A young photographer with his approaching death struggles

to convince his partner to let him leave in happiness instead of sorrow.

Val and Mia, an early 30s couple living at a studio in a snowy mountain, have established their reputation as photographers of funeral photos on instant film which has unique emotionality and warmth. About to get married, one day Val gets a call from a customer as usual, but the call turns out one from himself, asking for his funeral photo. Mia notices the absence of customers, Val’s weirdly pensive attitude, and refusal to her marriage offer, while Val struggles to admit his approaching death and constantly sees a vision of losing Mia. 

As Mia gets extremely frustrated and doubtful about Val’s love, Val finally unveils the truth about his life. Shocked, Mia refuses to take a photo and let Val leave, while Val tries to force her to take his funeral picture as they have done for the customers. Val even takes a selfie on his camera, but the photo does not have that emotionality and warmth. Val rushes to leave the world, while Mia refuses to let Val go. Both lost in despair, Val’s final moment mercilessly approaches, but it is the matter of time that they must realize the most simple but always forgotten fact of a human life.

Subaru “VAL” Furuhata (by Taiga Masuya)

Succeeding to his parents’ business, Val in his early 30s has photographed those who prepare for their or their family’s funerals on instant film for more than 10 years. Living at a studio in a snowy mountain, he takes a unique method in his job; the customers get interviews with some questions regarding their lives, relationships, and family histories, so that they can achieve some wholesome, emotional moments that Val can capture. Collaborating with Mia, his girlfriend and the “interviewer” at his job, Val’s caring, diligent, and professional attitude has attracted many customers, hence a stable and satisfying life even at a remote house in the countryside. Now that his career gets seasoned, he starts to consider getting married with Mia, noticing the similar intention from her side.

MIA Woods (by TBD)

Growing up with Val at the same high school, Mia has been always by Val’s side as his bestie. Mesmerized by the power of photography that captures memories and emotion, she started partnering with Val at his job and even began to live with him in a remote cottage despite her parents’ persistent objections. Her honesty, openness, and strong compassion certainly give Val’s pictures life through her choices in words and expressions during the interview to the customers. Her love of her career extends to Val, who inspired her life choice, and she secretly carved wooden marriage rings to reveal her will to get married with Val at the 10 year anniversary of their relationship.

A life is a continuous cycle of parting, such as moving from a hometown, graduation from schools, and separation from someone important to our lives. I happen to face a number of partings in my 20+ years of life, including moving among different cities in Japan, leaving my home country and family as an international student, and surviving the 3.11 Earthquake to witness a huge change of my surroundings. Many of my directorial works in fact dealt with the emotional and philosophical complexity of life rooted in various partings, exemplified the most by a short, “MINIFIG,” which story was largely based on the most devastating memory of my experiences of parting: the loss of my mother.

I created the story of MINIFIG out of my own perspective of the one who must let go of the person who leaves and successfully captured the harsh reality of death while preserving the hope to live and familial love. The process of making MINIFIG further questioned me what my mom was thinking when she departed, which connected me with the idea of PLATFORM, the similar story of a dying person but from the perspective of the one who must part. 

PLATFORM has a strong emphasis on photographic elements from characters’ identity to cinematographic language, which constantly remind audiences of moments and memories in life. Furthermore, by having a surrealistic plot that enables the story to indicate different types of parting experience rather than confining events only to life and death, PLATFORM explores how ignorant and unprepared we are to let go of something precious to you, which leads to unwanted harm and misunderstandings, but also how miraculous and beautiful it is to live and spend time together with the ones you love.

By presenting this narrative, I would love to establish a reminder of our life with people you love as a worthless moment, which I believe is quite important because humans are naturally susceptible to forget appreciating its importance when being consumed with time for your job, getting so emotional at one moment, judging someone negatively at once, or simply taking everything for granted. As a person who learned this preciousness of my own life time with my family and friends via the hardest possible memories, I feel obligated to tell this story and hope that audiences find new happiness in their lives.

--- TAPIO TOKUNAGA, director

I. PHOTOGRAPHIC ELEMENTS

PLATFORM employs "photographic" concepts in its cinematography by utilizing photographic still frame and POV from the prop camera, in its production design by showcasing instant films and retro-design instant camera, and in its character setting as a photographer, to emphasize the preservation of memories and the retrospect of something/someone in pictures, which sometimes leads to the reincarnation of happy moments but sometimes ends up in sorrowful reflection of life.

II. SUREALISTIC PLOT

Although PLATFORM follows the character whose death is inevitably approaching, the surrealism in plot, such as mysterious phone calls from the character himself and a remote photo studio deep in a snowy mountain, expands its meaning: the film's concept of "leaving/parting" will universally appeal not only to someone's death, but also to moving to a different countries, loss of your hometown, and growing up as an adult from younger self.

III. CHARACTER STUDY

While employing a particular visual style and story involved with surrealism, the core of the emotion lies in the character study. Our methodology always prioritize what the characters achieve from their inner core from their blocking, dialogues, and subtle expressions, which preserves the natural sense of emotionality and deep immersion into the character's life within the duration of a short film.

IV. INCORPORATION OF THE NATURE

The nature always has extremely complex mixtures of life and death, cruelty and generosity, light and darkness, and freedom and restriction. By constantly showing the natural elements, such as the trees, snow, and changing weather, we would like to achieve the sense of uncontrollable reality and the fragility and worthlessness of a life moment.

• PRE-PRODUCTION ------------------ Oct. 2024 〜 Feb. 2025
• CROWDFUNDING ------------------- Jan. 2025 〜 Feb. 2025
• PRICIPAL PHOTOGRAPHY ------ Mar. 2025
• POST-PRODUCTION ---------------- Apr. 2025 〜 Jul. 2025
• FESTIVAL CIRCUIT ------------------ Jul. 2025 〜

We are currently in the pre-production phase of our short film and are working hard to bring this vision to life. With your support, we aim to complete the production and create a film we can all be proud of.

Our goal is to submit this film to renowned film festivals worldwide, showcasing it to audiences in the United States, Asia, and other regions. By presenting the film on an international stage, we hope to foster thoughtful discussions and connect with viewers who resonate with its story.

Our production scale is extremely small and does not have a huge financial sponsor for this project either at the moment. Especially to cover travel/location cost, gear cost, and production design cost, We need to raise funds from crowdfunding to produce the film at a quality we can be satisfied with and to ensure fair compensation for all the team members, valuing their contributions and avoiding any exploitation of their efforts. Your support will help us achieve these goals and bring our vision to life.

If we exceed our funding goal, the additional funds will be used to enhance the film’s production value through more ample gear, better and more ideal location choices, more detailed production design, and finer post-production process. Furthermore, we would be able to submit the film to more film festivals worldwide and provide extra resources to our team to ensure their hard work is recognized and rewarded even further.

Support our project by pledging on this campaign page and sharing our Instagram @platformshort2025. Follow us for exciting updates, including cast and crew profiles, location scouting, costume design, and our second language shooting process. DM us to share your story and be featured on our Instagram—we love spotlighting young filmmakers and artists!