| Hiro | |
|---|---|
Movie screenshot |
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| Directed by | Matthew Swanson |
| Produced by | Oliver Lindsay |
| Written by | Matthew Swanson |
| Starring | Hiro Kanagawa Vicky Huang |
| Music by | Don MacDonald |
| Distributed by | Paper Cut Films (Canada) |
| Running time | 20 min. |
| Language | Japanese, English subtitles |
Hiro is a short film about a Japanese insect collector who is forced out of his shell by a series of strange events. As funny as it is touching, Hiro draws inspiration from disparate sources to weave a unified tale of obsession, love, loss, and bad guys who really like their cars. Hiro originally premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in the fall of 2005, and in January 2006 became the first Canadian film ever to win the Audience Award for Best Short at the Slamdance Film Festival in Park City, Utah.
HIRO is a shy, awkward Japanese entomologist who spends his time and money collecting rare insects. His obsession takes him to Canada, where he has arranged to purchase a rare beetle from a local insect smuggler. Things don't go exactly as planned - after a chance encounter with a young girl, Hiro's precious insect is stolen. Suddenly, he finds himself thrust into a wild chase to recover his beetle and rescue the girl he has just met from a gang of Yakuza mobsters. Forced to confront a situation far beyond his everyday experience, Hiro becomes a reluctant participant in a strange adventure he will not soon forget.