Director Yukari Sakamoto Unpacks San Sebastián New Directors Title ‘White Flower and Fruits’

In the opening moments of Yukari Sakamoto’s “White Flower and Fruits,” which premieres in San Sebastián’s New Directors competition, a girl climbs a school tower clutching a strip of white fabric. We cut to Anna, played by newcomer Miro, as she arrive at a Protestant girls boarding school, as a quiet transfer student. Her mother warning her “This school is your last chance.”

Inside a Last Supper painting hangs in an austere room of dark wood chairs and cotton clothed tables: It’s a place that runs on autonomy and discipline. Formal order frames the story of three students whose lives are upended by an act of sudden loss.

Anna is withdrawn and set apart by her ability to see ghosts. Her roommate, Rika (Nico Aoto), is her opposite: admired, graceful, seemingly perfect. During a ribbon dance rehearsal, the lights flicker, “Sorry,” Anna whispers to the wall, acknowledging…