Blanka
Kohki Hasei
»I’ve seen adults buying children. Just because I‘m a kid, can I not buy myself a mother?«
Blanka battles her way through life as a street child in Manila. She lives in a small shack made from cardboard boxes and manages to make ends meet through pickpocketing and sharp tricks. She takes no nonsense in her dealings with the groups of lads in her neighbourhood. When the eleven-year-old sees an actress on TV with her adopted children, she hatches a plan: »If you can buy children, then I can buy myself a mother, too.« By chance, the girl meets blind street musician Peter. He recognises the beauty of Blanka’s singing voice, and they strike up as a busking duo, actually enjoying enough success to finally afford a proper bed for the night and enough to eat. But it’s not long before she slips back into life on the streets once again. Peter finds out about Blanka’s dream, and they end up having a fight. Blanka then goes off.
Awards for ›Blanka‹ (Selection)
First Prize International Competition / ECFA-Award (European Children’s Film Association) – Tel Aviv International Children’s Film Festival 2016 | Human Values Award – Olympia International Film Festival for Children and Young People, Pyrgos 2015 | Best Children’s Feature Film – Carrousel international du film, Rimouski, Kanada 2016 | Lanterna Magica (CGS) Award – Venice International Film Festival 2015 | Best Children’s Film – Cinekid Festival, Amsterdam 2016
Kohki Hasei
After finishing high school in 1994, Kohki Hasei moved to Tokyo and began working in the city’s art scene. In 1998, he founded the »Obscure Gallery«. His first documentary film W/O was shown at numerous film festivals in 2001, with the Seoul Net Festival (SeNef) in South Korea awarding it the Digital Express Prize. In 2007, Haseis’ second film Godog was released, for which he spent several weeks on a landfill in Manila and which won the Short Film Prize at the Kustendorf Film Festival in Serbia.
Films by Kohki Hasei
Godog 2007 | W/O 2001