Japan Cannes winner hopes film an inspiration

TOKYO, June 11 (Reuters) Japanese movie director Naomi Kawase, who won the Grand Prix at this year's Cannes Film Festival, hopes her win will inspire other Japanese directors in a domestic industry dominated by horror and animated films.

Kawase's movie, ''The Mourning Forest,'' has been acclaimed for its lyrical take on mourning and grief, but her status as an independent director means she faces an uphill struggle for funding in the nation that gave the world noted directors such as Akira Kurosawa.

''I believe I can give hope to other people in the industry ... that there are possibilities for independent directors like me,'' Kawase told Reuters on Monday. The Cannes Film Festival ended late last month.

Earlier, the 38-year-old director told a news conference that even though the popularity of Japanese films is rising so much that they made more profit at home than foreign imports last year, films such as hers are still fighting for support.

''It's a fact that they (Japanese movies) are doing better, but that's mainly because they are remakes of television dramas, comics, or horror movies,'' she said.

''My movies are the kind that demand that viewers pay attention -- that echo and gradually reach their hearts -- and not so many people go to theatres to see these.'' This is not Kawase's first Cannes prize. In 1997, her movie ''Suzaku,'' a family drama that like ''The Mourning Forest'' was set in her native Nara, in western Japan, won the Camera D'Or prize.

''The Mourning Forest'' -- Mogari no Mori in Japanese -- is the story of an elderly man with Alzheimer's disease and a young woman who has lost her child and becomes his care worker.

The two travel through a forest to the grave of the man's wife, overcoming obstacles along the way. Trailers show the two walking through a tea field and struggling along a muddy path in pouring rain.

Kawase said she hoped viewers would learn kindness and a new way of handling difficulties -- which she said could help people around the world overcome religious and cultural differences.

''If sad things happen, you shouldn't be sad about them or fight them, but vow to make the world a better place for children still to be born. That's my message,'' she said.

Kawase's movie will open on June 23, but only in a few theatres in the Tokyo area. It will later be released throughout the nation, but is currently set to be shown in only slightly over two dozen theatres, according to the movie's web page.

Last week, Kawase met Trade Minister Akira Amari and urged him to promote the nation's film industry by bringing the economy and culture closer together, a message she reiterated on Monday.

''What we really need to do is change public awareness so original movies become fashionable,'' she said.

''I need to make use of my movie winning the prize, to make it a kind of turning point.'' REUTERS SKB RN1432