Experiencing Interruptions?

95 AND 6 TO GO

In this affectionate portrait, filmmaker Kimi Takesue finds an unlikely collaborator while visiting her grandfather Tom in Hawai’i. A recent widower in his 90s, Tom seems content to go about his daily routines until he shows surprising interest in his granddaughter’s screenplay. In alternately funny and poignant discussions, Kimi’s fictional love story – and Tom’s creative revisions – soon serve as a vehicle for his past memories of love and loss to surface.
(DOC NYC)

  • Kimi Takesue
    Director
    WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME (2010) in competition at LAFF; LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE (2013); THAT WHICH ONCE WAS (2011); SUSPENDED (2009); E=NYC2 (2005); SUMMER OF THE SERPENT (2004); HEAVEN'S CROSSROAD (2002); ROSEWATER (2000); BOUND (1995)
  • Kimi Takesue
    Producer
    WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME? (2010) in competition at LAFF; LOOKING FOR ADVENTURE (2013); THAT WHICH ONCE WAS (2011); SUSPENDED (2009); E=NYC2 (2005); SUMMER OF THE SERPENT (2004); HEAVEN'S CROSSROAD (2002); ROSEWATER (2000); BOUND (1995)
  • Kimi Takesue
    Cinematography
  • Kimi Takesue
    Editor
  • Richard Beenen
    Co-Producer
    Where Are You Taking Me; Looking For Adventure; The Next Stop Is
  • Thomas Takesue
    Key Cast
  • Ethel Kimie Takesue
    Key Cast
  • Project Type:
    Documentary
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 25 minutes
  • Completion Date:
    October 22, 2016
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    4:3
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
  • Doclisboa
    Lisbon
    Portugal
    October 22, 2016
    World Premiere: International Competition
  • DOC NYC
    New York City
    United States
    November 12, 2016
    North American Premiere
  • Hawaii International Film Festival
    Honolulu
    United States
    November 5, 2016
  • RIDM: Montreal International Documentary Film Festival
    Montreal
    Canada
    November 18, 2016
    Canadian Premiere
  • CPH:DOX
    Copenhagen
    Denmark
    March 23, 2017
  • CAAM Fest
    San Francisco
    United States
    March 19, 2017
  • BAFICI
    Buenos Aires
    Argentina
    April 22, 2017
    Latin American premiere
  • Los Angeles Asian Pacific International Film Festival
    Los Angeles
    United States
    May 3, 2017
    Special Jury Prize: Best Documentary Feature
  • Krakow Film Festival
    Krakow
    Poland
    June 1, 2017
  • FID:Marseille
    Marseille
    France
    July 14, 2017
  • Open City Documentary Film Festival
    London
    United Kingdom
    September 7, 2017
Distribution Information
  • Kimikat Productions
    Country: United States
Director Biography - Kimi Takesue

Kimi Takesue is an award-winning filmmaker and the recipient of the John Simon Guggenheim Fellowship in Film. Other honors include a Rockefeller Media Arts Fellowship, two artist fellowships from NYFA, a Kodak Cinematography Fellowship, a CAAM Fellowship (Center for Asian American Media), and grants from the ITVS, Ford Foundation, Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, NYSCA, The Arts Council of England and artist fellowships at Yaddo and the MacDowell Colony.

Takesue’s critically acclaimed Ugandan feature-length documentary WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME? was commissioned by the International Film Festival Rotterdam and premiered at the festival, followed by screenings at the Museum of Modern Art,-NYC, the LA Film Festival, and festivals in Sweden, Switzerland, Italy, Uganda, Poland, Portugal and India, among others. WHERE ARE YOU TAKING ME? was theatrically released by Icarus Films, was a Critics’ Pick by Time Out-New York and LA Weekly and was described by Variety as, “Beautifully meditative...an uplifting observational documentary that plays on seeing and being seen.”

Takesue’s films have screened at many film festivals and museums internationally including Sundance, New Directors/ New Films, Locarno, Rotterdam, SXSW, Los Angeles Film Festival, Mar del Plata, London’s ICA, Shanghai Museum of Contemporary Art, the Walker Art Center, and the Museum of Modern Art-NYC and have aired on PBS, IFC, Comcast, and the Sundance Channel.

Film honors include BEST SHORT DOCUMENTARY, Philadelphia Festival of World Cinema; SPIRIT OF SLAMDANCE AWARD, Slamdance Film Festival; ITVS Futurestates AUDIENCE AWARD; GRAND JURY PRIZE, Brooklyn International Film Festival; GOLD MEDAL & GRAND JURY PRIZE, Brno International Film Festival, Czech Republic; JURORS’ CHOICE AWARD (1st place), Black Maria Film and Video Festival; BEST NARRATIVE SHORT, San Diego Asian Film Festival; and the GOLDEN REEL: NEW VISIONS AWARD, Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival.

Takesue's films are distributed by Women Make Movies and Icarus Films.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement

While growing up in Hawai’i, I never knew my Japanese-American grandfather, Tom Takesue, harbored creative interests. Throughout my life, I never saw him read a novel or talk about art. For me, he existed on the fringes, literally and emotionally; he was a pragmatic, hard-working, authoritarian grandfather who consistently reinforced the importance of family obligation and a steady job.
Unlike my grandfather who had limited educational and career opportunities, I was able to pursue artistic and filmmaking ambitions. When I was at the peak of development on my first feature film project, a cross-cultural love story, I was shocked when my grandfather became intrigued with the screenplay. While slurping noodles or munching on toast, he offered suggestions about a catchy title and happy ending.
In 2007, after the death of my grandmother, I returned to Hawai’i from New York City to provide support and assistance. He was far from sentimental about her death, already keen to find a new companion. The optimism surrounding my feature film project had faded as I waited for the producers to secure financing. My grandfather expressed his deepest fear of dying alone.
We were both in periods of transition and emotional loss. During this time, we finally came to know one another; I offered him company and he offered advice on my film project. His frank critiques sub-consciously reflected his own concerns about love, aging, and the recent death of his wife. He also shared personal stories of a life filled with loss and regret, in stark contrast to the romantic and idealized ideas he generated for my screenplay. When his imagination was unleashed, through the film project, he became animated and filled with vitality.
Although his imagination was piqued by the screenplay he shared increasing skepticism about my feature film coming to fruition, warning me to move on with my life: “If you wait for this film, you will wait forever.”
Life and artistic paths are never straight and clear-digressions and setbacks sometimes lead to great discoveries. 95 AND 6 TO GO explores personal and creative loss and how that is countered with perseverance. It is a film about unrealized ambitions and the ways we find solutions to disappointments. The film also explores how my grandfather moves from resistance, to involvement, and even encouragement to make a film about him.
95 AND 6 TO GO is a film about an unlikely artistic collaboration between a granddaughter and grandfather and how an inter-generational bond is deepened through art.