October 1 World Premier of doc ‘-1287’ is the first day of Breast Cancer Awareness Month

70 minutes

Japan

Japanese with English Subtitles

The World Premier of ‘-1287’, a feature-length documentary a woman coming to terms with her impending death from breast cancer will take place during London’s Raindance Film Festival.

The story of ‘-1287’ begins as Kazuko, the film’s protagonist, reveals that her breast cancer has metastasized, and her doctor has told her she has three to four years to live.  As the film documents those years, Kazuko’s observations about love, motherhood, marriage, honesty and death change as does her relationship with the filmmaker. The first screening of the film will take place on October 1, the beginning of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

The October 1 screening will take place at 1:10pm. And the film will screen again on October 3 at 9:00pm. at the Vue Piccadilly.  Director Ian Thomas Ash will be present for Q&As after both screenings, which take place at the Vue Piccadilly.  Attendees of the screenings will receive gift bags that include chocolate supporting breast cancer research and a handmade breast cancer awareness ribbon.

The Raindance Festival, now in its 22nd year, is taking place from September 24 to October 5, and will screen over 100 feature films and over 150 shorts from around the world.

‘-1287’ (2014, Japan) is director Ian Thomas Ash’s third Japanese-language documentary, and marks the second time one of his films has been featured at Raindance.  His first appearance at Raindance was with ‘A2-B-C’ (2013, Japan), a documentary focused on the children living in contaminated areas of Fukushima following the nuclear disaster.

Ian Thomas Ash (director) is originally from America but has lived in Japan since 2000.  He holds an MA in Film and Television Production from the University of Bristol (UK).  Ash’s first feature documentary ‘The Ballad of Vicki and Jake,’ won the Prix du Canton Vaud (best first film) at the 2006 Visions du Reel international Documentary Film Festival in Nyon, Switzerland.