A classic in the cinema. Pre-release screening • Nobody Knows, directed by Hirokazu Koreeda (2004)

“Nobody Knows”, one of the most shocking and at the same time empathetic films in the work of Hirokaz Koreeda, is finally on the screens of Polish cinemas!

The Fukushima family is moving into a new apartment. Keiko, the mother of a 12-year-old boy named Akira, introduces him to the tenant as her only child. However, it soon turns out that she has hidden the existence of the other children — Kyōko (11), eager to learn the piano, the energetic and noisy cliffhanger Shigeru (6), and the youngest, five-year-old Yuka. She hides them because she is aware that it is very difficult for a single mother with a bunch of small children to rent an apartment, due to prejudices related, for example, to the potential lack of stable employment and solvency or the fear of noise behind the thin walls of Japanese apartments and the risk of complaints from roommates. Therefore, only Akira can go outside, and none of the children attend school.

The two oldest children watch with increasing anxiety as mom's returns “from work” take longer and longer. When Keiko falls in love again, she decides to leave for a longer stay with her new boyfriend, leaving the children in the care of her eldest son. And although he promises to return, he disappears for good, and Akira and his siblings will be forced to survive on their own.

After mom, only single things remain, reminding that she ever existed. The remnants of the bright nail polish she decided to decorate Kyōko's fingers, the amount of money she left behind at an alarming rate, the children's unfulfilled dream of going to school, broken promises, and random men — Yuka's potential fathers — whose lives are constantly falling apart, leaving no thought of helping strange children.

Hirokazu Koreeda, telling this story, was inspired by real events that took place in the late 80s in the Sugamo area (part of Tokyo). However, the Japanese director does not show in “Nobody Knows” a cheap sensation, a matter that is a great breeding ground for tabloids. Instead, he tries to capture something pure and real. In the relationship between siblings, in the way they look at their characters, in the maturity that had to be learned far too early.

“Nobody Knows” was appreciated by audiences and critics around the world, thanks to which Hirokazu Koreeda received two Blue Ribbons from the Tokyo Film Critics Association for Best Director and Best Film. Yūya Yagira, for his portrayal of Akira's eldest son at the age of 14, received the best actor award at Cannes, thus setting the current record for the youngest winner of the Cannes acting award.

“Nobody Knows” in Polish cinemas from November 13 in a new, restored version.