranger across the world in Japan, a stranger he has more in common with than he ever realized.
Length: 22:20
Director: Michael Horwitz
Producer: Todd Felderstein
Writer: Michael Horwitz
About the writer, director and producer:
An LA native and an award-winning filmmaker, MICHAEL HORWTZ’s work has screened in such festivals as Sundance, Cannes (at the Emerging Filmmaker’s Showcase), Israel and Berlin. His last film, Tzeva Adom: Color Red won several Best Short Film awards and was selected by NBC/Universal as one of the top 15 short films in 2018. Michael directed several episodes of the hit digital series Movies for America for Tribune Media. His work spans two decades and can be seen on major TV networks, gaming platforms and has been distributed globally. He lives in beautiful Bend, Oregon with his family and is developing two new projects, both features, one is a dramatic thriller set in the Pacific Northwest, and the other is a cinematic non-fiction documentary on Holocaust denial, antisemitism and how to silence the power of spreading misinformation.
An award-winning film and theater producer, for over 20 years TODD FELDERSTEIN has worked with such studios as SONY and Marvel along with a host of independent production houses in both narrative and non-fiction storytelling. A producer on Tzeva Adom: Color Red, Todd is thrilled by the film’s global acclaim. In March 2020, Todd founded the online digital stage Smartphone Theater featuring highly accomplished Broadway and Hollywood talent - all produced during the shutdown of live venues. Todd also produces and hosts A Conversation With an online series that now features Alan Arkin, Mark Rydell, Lou Antonio, Assad Kelada and Howard Storm.
Key cast: Austin Basis (Marvelous Ms. Maisel, Beauty and the Beast, Life Unexpected) Jacqueline Misyae (The Fabulous, Alchemy of Souls), Ariel Labasan, Gaku Space (Westworld, Overwatch 2, Street Fighter: Assassin's Fist)
Looking for: sales agents, distributors, journalists, film festival directors and buyers
Facebook: Kanashimi Film
Instagram: @kanashimifilm
Website: www.kanashimifilm.com
Other: IMDb
Made in association with: Eucalyptus Films
Funders: Crowd funded through Seed and Spark.
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month?
Pasadena International Film Festival, May 8th at Laemmle Noho - 8pm, shorts block 21.