PODCAST| Matt Micucci interviews Hiroshi Okuyama, director of the film Jesus.

To listen to the interview, click on the ► icon on the right, just above the picture

Director Hiroshi Okuyama presented his feature film, Jesus, in competition at the 3rd International Film Festival and Awards of Macao. The film draws inspiration from the director’s own past memories and as he explains in this interview, it was also a way for him to understand what happened and how people around him behaved at the time. But we also talk about his thoughts on religion, given that in the story, the young protagonist interacts with an imagined little Jesus.

Jesus: Yura is a young boy whose family leaves Tokyo to live with his grandmother in the snowy countryside. Not only must he fit in at a new school, but it’s a Christian one. At first he is puzzled when he and his classmates are called to “worship,” but he gradually adjusts to his new environment. One day, in the middle of a prayer, he sees a very small Jesus appear before him. Each wish Yura makes to Jesus comes true, and he starts to have faith in the power of the Lord.