The Japanese Film Festival returns to Pálás Cinema this April with a week’s programme of phenomenal films.

Takashi receives an unexpected phone call from northern Kyushu: his estranged father Yohji has been arrested and taken into care. Not only that, but Yohji’s second wife Naomi appears to have disappeared. Takashi travels to Kyushu for a reluctant reunion, and discovers his father is now experiencing dementia. Takashi begins the effort to track down Naomi – and, along the way, learns more about the events that led up to that fateful phone call. Great Absence is a frank and devastating drama from the director of the acclaimed Complicity (JFF 21).