Du Jie, who had been in the spotlight as a cinematographer for blockbuster commercial films in China such as “No Man’s Land” (2013), “Savage” (2018), and “Moon Man” (2022), emigrated to Japan three years ago where he completed his directorial debut, “The Height of Coconut Trees”. According to the director, the film is inspired by the true story of a friend whose solo travel was mistaken for a suicide, a beautiful yet sorrowful misunderstanding. The dialogue scenes are a reenactment of a talk event that actually took place during the “Sazanami” – a Japan-China contemporary artist relay exhibition (during the Kenji Chiga exhibition). The content of the dialogue and the exhibition images are excerpts from Kenji Chiga’s art book “Hijack Geni” and are based on real events.

The Height of the Coconut Tree is screening at Busan International Film Festival

The story follows two couples. Aoki is working as a cook in a...