TOEI Video announced that its sci-fi comedy film Life of Mariko in Kabukicho has won the White Raven Award at the 40th Brussels International Fantastic Film Festival.

Directed by Eiji Uchida (The Naked Director) and Shinzo Katayama (Siblings of the Cave), Life of Mariko in Kabukicho tells the story of 28-year-old Mariko. She runs a detective business while running a bar in Shinjuku.  Having secrets about her past, Mariko serves her regular customers. One day, the FBI visits her and asks her to search for an alien. Some stories are described separately, and eventually, these come to be related to each other, and then there will be offbeat laughter and an emotional ending.

Eiji Uchida said, “I collaborated with Director Katayama. I did all I wanted to do in this film. It was fun to shoot, and the completed work turned out to be a bit strange. Stay tuned for it.”

Shinzo Katayama added, “One day, I received a message from Director Uchida, and he said, ‘Shall we make short films together?’ His thought was to compose a film with the stories of several directors. I had believed that it must be interesting, and additionally, since he said, “short films,” I casually accepted his suggestion without a doubt. As we talked about various things, some cool ideas came out. Although this film has turned out to be the ‘feature film’ by Director Uchida and me, I’m sure that it is funny, silly and full of modern matters. In this film show up the Ninja, the FBI, an alien and more. I hope you enjoy it!”