Love Hotel

The love hotel industry, accounting for annual revenue of $ 40 billion and staple of nearly every travel documentary about Japan, is a curiosity that is still shrouded in mystery. For many foreigners, the love hotels symbolize the split personality of the Japanese, but what really happens behind the relay shutters and in the hearts of their visitors remains hidden. That is until now, because this documentary provides a revealing and simultaneously heartwarming look at the core of Japanese desires. Desires that disappear in the conformism of daily commuting and the concrete jungle of the metropolis. This film offers a unique look behind the scenes as well as a window onto the fortunes of the staff in an industry that is heavily attacked in Japan by an increasingly conservative government. In one room a SM mistress tames her slave, in the other an elderly man writes a love letter to his neighbor, meanwhile the hotel owner smokes his cigarette in his small office brooding heavily.

This documentary is a real eye opener, even for Japan connoisseurs, and therefore had to be part of the festival program.

We are honored to have Giovanna Stopponi, the Italian producer, join us for the screening. In her Q & A she will give us so an extra look behind the scenes of this behind the scenes documentary.

All images: © 2014 “Love Hotel”