Japan 2006, Japanese with English subtitles, 35mm, 94 min
Director: Kaori Momoi
Screenplay : Kaori Momoi
Cinematography: Shiji Kugimiya
Cast: Hanako Yamada, Kaori Momoi, Saburo Ishikura, Katsumi Takahashi, Ryo Iwamatsu, Ken Mitsuishi, Makiko Watanabe, Hiroyuku
Print Source: Open Sesame Co., Ltd.
Faces of a Figtree is the directorial debut of Kaori Momoi whom we saw on South African screens in Memoirs of a Geisha . Straddling the gulf between madness and idiosyncrasy, Momoi's distinctive vision informs a film that is like nothing you've ever seen before.
The Kadowaki family lives in a traditional Japanese wooden house with a fig tree in the yard and a patriarch at its centre. The atmosphere is rough, but warm-hearted with continual banter between the house's inhabitants.
Then one evening the father sets off for Tokyo to take a secretive night job at a construction site. He is in fact repairing old building work that his company had executed shoddily many years ago, and which is about to be discovered in the course of renovations.
But his actions sow mistrust in his family and barely after returning, he dies from a sudden brain haemorrhage. His wife loses her emotional balance, his daughter discovers that she is adopted, and their whole world starts to unravel.
Gorgeous to look at, and truly unique, Faces of a Fig Tree is a remarkable portrait of a family dealing with grief in their own unusual way.
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, 
