The Cinema and the Lover (Kinema to Koibito) / Satoshi Tsumabuki, Tamaki Ogawa

Keralino Sandrovich sweeps Japan’s major drama awards for 2016

The Cinema and the Lover (Kinema to Koibito) / Satoshi Tsumabuki, Tamaki Ogawa
A movie freak Haruko Moriguchi (Tamaki Ogawa) talks to a promising movie actor Takasuke Takagi (Satoshi Tsumabuki)

The leading playwright and director Keralino Sandrovich has scooped four of Japan’s top theatre prizes for his works in 2016 including the nonsensical comedy “Hitler, in the last 2,000 years there is almost nothing there” and his latest fantastical comedy, “The Cinema and the Lover,” inspired by Woody Allen’s 1985 masterpiece, “The Purple Rose of Cairo.”

In his speech at the March 24 ceremony for the 4th Hayakawa Tragedy Comedy Award — which he’s won along with the 51st Kinokuniya Drama Award, the 68th Yomiuri Prize for Drama and the Best Director category of the 24th Yomiuri Drama Award — the 54-year-old who founded his Nylon 100℃ company in 1993, said: “I am so pleased to win the award for this production as a whole (rather than for writing or directing).

“I really believe “The Cinema and the Lover” deserves this honor … (because) the Hayakawa Tragedy Comedy Award is only given to one work every year, and I think this is a perfect recipient as it has elements of both tragedy and comedy.”
On top of his Hayakawa honor, there was more good news came for Sandrovich when a spokesman for Setagaya Public Theatre announced during the ceremony that the prestigious Tokyo venue was inviting the production back for another season.
Later, commenting on his work to date, Keralino said, “So far, I’ve been creating different types of plays one after another as if I was playing pinball. Now I’d like take my time more and dig into a theme more deeply for a year or two before switching to the next one.”