Peace

Sunday October 2nd 2011 | 19.00 
De Balie | Kleine zaal 
English subtitles

Japan, USA - 75 min - 2010

What is peace? What is coexistence? And what are the bases for them? Peace is a documentary which contemplates these questions by observing the daily lives of people and stray cats in Okayama city, Japan, where life and death, acceptance and rejection are intermingled.



Toshio Kashiwagi runs an affordable taxi service for the disabled and the elderly. Meanwhile, he feeds a group of stray cats everyday. However, there is a growing tension in the cats’ peaceful community because a male ‘thief cat’, an outsider, is trying to invade it.

Toshio’s wife, Hiroko, runs a non-profit organization, which sends home helpers to houses of the elderly and the disabled. At home, she has been grumbling about the way Toshio feeds his cats.



Hiroko regularly visits 91-year-old Shiro Hashimoto to help with his daily routines. Hashimoto is spending his final days thinking about his own death. His memories of being drafted to World War II come back to him while dealing with Hiroko.

Directed, produced, shot and edited by: Kazuhiro Soda
With: Shiro Hashimoto, Hiroko & Toshio Kashiwagi, a.o.Peace