Japan 2006, Japanese with English subtitles, 35mm, 114 min
Director: Hiromasa Hirosue
Screenplay : Takahashi Izumi
Cinematography: Hashimoto Kiyoaki
Cast: Hirosue Hiromasa, Namiki Akie, Kagawa Teruyuki
Print Source: PIA Film Festival
Fourteen begins with a schoolgirl, Ryo, stabbing a female teacher in the back. After the opening credits, we see that the grown-up student Ryo has become a high school teacher herself. Now a continual witness to the kind of cruelty she inflicted on her teachers, Ryo is forced to confront her own past. But that doesn't stop her from becoming a target of abuse for students, even while she tries to take a less authoritative stance.
With a beautiful washed-out quality and polished direction from Hiromasa Hirosue, Fourteen is an uncompromising analysis of the gaps that exist between generations, and suggests that adults are not as distanced from their teenage selves as they might imagine.
This bitterly honest film, unrelenting in its portrayal of intergenerational helplessness, points to Hiromasa Hirosue as a talent to look out for in the coming years.
The Cape Winelands will again at the 2012 edition of this festival present a series of Masterclasses and workshops. These events are sponsored by the City of Cape Town and Wesgro.
Winner of the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes festival, Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s new film has the magic of a fairy tale and the simplicity of a folk tale. Wonderfully immersive, slow and dreamy, 
