Himatsuri (Fire Festival)

1985, 126 min., color, 35mm.

Directed by Mitsuo Yanagimachi. Written by Kenji Nakagami. Cinematography by Masaki Tamura. Music by Toru Takemitsu. With Kinya Kitaoji, Kiwako Taichi, Ryota Nakamoto, Norihei Miki and Junko Miyashita. 

Kumano is one of the places where the Japanese national mythologies were created, and the Fire Festival in Kumano is the main theme of this ambitious film about the love and despair of a woodcutter who taps into nature in a mystical way.