Kimi Takesue

Synopsis

Eight-year old Juliette sits at the side of the local pool waiting for another lonely summer day to pass when an unexpected Japanese couple arrives. Fascinated by the mysterious black-clad woman and her yakuza assistant, Juliette transforms an ordinary day into an imaginative adventure, embarking on a surreal journey of discovery.

PRESS

"Kimi Takesue’s SUMMER OF THE SERPENT is lulling, hypnotic and gorgeous. Exploring and subverting the appeal of Asiatic mystery, it beautifully evokes the steaming daydreams of summer."
          - Sam Adams, Philadelphia City Paper

"Witty and winsome."
          - Steven Rea, The Philadelphia Inquirer

"New Yorker Kimi Takesue traveled to Rotterdam with SUMMER OF THE SERPENT, a charming short about a strange encounter at a swimming pool. Keep an eye on the talented Takesue."
          - V.A. Musetto, New York Post

"Heralds the emergence of a major filmmaker...creates an alluring cinematic space built around the tensions and mysteries of a silent exchange of gazes, the suspense generated by the discovery of the unknown and the rhythm that springs from the editing and the imaginative use of music."
          - Berenice Reynaud, California Institute of the Arts

"Recommended."
          - Library Journal

"The latest short from award winner Kimi Takesue is the elegantly shot, richly textured, brilliantly acted story of Juliette, a young girl with big brown eyes and a frown watching the summer pass by. Short on swimming skills she is stuck at the community pool suntanning with Mom. When a woman in black arrives with her enigmatic servant, Juliette glimpses a new world of possibility."
          - Vancouver International Film Festival

SELEcTED SCREENINGS

Rotterdam International Film Festival, Netherlands
Vancouver International Film Festival, Canada
Tampere International Short Film Festival, Finland
Festival Internat'l de Films de Femmes, Créteil, France
Kerala International Flm Festival, India
Cork International Short Film Festival, Ireland
Drama International Short Film Festival, Greece
Hamptons International Film Festival, NY
Cleveland International Film Festival, OH
Philadelphia International Film Festival, PA
Brisbane International Film Festival, Australia
Walker Art Center, "Women with Vision", MN
Hawai’i International Film Festival, HI
San Francisco Asian International Film Festival, CA
Arizona International Film Festival, Phoenix
Rhode Island International Film Festival, Providence
Los Angeles Asian International Film Festival, CA
Toronto Reel Asian Film Festival, Canada
Boston Asian Film Festival, MA
Asian Pacific American Film Festival, Washington, DC
Florida Film Festival, Maitland    
Rehoboth Independent Film Festival, DE
Kansas City Jubilee Film Festival, MO
Newport Film Festival, CA
Delray Beach Film Festival, FL
Black Lily Film and Music Festival, Philadelphia
Multicultural Film Fest., University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Society for Cinema Studies Conference, Vancouver
Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, OR
Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, China
Hawai’i State Art Museum, Honolulu
Japan Society, Japan Cuts Film Series, NY, NY

Credits

Cast

Joyce Perrone
Keiichi Kondoh
Sarah Zhang
Kelly Kunik
Willem Zuur
Charles Slowey II

Production Team

Writer, Director, Producer: Kimi Takesue
Co-Producer: Jeffrey Wolfe, Scott Johnston
Associate Producer: Richard Beenen
Director of Photography: Robert Sciretta
Editors: Kimi Takesue & Malcolm Hearn
Costume Design: Lisa Frucht
Production Company: Kimikat Productions
In Association with: Wolfe Productions