Hikikomori

HIKIKOMORI tells the story of a young woman who has been in a state of voluntary isolation for five years. We accompany her in her struggle with her inner and outer demons, with her loneliness and fantasy, with nightmares and a hostile outside world.

We are familiar with the phenomenon "hikikomori" from Japan. In Japan an estimated one million people now live in a state of complete isolation from the outside world. The cause is usually a traumatic experience, coupled with high social pressure and social expectations.

Our protagonist lives in her three-room apartment in a large city in Germany. She has settled in well: In her world, different laws prevail. The boundary between reality and fantasy has been torn down. Her identity is increasingly dissolving, her imagination alternately becomes friend and foe - which doesn't bother her much: the strategies of repression are too deeply ingrained. If only there weren't this omnipresent outside! The neighbor who constantly brings over soup. The mother who desperately tries to save her. And the pack of policemen who stand outside the door and simply won't leave. Until the situation escalates.