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Back to list Black Ox (aka Black Cattle)

Director’s Profile

Tsuta Tetsuichiro was born in 1984, in Tokushima. He entered Tokyo Polytechnic University to study filmmaking, and in 2013 he directed a feature, titled The Tale of Iya (2013), shot in his hometown of Iya, Tokushima. It screened at many film festivals, including Tokyo International Film Festival; notably receiving the Aurora Award at Tromsø International Film Festival 2014, the first time a Japanese director won the award.

Synopsis

After losing his entire family in a natural disaster, a man heads to the mountains to end his life. In the mountains, veiled in the mists covering a grassy field, he encounters a black bull. He decides not to end his life, but rather to live with the bull and farm the land. Little by little the minds and bodies of the man and the bull become one, until one day the bull suddenly disappears. There follows a white screen for five minutes, and then a grassy field covered in mist gradually appears on screen. Standing in the field is a white-haired figure, indistinguishable as either human or god. This figure meets a young man.

Jingyu: In Search of the Bull
Kenseki: Discovery of the Footprints
Kengyu: Perceiving the Bull
Tokugyu: Catching the Bull
Bokugyu: Taming the Bull
Kigyukika: Riding the Bull Home
Bogyu-sonjin: The Bull Transcended
Jingyu-gubo: Both Bull and Self Transcended.
Henpon-kangeki: Reaching the Source
Nitten-suijun: Return to Society

Achievements

2024 Tokyo International Film Festival
2025 Jeonju International Film Festival

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