The Shinto shrine Gokogu in the Japanese coastal town of Ushimado is home to a colony of stray cats. This film calmly observes how the animals have made a life here, waiting to be thrown some fish, sheltering during a rain shower.
The cats might be the main characters, but this is also a portrait of the people who come and go at the shrine.
The volunteers who feed the cats, wipe dirt from their eyes and catch them to have them sterilized in an attempt to reduce the population. The woman who explains that she isn’t allowed to keep cats at home. The 80-year-old gardener, who isn’t too keen on the cats pooping in his flower beds. With understanding, Soda documents the differences of opinion, but ultimately The Cats of Gokogu Shrine shows how this place is a refuge for both humans and cats.
Soda Kazuhiro
2024
Japan
Japanese
119 MIN
CTC
Coming to cinemas in March 2024
Official Selection: Berlinale Forum
Official Selection: Sydney Film Festival
Official Selection: Melbourne International Film Festival
Official Selection: BFI London Film Festival
"Quietly charming and beautifully filmed, it takes the time to appreciate the kindheartedness of Ushimado’s volunteers and the beauty of the natural world." FLICK FEAST
"The Cats of Gokogu Shrine” stays true to its observational ideals to the end. It also gives us poetic glimpses of nature as the seasons change and cherry blossoms give way to a raging typhoon." JAPAN TIMES
"Soon there might not be any cats left at Gokogu Shrine, but the lives they have touched remain, and Soda’s sparing, sweet film is a gorgeous tribute to the independent felines, and the kind people who lived in harmony with them." - LITTLE WHITE LIES
