GREAT HAPPINESS SPACE - TALE OF AN OSAKA LOVE THIEF

DC Premiere

Who says money can't buy happiness? At Club Rakkyo in Osaka Japan, it is for sale, and customers compete to pay for it. The purveyors of love are young and oh-so hip, favoring blonde highlights on their expertly coiffed just-rolled-out-of-bed hair. On average they make $10,000 a month-the hottest hosts, like the fabulous club owner Issei, rake in up to $50,000 a month. The hosts at Rakkyo are straight men, and their clients are attractive, fun-loving young women, who seem to have cash to burn. The women spend $1,000 a night-sometimes ten times that-to win the temporary affections of a charmer like Issei. Sex is not involved, only the joyous illusion of love and affection, paid for by the glass.

Here's how it works: clients pay to sit at certain tables, and then buy romantic company with $500 "Champagne Calls" in which an entire bottle is poured into a giant glowing pitcher and chugged-as music pounds, strobe lights flash and the crowd cheers.

The girls are showered with attentive compliments. According to Issei, "when girls don't get attention, they try to solve their problem with money." The women are seeking emotional healing-a kind of disco therapy. But where in the world do twenty-somethings get all that cash?

First-time director Jake Clennell has captured the glamorous, glossy emptiness of contemporary Japanese culture with an empathetic eye. His film invites you to enter the great happiness space-there are no judgments here and the rules of the game are clear. Step inside the circle of cash for comfort.

-Patricia Finneran

DIRECTOR BIO
Jake Clennell is an English-born filmmaker and cinematographer based out of New York City. THE GREAT HAPPINESS SPACE - TALE OF AN OSAKA LOVE THIEF is his feature documentary debut. Jake has traveled extensively throughout the world working on a diverse range of TV and film projects, ranging from music films with Mariah Carey to documentaries including hostage negotiations with Saddam Hussein and the former boxer Muhammad Ali during the first Gulf War.

Print Source:
Jake Clennell, d/b/a Jake Clennell Productions
130 Water Street
Apt 8J
New York, NY 10005
212.514.6062
contact@thegreathappinessspace.com

PRECEDED BY...INTIMACY OF STRANGERS
Eva Weber
UK, 2005, 20 MINUTES

A story of life, love, loss and hope-told entirely through the overheard mobile phone conversations of random strangers. A people-watcher's delight.

Print Source:
Hemant Sharda, National Film and Television School (UK)
Beaconsfield Studios, Station Road
Beaconsfield, Bucks, HP9 1LG
UK
+44.1497.731.452
festivals@nftsfilm-tv.ac.uk

6/16 at 8:00 PM

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