Japanese Film Showcase at TEA Art Hub

Kappa: A River Goblin and Sampei (1993)

Directed by Toshio Hirata | 90 minutes
(Japanese audio with Thai Subtitle)

Date: Sunday 17 August 2025 , 6:45 – 8:15 PM

Sampei lives in the beautiful countryside with his grandfather. His schoolmate calls Sampei a “river goblin” because of how he looks, but in reality, Sampei is never a good swimmer.

One day, while he is sneakily practicing for the swimming competition in the river, he is caught in the muddy stream. When he gains his consciousness, he realizes that he is now in the land of goblins. Sampei makes friends with Gartalow the river goblin who looks identical to Sampei, and they decide to escape the land of goblins together and return to Sampei’s village. When they find out the traces of Sampei’s missing mother, their great adventure to the Mount Deamonshead begins…

MORI: The artist’s habitat  (2018)

Directed by Shuichi Okita | 99 minutes
(Japanese audio with Thai Subtitle)

Date: Sunday 24  August 2025, 5:00 – 6:40 PM

He lays among the shrubs and trees in his garden and observes the scurrying ants. This 94-year-old bearded man is Morikazu Kumagai, aka Mori, and he is a painter. For the last 30 years he’s hardly left his property. Most of his day is spent tirelessly observing his garden and all living things in it, which he renders into paintings. He paints every evening in a studio he calls the “school.” While he goes about his business, his wife Hideko attends to a string of visitors. In the garden there are the critters and insects and on the porch, birds in cages overlook the garden. Mori and Hideko live peacefully, surrounded by the things they love.

But then some developers decide to build a condominium next door which puts their small paradise at risk. It will block the sun and the garden will be uninhabitable. Mori and Hideko decide to take action to protect the garden they cherish… The film is a humorous depiction of a summer day in the life of an old couple who’ve been together 52 years, in the more affable social atmosphere of the 1970s.