Hannari - Geisha Modern

HANNARI - GEISHA MODERN is a documentary film, narrated in English by Maxwell Caulfield, with interviews in Japanese with English subtitles. It is truly unique in its approach and unprecedented in its access to the exclusive geishas of Kyoto.

A selection of the United Nations’ International Film Festival and the Film Festival “Show biz Japan in L.A.”

There have been numerous documentaries on the geisha, which were limited to educating the audience through narration and interviews with scholars. This film’s approach is much more visual and aural, allowing the audience to take in the atmosphere through the images, the sounds of the instrument and the soft, melodic dialect spoken by the geisha.

The producer/director, Miyuki Sohara, has trained alongside the geisha in Kyoto, working for several years to cultivate relationships within the geisha community. Her efforts garnered her film crew a level of support no other film/TV crew has ever been granted.

Many of the popular films and stories about the Geisha tend to perpetuate the unwelcome notion that those who become geisha are victims of circumstance. Hannari - Geisha Modern shows the Geisha as dedicated artists and proud purveyors of Japanese tradition in their full glory.

For the first time in history, all Geisha districts in Kyoto were filmed.

Yuki, a geisha who married the nephew of J. P. Morgan 100 years ago.

Makoto pursues two careers as a geisha and as a jazz singer today.

The sprit of hospitality and the subdued beauty of the Geisha of Kyoto. Feel the beauty of the old and new Japan through the world of the Geisha.