Special Mention: Best Film, Fantasia Film Festival 2025
Ai, a high school girl raised in a seemingly happy but unstable family, has no clear plans for the future or a strong sense of self. She becomes intrigued by Yu, a transfer student with a personality opposite to her own. One day, a human pyramid is built on the school playground, and teachers force students to take part. Ai and Yu are unsettled by this coercive atmosphere and begin to sense a strange energy. The reality around them grows increasingly grotesque and disturbing. This work embodies a new form of 'group' born from the clash between extreme individualism and oppressive collectivism, portrayed through an unsettling and bizarre perspective. The mutual oppression between individuals and groups - and the chilling fear it creates - reflects a sensibility unique to this era.
Yuta Shimotu was born in Fukuoka Prefecture, Japan in 1990 and studied mechanical engineering at Saga University. While attending university, he already shot several commercials and short films, for which he received multiple awards. His short DREAMING TO ACCEPT REALITY (2020) was screened at several international film festivals and served as a basis for his feature-length debut, BEST WISHES TO ALL (2023), which won the MIFF Award for Best Asian Film at Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) (Korea).
Kadokawa
