Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman

In this enchanting animated film, based on the magical-realist stories of Haruki Murakami, one of the world’s most beloved authors, a young woman is allowed to make a wish, a chatty giant frog teams up with a shy accountant to save Tokyo, and a melancholy man—whose wife and cat have both left him—suddenly has to travel to deliver a mysterious box… As in Murakami’s fiction, dreams seep into reality in the most compelling, exciting and fascinating of ways. Composer/director Pierre Földes wove six of Murakami's stories into one whole and came up with his own, unique visual style completely tailored to Murakami's world. Indeed, the film breathes Murakami; in images, music, rhythm, and tone. Never before has a film so perfectly struck the balance between existentialism and irony and that touch of absurdity so characteristic of this writer.

‘This elegantly surreal feature animation is the directing debut of composer Pierre Foldes (who also wrote the picture’s eloquent, enveloping score). “Blind Willow, Sleeping Woman” is an impressive achievement, a piece of storytelling which balances moments of flighty whimsy against deeper existential questions.’—Wendy Ide, Screen