Small, Slow but Steady

Keiko, me wo sumasete

63rd TIFF: Greek Premiere

Boxer Keiko was born with a hearing impairment. Boxing is a real challenge, but her club is like a family. After winning two fights, a creeping fear begins to grow in her. Confused, she goes on to her third fight. Meanwhile, the gym is about to close for good. loosely based on the novel Don’t Give Up by Keiko Ogasawara, a real-life hearing-impaired boxer – is far from a typical boxing movie, which lulls us in with the mesmerizing rhythm of the punches, and takes us in a dance-like movement to find both a catharsis (“punching makes me feel good,” as the hero explains succinctly) and a solace. A beautiful, life-affirming film that shows us how to fight while restoring our faith to humanity.

Screening Schedule

No physical screenings scheduled.

Direction: Shô Miyake

Script: Shô Miyake, Masaaki Sakai

Cinematography: Yuta Tsukinaga

Editing: Keiko Okawa

Sound: Takamitsu Kawai

Actors: Yukino Kishii, Tomokazu Miura, Masaki Miura, Shinichiro Matsuura, Himi Sato

Production: Nagoya Broadcasting Network, “Keiko me wo sumasete” Production Committee

Producers: Koichiro Fukushima, Masahiro Handa, Keisuke Konishi, Shunsuke Koga

Co-production: Comme des Cinémas

Co-producers: Masa Sawada

Costumes: Nami Shinozuka

Production Design: Shimpei Inoue

Make Up: Shihomi Mochizuki

Format: DCP

Color: Color

Production Country: Japan, France

Production Year: 2022

Duration: 100΄

Contact: Charades

Shô Miyake

Born in 1984 in Hokkaido, Japan. In 2012, he directed his first theatrical feature film Playback, which was screened in competition at the Locarno International Film Festival. His 2018 feature film And Your Bird Can Sing was officially selected for Berlinale’s Forum. Other directorial works include the music documentary The Cockpit (2014) which was selected for the New Directors section of Cinema du Réel, the costume TV drama The Courier (2017), and the streaming TV drama series Ju-on Origins (2020).