Su Yu Chun is a graduate of Tokyo University of the Arts. “It's Not that Pig's Problem” was awarded in Pia Film Festival in 2021. After shooting the short “Down the Road”, he came up with her debut feature, “Inch Forward”, which is her graduation project.
On the occasion of Inch Forward screening at Osaka International Film Festival, we speak with her about films-about-films, the inspiration behind the film and the development of the script, the reason so many Japanese movies have scenes at the sea, Nobuhiro Suwa appearing in the movie and other topics.
The film-about-films category has become quite popular lately. What do you like particularly in this style of movie and why did you choose to shoot one?
I probably prefer the film set to the film. I like metafictional films and I wanted to make a metafictional film from the first planning stage.
Is the story autobiographical?...
On the occasion of Inch Forward screening at Osaka International Film Festival, we speak with her about films-about-films, the inspiration behind the film and the development of the script, the reason so many Japanese movies have scenes at the sea, Nobuhiro Suwa appearing in the movie and other topics.
The film-about-films category has become quite popular lately. What do you like particularly in this style of movie and why did you choose to shoot one?
I probably prefer the film set to the film. I like metafictional films and I wanted to make a metafictional film from the first planning stage.
Is the story autobiographical?...
- 3/14/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Films about films have been coming in abundance from the Japanese movie industry lately, with the particular meta approach forming something of a trend but also circumventing the difficulties script-writing always presents. Su Yu Chun tries her hand in the category through a film that takes a rather realistic view on indie filmmaking.
Inch Forward is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
The story follows Kiriko, a young indie filmmaker who is struggling to make a road movie that ends on a beach, which, considering how much of a cliche both have become in the Japanese movie industry, emerges as hilariously ironic. However, the problems come one after the other, while her producer, Takimoto, is not exactly eager to give her a break. Location scouting proves a disaster, also financially, the actress Kiriko and Takimoto had in mind to play the leading role is nowhere to be found, the latter...
Inch Forward is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival
The story follows Kiriko, a young indie filmmaker who is struggling to make a road movie that ends on a beach, which, considering how much of a cliche both have become in the Japanese movie industry, emerges as hilariously ironic. However, the problems come one after the other, while her producer, Takimoto, is not exactly eager to give her a break. Location scouting proves a disaster, also financially, the actress Kiriko and Takimoto had in mind to play the leading role is nowhere to be found, the latter...
- 3/7/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
No reasonably intelligent person imagines an artist’s statement about the horrors in Gaza would, in fact, end those horrors, but there are always limits to what one can take and hopes for what one could do. It might even be said that, as observers of the world and human behavior, filmmakers are especially inclined to recoil. When I interviewed Pedro Costa last month he spoke, unprompted, of a situation that’s only grown worse: “It’s very clear that we cannot stand images anymore. I can’t. I can’t. The images of the world for me [Exhales] I can’t. I turn my eyes, and I’m sure you do the same. It’s unbearable.” When I spoke with Anthony Dod Mantle a couple of weeks later it, again, emerged––vis-a-vis The Zone of Interest, whose own cinematographer alluded to it the next day. It’s difficult being a person in the world,...
- 12/29/2023
- by Nick Newman
- The Film Stage
Having run for over twenty years, the UK’s largest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP24), returns with its biggest showcase ever for 2024.
Memories play a powerful role in the mind. Shaped fluidly by individuals or time, they have been a source of inspiration for many filmmakers, fuelling their creativity to craft colourful stories. Under the theme ‘Unforgettable: Memories, Times and Reflections in Japanese Cinema’ the JFTFP24 delves into Japanese cinema to explore how memories are employed in the cinematic voices of Japanese filmmakers, from films where memories are a focal point to works where they play a subliminal role in driving or affecting people’s minds and behaviour. With an incredibly diverse range of films all based on memories, time, and reflections, this year’s programme is set to provide UK audiences with memorable stories and unforgettable moments.
Under this theme the packed programme...
Memories play a powerful role in the mind. Shaped fluidly by individuals or time, they have been a source of inspiration for many filmmakers, fuelling their creativity to craft colourful stories. Under the theme ‘Unforgettable: Memories, Times and Reflections in Japanese Cinema’ the JFTFP24 delves into Japanese cinema to explore how memories are employed in the cinematic voices of Japanese filmmakers, from films where memories are a focal point to works where they play a subliminal role in driving or affecting people’s minds and behaviour. With an incredibly diverse range of films all based on memories, time, and reflections, this year’s programme is set to provide UK audiences with memorable stories and unforgettable moments.
Under this theme the packed programme...
- 12/21/2023
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme, the U.K.’s largest festival of Japanese cinema, will take to the road in February and March. Its 2024 selection is the event’s largest ever with much of it attuned to the theme of memories, times and reflections.
“The JFTFP24 delves into Japanese cinema to explore how memories are employed in the cinematic voices of Japanese filmmakers, from films where memories are a focal point to works where they play a subliminal role in driving or affecting people’s minds and behavior,” said organizers.
The festival will run Feb. 2 – Mar. 31 and take in 30 U.K. cities including Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford, Orkney, Exeter and York.
Program highlights include: the U.K. premiere of “Shadow of Fire,” directed by festival favorite Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man); a new entry in Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno genre, “Hand”; visually stunning anime “Lonely Castle in the Mirror,...
“The JFTFP24 delves into Japanese cinema to explore how memories are employed in the cinematic voices of Japanese filmmakers, from films where memories are a focal point to works where they play a subliminal role in driving or affecting people’s minds and behavior,” said organizers.
The festival will run Feb. 2 – Mar. 31 and take in 30 U.K. cities including Edinburgh, Manchester, Oxford, Orkney, Exeter and York.
Program highlights include: the U.K. premiere of “Shadow of Fire,” directed by festival favorite Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man); a new entry in Nikkatsu’s Roman Porno genre, “Hand”; visually stunning anime “Lonely Castle in the Mirror,...
- 12/20/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Receiving its world premiere in Pingyao International Film Festival’s Crouching Tigers section, Zhang Yu’s feature debut Killing The Violet is the story of a woman dealing with the aftermath of being raped after a man breaks into her apartment.
At first she appears completely calm and assures her live-in boyfriend that there is nothing to worry about. But slowly she starts to question herself and the world around her starts to disintegrate. One of the first walls to crack is her ambition to be a writer and her feelings towards her father, a famous novelist who is comatose following a stroke, but still appears to enjoy sexual relations with his younger wife.
Zhang is a Shanghai-based director and screenwriter who made Killing The Violet as her graduation film at Tokyo University of the Arts. Produced by her classmate Lu Yanqing, the film is co-written by Zhang and Marina Kikuchi.
At first she appears completely calm and assures her live-in boyfriend that there is nothing to worry about. But slowly she starts to question herself and the world around her starts to disintegrate. One of the first walls to crack is her ambition to be a writer and her feelings towards her father, a famous novelist who is comatose following a stroke, but still appears to enjoy sexual relations with his younger wife.
Zhang is a Shanghai-based director and screenwriter who made Killing The Violet as her graduation film at Tokyo University of the Arts. Produced by her classmate Lu Yanqing, the film is co-written by Zhang and Marina Kikuchi.
- 10/18/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
The 2023 Chanel X Biff Asian Film Academy has come to a close with the graduation ceremony and screening of the two short films produced by the fellows over the 20 days. This year’s edition presented a strengthened educational program by extending the program period from 18 to 20 days to secure additional time for pre-production and feedback, enhancing the quality of the projects, and introducing a ‘script doctor’, a screenplay specialist, to the line-up of instructors, in addition to the original faculty of dean, directing mentor, and cinematography mentor.
From hands-on training to get familiarized with filming equipment to a masterclass session by the dean, director Suwa Nobuhiro, which will provide insight into his experience and expertise, and workshops to better understand the film industry, such as MPA-bafa Film Workshop: Bridge to Hollywood, the practical programs and mentoring by the faculty, who are deeply invested in the future of the film industry,...
From hands-on training to get familiarized with filming equipment to a masterclass session by the dean, director Suwa Nobuhiro, which will provide insight into his experience and expertise, and workshops to better understand the film industry, such as MPA-bafa Film Workshop: Bridge to Hollywood, the practical programs and mentoring by the faculty, who are deeply invested in the future of the film industry,...
- 10/16/2023
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
A finger pokes a small hole through a fusuma (Japanese-style sliding door). A girl bends down and peeks through the hole. She sees something. A woman notices a hole on one of the fusuma in the apartment. Bewildered by this, she moves closer to the door and tries to see through the small crack if there is anything on the other side. Coincidence? Or is there a larger mystery behind the doors?
“Our House” will be screening at Film at Lincoln Center starting on Sept. 15th
This is the intricate world created by young director Yui Kiyohara in her master thesis film. Graduated from Tokyo University of Arts, Kiyohara won the Grand Prix at Pia Film Festival, Japan's most important film festival dedicated to independent filmmaking. Mentored by auteurs like Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Nobuhiro Suwa (Suwa and producer Shoji Matsui served as the advisors for “Our House”), Kiyohara invokes the...
“Our House” will be screening at Film at Lincoln Center starting on Sept. 15th
This is the intricate world created by young director Yui Kiyohara in her master thesis film. Graduated from Tokyo University of Arts, Kiyohara won the Grand Prix at Pia Film Festival, Japan's most important film festival dedicated to independent filmmaking. Mentored by auteurs like Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Nobuhiro Suwa (Suwa and producer Shoji Matsui served as the advisors for “Our House”), Kiyohara invokes the...
- 9/5/2023
- by I-Lin Liu
- AsianMoviePulse
The Film Department of the Tokyo University of Arts has a high-profile council consisting of the directors Nobuhiro Suwa and Akihito Shiota, the screenwriters Michiko Oishi and Yuji Sakamoto, and from the production sector Shoji Masui and Shozo Ichiyama. Every year the department presents a body of work from its students. This year, nine students and three alumni from the university created 11 silent films spanning from mysteries, thrillers, monsters, samurai tales, and animation, which were released under the title “Silent Movie”. On the occasion of Japan Society's Japan Cuts Film Festival, the audience gets the opportunity to see the next generation of filmmakers play with cinema's past. Because all films are narrated by a so-called benshi, a storyteller that dubs the moving images. Renowned benshi Ichiro Kataoka picks up the old tradition and mixes modern with forgotten tradition.
Silent Movie is screening at Japan Cuts
Connected by the reoccurring theme of relationships,...
Silent Movie is screening at Japan Cuts
Connected by the reoccurring theme of relationships,...
- 7/31/2023
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
Asia's most significant film education program, Chanel X Biff Asian Film Academy, has appointed this year's dean and faculty, beginning the preparations for its 2023 edition.
The 2023 Chanel X Biff Asian Film Academy's faculty consists of director Suwa Nobuhiro as dean, director Kim Hee-Jung as directing mentor, and cinematographer Artur Żurawski as cinematography mentor. Through this year's faculty appointment, a blueprint for discovering new talents in Asian cinema is underway.
Director Suwa Nobuhiro, who is set to lead the 2023 Chanel X Biff Asian Film Academy, came to the forefront with his official debut, 2/Duo (1997) which was honoured with the Netpac Award at the 1997 Rotterdam International Film Festival and a Special Mention for the Dragons and Tigers Award at the 1997 Vancouver International Film Festival. Following his debut, he received the Fipresci Award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival with his second film, M/Other (1999), and the Jury's Special Prize and C.I.C.
The 2023 Chanel X Biff Asian Film Academy's faculty consists of director Suwa Nobuhiro as dean, director Kim Hee-Jung as directing mentor, and cinematographer Artur Żurawski as cinematography mentor. Through this year's faculty appointment, a blueprint for discovering new talents in Asian cinema is underway.
Director Suwa Nobuhiro, who is set to lead the 2023 Chanel X Biff Asian Film Academy, came to the forefront with his official debut, 2/Duo (1997) which was honoured with the Netpac Award at the 1997 Rotterdam International Film Festival and a Special Mention for the Dragons and Tigers Award at the 1997 Vancouver International Film Festival. Following his debut, he received the Fipresci Award at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival with his second film, M/Other (1999), and the Jury's Special Prize and C.I.C.
- 6/21/2023
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Emirati Movie
British actor Jefferson Hall will soon appear on screen in Emirati director Nayla Al Khaja’s psychological thriller “Three,” about a young boy who appears to be possessed.
Al Khaja – who is known for standout shorts including horror film “The Shadow” and “Animal” that both play on Netflix – has just wrapped the independently-produced “Three,” her debut feature, which was shot in Thailand.
Besides, Hall, “Three” also stars Faten Ahmed; Noura Alabed (“Wiladah”); veteran U.A.E. actor Mari Al Halyan (“On Borrowed Time”); Mohannad Bin Huthail (“Rashash”) and emerging Emirati talent Saud Alzarooni.
“Three” marks a rare case of a drama in which a Brit becomes enmeshed with the core of an Emirati family. The film unfolds in an unspecified modern-day Middle Eastern city, where a young boy named Ahmed begins exhibiting strange behavior, eventually leading his mother Maryam, to believe he is possessed. As the plot thickens,...
British actor Jefferson Hall will soon appear on screen in Emirati director Nayla Al Khaja’s psychological thriller “Three,” about a young boy who appears to be possessed.
Al Khaja – who is known for standout shorts including horror film “The Shadow” and “Animal” that both play on Netflix – has just wrapped the independently-produced “Three,” her debut feature, which was shot in Thailand.
Besides, Hall, “Three” also stars Faten Ahmed; Noura Alabed (“Wiladah”); veteran U.A.E. actor Mari Al Halyan (“On Borrowed Time”); Mohannad Bin Huthail (“Rashash”) and emerging Emirati talent Saud Alzarooni.
“Three” marks a rare case of a drama in which a Brit becomes enmeshed with the core of an Emirati family. The film unfolds in an unspecified modern-day Middle Eastern city, where a young boy named Ahmed begins exhibiting strange behavior, eventually leading his mother Maryam, to believe he is possessed. As the plot thickens,...
- 6/21/2023
- by Nick Vivarelli
- Variety Film + TV
At the Graduate School of Film and New Media, up-and-coming filmmaker Shun Tachizono studied under both Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Nobuhiro Suwa. These two Japanese film legends clearly had an influence on Tachizono's 2022 short “Scapegoat,” which takes a mature, patient approach to classic independent film tropes. Like so many young directors, Tachizono uses a gangster backdrop to tell a story of love and redemption. At only twenty minutes, it keeps the plot simple and the dialogue sparse. For both better and worse, it feels like a “thug with a heart of gold” film stripped down to only the basic elements.
Scapegoat is screening at Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia
It tells the story of Akashi, a low-level Yakuza affiliate who reports to ruthless and uncaring bosses. Akashi is a solitary, quiet man who seems to have no personal connections–a lonely noir hero waiting for an excuse to break out of his callous routine.
Scapegoat is screening at Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia
It tells the story of Akashi, a low-level Yakuza affiliate who reports to ruthless and uncaring bosses. Akashi is a solitary, quiet man who seems to have no personal connections–a lonely noir hero waiting for an excuse to break out of his callous routine.
- 6/8/2023
- by Henry McKeand
- AsianMoviePulse
Yu, an employee at a clothing boutique, lives with Kei, an out-of-work actor who lives off of her. Battling listlessness in his daily life, Kei decides the only way to bring legitimacy to their relationship is to get married. However, when proposed the question, Yu withdraws and Kei further dwells on his own misery. “2/duo” covers a turbulent period in the lives of a young couple and the fallout thereafter.
“2/Duo” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
An intimate portrayal of a relationship reaching the point of exhaustion, “2/Duo” is a film that will resonate with those who have struggled with similar feelings of stagnation. In fact, its minimalistic approach feels semi-perverse in the way the viewer is given a front-row seat into the lives of two individuals at a breaking point. Yet, capturing this level of intimacy marks “2/Duo” as a deeply engaging work that relies on a minimalistic yet intimate approach,...
“2/Duo” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival
An intimate portrayal of a relationship reaching the point of exhaustion, “2/Duo” is a film that will resonate with those who have struggled with similar feelings of stagnation. In fact, its minimalistic approach feels semi-perverse in the way the viewer is given a front-row seat into the lives of two individuals at a breaking point. Yet, capturing this level of intimacy marks “2/Duo” as a deeply engaging work that relies on a minimalistic yet intimate approach,...
- 4/24/2023
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
“Love to Love You, Donna Summer,” a docu biopic of the iconic disco singer, has been added to the lineup of Berlinale Special.
Directed by Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams (“Music by Prudence”) and Brooklyn Sudano, the film weaves rich archive of unpublished extracts, home video, photographs, artwork, writings, personal audio and other recordings spanning Summer’s life.
Also joining the Berlinale Special roster is “100 Years of Disney Animation – a Shorts Celebration,” which sees Clark Spencer, the Oscar-winning Walt Disney Animation Studios president, sharing his favorite shorts. Among them are rare gems from the earliest days of animation, from the introduction of sound to Mickey Mouse.
The 73rd edition of the Berlin Film Festival will also pay tribute to renowned cinematographer Caroline Champetier who will receive the Berlinale Camera Award. The prize was created in 1986 to honor personalities and institutions who have made a special contribution to filmmaking.
“With her extraordinary body of work,...
Directed by Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker Roger Ross Williams (“Music by Prudence”) and Brooklyn Sudano, the film weaves rich archive of unpublished extracts, home video, photographs, artwork, writings, personal audio and other recordings spanning Summer’s life.
Also joining the Berlinale Special roster is “100 Years of Disney Animation – a Shorts Celebration,” which sees Clark Spencer, the Oscar-winning Walt Disney Animation Studios president, sharing his favorite shorts. Among them are rare gems from the earliest days of animation, from the introduction of sound to Mickey Mouse.
The 73rd edition of the Berlin Film Festival will also pay tribute to renowned cinematographer Caroline Champetier who will receive the Berlinale Camera Award. The prize was created in 1986 to honor personalities and institutions who have made a special contribution to filmmaking.
“With her extraordinary body of work,...
- 1/30/2023
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
Inspired by French cinema’s nouvelle vague style, Nobuhiro Suwa’s debut is an ambitious piece of amateur arthouse cinema that is raging with ideas and techniques, in a battle with the constraints of the 8mm format. A noir, gangster, road movie, it flirts with each of these genres, without ever fully becoming one. But one thing it is, is very meta.
“Hanaseru Gang” is Playing as part of Metrograph’s Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Rock years
The plot is difficult to follow, though feels largely irrelevant, introduced to us by the two leads at the start, with each of Rie Ito and Takayuki Kamura (as their namesakes) telling their interpretation of the story, letting us know what will follow. The outcome, therefore, is known from the beginning. But how it plays out is less straightforward.
Kamura and his partner in crime bump into young Rie on the streets.
“Hanaseru Gang” is Playing as part of Metrograph’s Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Rock years
The plot is difficult to follow, though feels largely irrelevant, introduced to us by the two leads at the start, with each of Rie Ito and Takayuki Kamura (as their namesakes) telling their interpretation of the story, letting us know what will follow. The outcome, therefore, is known from the beginning. But how it plays out is less straightforward.
Kamura and his partner in crime bump into young Rie on the streets.
- 12/10/2022
- by Andrew Thayne
- AsianMoviePulse
Yu, an employee at a clothing boutique, lives with Kei, an out-of-work actor who lives off of her. Battling listlessness in his daily life, Kei decides the only way to bring legitimacy to their relationship is to get married. However, when proposed the question, Yu withdraws and Kei further dwells on his own misery. “2/duo” covers a turbulent period in the lives of a young couple and the fallout thereafter.
“2/Duo” is Playing as part of Metograph’s Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Rock years
An intimate portrayal of a relationship reaching the point of exhaustion, “2/Duo” is a film that will resonate with those who have struggled with similar feelings of stagnation. In fact, its minimalistic approach feels semi-perverse in the way the viewer is given a front-row seat into the lives of two individuals at a breaking point. Yet, capturing this level of intimacy marks “2/Duo...
“2/Duo” is Playing as part of Metograph’s Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Rock years
An intimate portrayal of a relationship reaching the point of exhaustion, “2/Duo” is a film that will resonate with those who have struggled with similar feelings of stagnation. In fact, its minimalistic approach feels semi-perverse in the way the viewer is given a front-row seat into the lives of two individuals at a breaking point. Yet, capturing this level of intimacy marks “2/Duo...
- 12/9/2022
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
It’s a grand time for fans of Japanese cinema if you’re living in New York City. With a Noriaki Tsuchimoto retrospective recently concluding at the Museum of the Moving Image, a Yoshimitsu Morita retrospective starting Friday at Film at Lincoln Center, and a Shunji Iwai series coming to Japan Society, another major highlight is “Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Years,” which kicks off this Friday at Metrograph.
One of the major highlights of that series––which profiles works from the jishu eiga (“autonomous film”) indie scene that kicked off in the late 1970s Japan with 8mm-shot guerilla filmmaking––is the brand-new, 25th-anniversary restoration of Nobuhiro Suwa’s 2/Duo, which features an early performance from Drive My Car‘s Hidetoshi Nishijima. It opens on December 9, and ahead of that we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer (courtesy Arbelos). The high-definition digital transfer was supervised by Suwa and cinematographer Masaki Tamura.
One of the major highlights of that series––which profiles works from the jishu eiga (“autonomous film”) indie scene that kicked off in the late 1970s Japan with 8mm-shot guerilla filmmaking––is the brand-new, 25th-anniversary restoration of Nobuhiro Suwa’s 2/Duo, which features an early performance from Drive My Car‘s Hidetoshi Nishijima. It opens on December 9, and ahead of that we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer (courtesy Arbelos). The high-definition digital transfer was supervised by Suwa and cinematographer Masaki Tamura.
- 11/29/2022
- by Jordan Raup
- The Film Stage
An Electric Selection of Early, Shot on Film Shorts & Features From Some of Japan’s Most Daring Directors
Metrograph presents Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Years, an electric showcase of restored early works from some of Japan’s boldest filmmakers, beginning December 2, 2022 at Metrograph in Theater.
At the same time that the Japanese studios were going into tailspin decline at the end of the 1970s, a rude burst of amateur cinematic anarchy was erupting from the underground. This new jishu eiga, or “autonomous film,” was a cinema by and for outsiders, many of them shooting run-and-gun-style in the streets on cheap 8mm film (hachimiri in Japanese). The jishu film movement, which found a home after 1977 at the Pia Film Festival in Tokyo, was the cinematic analog of the experiments in extreme independent music happening in Japan at the same time, and would act as the incubator...
Metrograph presents Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Years, an electric showcase of restored early works from some of Japan’s boldest filmmakers, beginning December 2, 2022 at Metrograph in Theater.
At the same time that the Japanese studios were going into tailspin decline at the end of the 1970s, a rude burst of amateur cinematic anarchy was erupting from the underground. This new jishu eiga, or “autonomous film,” was a cinema by and for outsiders, many of them shooting run-and-gun-style in the streets on cheap 8mm film (hachimiri in Japanese). The jishu film movement, which found a home after 1977 at the Pia Film Festival in Tokyo, was the cinematic analog of the experiments in extreme independent music happening in Japan at the same time, and would act as the incubator...
- 11/23/2022
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Japan’s film industry is Asia’s second-largest in terms of box office – revenues totaled 1.14 billion from 115 million admissions at the depths of the pandemic in 2021 – but as insiders have known for decades, it is hardly the healthiest by world or even regional standards.
For many in the industry, particularly those in the indie sector, hours are horrendous, contracts are non-existent and sexual and power harassment are facts of professional life.
And even directors whose work screens at major festivals abroad often struggle to raise money for their next project or earn a middle-class living from filmmaking alone.
In June this year, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Kore-eda Hirokazu and other six other directors belonging to a group called Eiga Kantoku Yushi no Kai (translation: Voluntary Association of Film Directors) launched action4cinema/Coalition for the Establishment of a Japan Cnc (A4C), a non-profit dedicated to addressing ingrained industry problems.
For many in the industry, particularly those in the indie sector, hours are horrendous, contracts are non-existent and sexual and power harassment are facts of professional life.
And even directors whose work screens at major festivals abroad often struggle to raise money for their next project or earn a middle-class living from filmmaking alone.
In June this year, Cannes Palme d’Or winner Kore-eda Hirokazu and other six other directors belonging to a group called Eiga Kantoku Yushi no Kai (translation: Voluntary Association of Film Directors) launched action4cinema/Coalition for the Establishment of a Japan Cnc (A4C), a non-profit dedicated to addressing ingrained industry problems.
- 9/22/2022
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Japanese directors call for reform amidst rising allegations of harassment.
Hirokazu Kore-eda, fresh off his Cannes win with Broker, has announced a new group pushing for reforms in the Japanese film industry which is seeing a rise in harassment allegations cases.
Kore-eda and other Japanese directors including Suwa Nobuhiro, Atsushi Funahashi and Sode Yukiko spoke at a press conference yesterday (June 14) in Tokyo, according to local reports.
The group is pushing for the establishment of an industry body modelled on France’s National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (Cnc). The organisation promotes and supports its local industry, funded...
Hirokazu Kore-eda, fresh off his Cannes win with Broker, has announced a new group pushing for reforms in the Japanese film industry which is seeing a rise in harassment allegations cases.
Kore-eda and other Japanese directors including Suwa Nobuhiro, Atsushi Funahashi and Sode Yukiko spoke at a press conference yesterday (June 14) in Tokyo, according to local reports.
The group is pushing for the establishment of an industry body modelled on France’s National Centre for Cinema and the Moving Image (Cnc). The organisation promotes and supports its local industry, funded...
- 6/15/2022
- by Jean Noh
- ScreenDaily
Back in Japan after his Korean-language drama “Broker” won two prizes at this year’s Cannes festival, Kore-eda Hirokazu appeared as a press event in Tokyo on Tuesday to announce the launch of a group of industry professionals who aim for structural reform of the Japanese film industry.
The group calls itself the “Association for the Establishment of a Japanese Version of Cnc.” The reference is to France’s government-backed oversight body, the Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animee.
Kore-eda noted the low incomes and long working hours of freelance filmmakers and emphasized the need for reform. “We started meeting with the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) last spring,” said Kore-eda. “We have also had discussions and study sessions with various other organizations, and now we have decided to launch a group calling for the establishment of a Japanese version of the Cnc. We do...
The group calls itself the “Association for the Establishment of a Japanese Version of Cnc.” The reference is to France’s government-backed oversight body, the Centre National du Cinema et de l’Image Animee.
Kore-eda noted the low incomes and long working hours of freelance filmmakers and emphasized the need for reform. “We started meeting with the Motion Picture Producers Association of Japan (Eiren) last spring,” said Kore-eda. “We have also had discussions and study sessions with various other organizations, and now we have decided to launch a group calling for the establishment of a Japanese version of the Cnc. We do...
- 6/14/2022
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
Next month’s Mubi lineup for the U.S. has been unveiled, with a major highlight being their recent release Lingui, The Sacred Bonds and more films from director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (read our recent chat with him). Matías Piñeiro’s Isabella and Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13,000 Ft., two of last year’s highlights, will also arrive.
Two recent Cannes premieres, the Adèle Exarchopoulos-led Zero Fucks Given and Peter Tscherkassky’s Train Again will also finally come to the U.S. courtesy of Mubi. In terms of older highlights, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Hong Sang-soo’s The Power of the Kangwon Province, Jafar Panahi’s Crimson Gold, Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, and more will arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
March 1 | The Willmar 8 | Lee Grant | Down and Out in America: Lee Grant’s Documentaries
March 2 | Train Again | Peter Tscherkassky | Brief Encounters
March...
Two recent Cannes premieres, the Adèle Exarchopoulos-led Zero Fucks Given and Peter Tscherkassky’s Train Again will also finally come to the U.S. courtesy of Mubi. In terms of older highlights, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Hong Sang-soo’s The Power of the Kangwon Province, Jafar Panahi’s Crimson Gold, Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, and more will arrive.
Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.
March 1 | The Willmar 8 | Lee Grant | Down and Out in America: Lee Grant’s Documentaries
March 2 | Train Again | Peter Tscherkassky | Brief Encounters
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- 2/18/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Nominations in the 14th Asia Pacific Screen Awards (Apsa) were revealed today with nods for 38 films from 25 Asia Pacific countries and regions. Winners will be announced on Thursday, November 11, at the 14th Apsa Ceremony on the Australia Gold Coast. Nominations include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car, which won the best screenplay award at Cannes, Asghar Farhadi’s Cannes Grand Prix winning, film A Hero, and the TIFF Platform award winning film Yuni directed by Kamila Andini.
Apsa celebrates cinema from over 70 countries, with an enhanced focus on content that reflects the region’s diversity.
Below is the full list of nominees.
Best Feature Film
A Hero (Ghahreman)
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
A Night of Knowing Nothing
Directed by Payal Kapadia
Drive My Car
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
The Pencil (Prostoy karandash)
Directed by Natalya Nazarova
There is No Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad)
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
Best Youth Feature...
Apsa celebrates cinema from over 70 countries, with an enhanced focus on content that reflects the region’s diversity.
Below is the full list of nominees.
Best Feature Film
A Hero (Ghahreman)
Directed by Asghar Farhadi
A Night of Knowing Nothing
Directed by Payal Kapadia
Drive My Car
Directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi
The Pencil (Prostoy karandash)
Directed by Natalya Nazarova
There is No Evil (Sheytan vojud nadarad)
Directed by Mohammad Rasoulof
Best Youth Feature...
- 10/13/2021
- by Valerie Complex
- Deadline Film + TV
Winners will be announced on November 11.
Cannes winners Drive My Car, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero lead the nominations at the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (Apsa) awards.
Drive My Car is Japan’s entry for the best international feature Oscar and the Cannes 2021 Competition best screenplay winner. It follows a theatre actor and director who is grappling with grief for his lost wife.
A Hero, which won the grand prix at Cannes, is a French-Iranian co-production which looks at what happens when an unlikely hero finds himself caught up in a social media storm.
Both...
Cannes winners Drive My Car, directed by Ryusuke Hamaguchi, and Asghar Farhadi’s A Hero lead the nominations at the Asia Pacific Screen Academy (Apsa) awards.
Drive My Car is Japan’s entry for the best international feature Oscar and the Cannes 2021 Competition best screenplay winner. It follows a theatre actor and director who is grappling with grief for his lost wife.
A Hero, which won the grand prix at Cannes, is a French-Iranian co-production which looks at what happens when an unlikely hero finds himself caught up in a social media storm.
Both...
- 10/13/2021
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Fine entertainment, food for thought, five world premieres and at least a touch of Japanese wackiness and warmth – this is what awaits the audience with around 80 current Japanese short and feature-length films of the 21st Nippon Connection Film Festival. After weeks of hoping and worrying, it is now certain that unfortunately the pandemic will not allow in-theater screenings in 2021 either. The largest festival for Japanese cinema worldwide will once again be held exclusively online from June 1 to 6, 2021.
All films are available online for six days throughout Germany and in some cases outside of Germany. Face-to-face talks with the filmmakers are moving into the digital realm to spark a direct exchange. For everyone whose yearning for Japan is stronger than ever, there is also Nippon Culture: the digital supporting program with over 40 interactive workshops, talks, extraordinary performances and concerts. For the first time, the Nippon Click & Collect Kiosk at the usual...
All films are available online for six days throughout Germany and in some cases outside of Germany. Face-to-face talks with the filmmakers are moving into the digital realm to spark a direct exchange. For everyone whose yearning for Japan is stronger than ever, there is also Nippon Culture: the digital supporting program with over 40 interactive workshops, talks, extraordinary performances and concerts. For the first time, the Nippon Click & Collect Kiosk at the usual...
- 5/16/2021
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre’s unprecedented 9th annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival will be held online from Saturday, October 3 to Thursday, October 22 and features 22 films using the SHIFT72 festival platform. For the first time, Tjff is expanding its reach beyond Toronto to audiences across all of Canada, maintaining the festival’s sense of community while promoting friendship, understanding, and exchange between the Japanese and broader Canadian community. The festival has grown into one of the largest film events of its kind in the world and is recognized by the Japanese film industry as a vital conduit for bringing Japanese film to international audiences.
Tjff 2020 also presents major award winners for their Canadian premieres: Mitsuhito Fujii’s The Journalist which won the Japanese Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Actor (Tori Matsuzaka) and Best Actress (Eun-kyung Shim); Hirohiko Arai’s intense erotic odyssey It Feels So Good (Kinema Junpo Awards...
Tjff 2020 also presents major award winners for their Canadian premieres: Mitsuhito Fujii’s The Journalist which won the Japanese Academy Awards for Best Film, Best Actor (Tori Matsuzaka) and Best Actress (Eun-kyung Shim); Hirohiko Arai’s intense erotic odyssey It Feels So Good (Kinema Junpo Awards...
- 9/14/2020
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Full list of winners revealed.
Carolina Moscoso’s Night Shot has won the Grand Prix at the Marseille International Film Festival (FIDMarseille).
The Chilean film marks Moscoco’s debut feature and uses text, candid footage, animation and sound design to confront her past trauma: a violent rape that occurred eight years previously when she was a film student. It was produced by Santiago-based El Espino Films.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The feature received its international premiere at the festival that ran from July 22-26 in southern France. It was the first physical film event of its kind...
Carolina Moscoso’s Night Shot has won the Grand Prix at the Marseille International Film Festival (FIDMarseille).
The Chilean film marks Moscoco’s debut feature and uses text, candid footage, animation and sound design to confront her past trauma: a violent rape that occurred eight years previously when she was a film student. It was produced by Santiago-based El Espino Films.
Scroll down for full list of winners
The feature received its international premiere at the festival that ran from July 22-26 in southern France. It was the first physical film event of its kind...
- 7/27/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
The French film festival opens on July 22.
There is a film festival going ahead in the south of France this summer - and it’s not Cannes.
FIDMarseille is breaking new ground this year simply by taking place. The festival opens tonight, Wednesday July 22, and is running until Sunday July 26. It is the first proper physical film event of its kind, certainly in Europe, since the coronavirus pandemic began.
As Jean-Pierre Rehm, executive officer of the festival, explains staging it has been a huge challenge. “We thought first of cancelling,” Rehm recalls. “Then we thought of going online. Then, when...
There is a film festival going ahead in the south of France this summer - and it’s not Cannes.
FIDMarseille is breaking new ground this year simply by taking place. The festival opens tonight, Wednesday July 22, and is running until Sunday July 26. It is the first proper physical film event of its kind, certainly in Europe, since the coronavirus pandemic began.
As Jean-Pierre Rehm, executive officer of the festival, explains staging it has been a huge challenge. “We thought first of cancelling,” Rehm recalls. “Then we thought of going online. Then, when...
- 7/22/2020
- by 57¦Geoffrey Macnab¦41¦
- ScreenDaily
The 31st edition of the festival features 82 films including 46 world premieres in competition and will take place from 22-26 July in Marseille. Following the online edition of the FIDLab co-production platform (read the news) from 6-10 July, it’s a return to the physical realm and to real screening rooms with the 31st edition of FIDMarseille which begins today and will last five days. The programme includes 82 films, 50 of them representing 28 countries in the festival’s four competitive strands (with 46 world premieres and 4 international premieres). 17 films are vying for awards in the international competition and they will be evaluated by a jury headed by Japanese filmmaker Nobuhiro Suwa. Included in this section are N.P from Belgian filmmaker Lisa Spilliaert, Homelands from Serbian director Jelena Maksimovic, Eyes / Eyes / Eyes / Eyes by Spanish filmmaker Albert García-Alzórriz, Two Stones from Dutch director Wendelien Van...
Exclusive: North America’s largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema, Japan Cuts, has selected 30 features and 12 shorts for a 2020 edition that will take place entirely online due to continued corona disruption.
Running July 17-30, the traditionally New York-based event will instead be available across the country via a digital platform set up in partnership with Festival Scope and Shift72. Films will be made available to rent with a limited number or virtual tickets per title, priced at $2–$7 with discounted bundles.
Alongside screenings, there will also be virtual Q&As, discussion panels, and video introductions from filmmakers in a bid to maintain the festival’s sense of community and dedication to intercultural communication.
The fest will kick off with a live virtual Q&a with Shinichiro Ueda, director of opening film selection Special Actors, the follow-up to Ueda’s popular breakout debut One Cut of the Dead. The festival’s Centerpiece...
Running July 17-30, the traditionally New York-based event will instead be available across the country via a digital platform set up in partnership with Festival Scope and Shift72. Films will be made available to rent with a limited number or virtual tickets per title, priced at $2–$7 with discounted bundles.
Alongside screenings, there will also be virtual Q&As, discussion panels, and video introductions from filmmakers in a bid to maintain the festival’s sense of community and dedication to intercultural communication.
The fest will kick off with a live virtual Q&a with Shinichiro Ueda, director of opening film selection Special Actors, the follow-up to Ueda’s popular breakout debut One Cut of the Dead. The festival’s Centerpiece...
- 6/24/2020
- by Tom Grater
- Deadline Film + TV
Awards: Golden Bear for Mohammad Rasoulof's There Is No EvilTOP Picksdaniel KASMAN1. The Salt of Tears (Philippe Garrel)2. Days (Tsai Ming-liang)3. Corporate Accountability (Jonathan Perel)4. Voices in the Wind (Nobuhiro Suwa)5. Undine (Christian Petzold)6. Generations (Lynne Siefert)7. Blue Eyes and Colorful My Dress (Polina Gumiela)8. Siberia (Abel Ferrara)9. The Woman Who Ran (Hong Sang-soo)10. Chronicle of Space (Akshay Indikar)Ela BITTENCOURT1. First Cow (Kelly Reichardt)2. Letter to a Friend (Emily Jacir)3. Days (Tsai Ming-liang)4. Malmkrog (Cristi Puiu)5. Dau6. The Trouble with Being Born (Sandra Wollner)7. Kill It and Leave This Town (Mateusz Wilczyński)8. Orphea9. The Works and Days (of Tayoko Shiojiri in the Shiotani Basin)10. Tango of the Widower and Its Distorning MirrorCoveragedaniel KASMANFirst Encounters of the 70th YearPhilippe Garrel's Portrait of the Cad as a Young ManChristian Petzold's Fairy Tale BerlinHong Sang-soo's Options for WomanhoodPolitical LandscapesChild's PlayELA BITTENCOURTHighlights from Forum and Forum ExpandedDreaming the Impossible CinemaDau and the...
- 3/22/2020
- MUBI
Caru Alves de Souza's My Name Is Baghdad, a coming-of-age tale about 17-year-old female skater living in a working-class neighborhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, won the top prize, the Crystal Bear for best film, in the Generation 14plus sidebar of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.
Reel Suspects boarded international sales on My Name Is Baghdad ahead of its world premiere in Berlin.
The Generation 14plus international jury gave a special mention to Nobuhiro Suwa's Voices in the Wind. The Japanese drama is based on a real non-functioning phone in the coastal town of Otsuchi that allows people to "call" deceased ...
Reel Suspects boarded international sales on My Name Is Baghdad ahead of its world premiere in Berlin.
The Generation 14plus international jury gave a special mention to Nobuhiro Suwa's Voices in the Wind. The Japanese drama is based on a real non-functioning phone in the coastal town of Otsuchi that allows people to "call" deceased ...
Caru Alves de Souza's My Name Is Baghdad, a coming-of-age tale about 17-year-old female skater living in a working-class neighborhood in Sao Paulo, Brazil, won the top prize, the Crystal Bear for best film, in the Generation 14plus sidebar of the 70th Berlin International Film Festival.
Reel Suspects boarded international sales on My Name Is Baghdad ahead of its world premiere in Berlin.
The Generation 14plus international jury gave a special mention to Nobuhiro Suwa's Voices in the Wind. The Japanese drama is based on a real non-functioning phone in the coastal town of Otsuchi that allows people to "call" deceased ...
Reel Suspects boarded international sales on My Name Is Baghdad ahead of its world premiere in Berlin.
The Generation 14plus international jury gave a special mention to Nobuhiro Suwa's Voices in the Wind. The Japanese drama is based on a real non-functioning phone in the coastal town of Otsuchi that allows people to "call" deceased ...
Berlinale 2020: My Name Is Baghdad received the Grand Prix of the international jury in the 14plus section, while The Wolves won it in the Kplus section. The awards for the Generation 14plus section of the 70th Berlin Film Festival have been unveiled. The members of the Youth Jury Generation 14plus have awarded the Crystal Bear for the Best Film to French-Belgian-Rwandan co-production Our Lady of the Nile, helmed by French-Afghan director Atiq Rahimi, already world-premiered at the Toronto Film Festival last September. A Special Mention was given to British documentary White Riot by Rubika Shah, world-premiered at the London Film Festival last October. The Grand Prix for the Best Film from the Generation 14plus International Jury went to Brazilian film My Name Is Baghdad, directed by Caru Alves de Souza, and a special mention was given to Voices in the Wind by Japanese master Nobuhiro Suwa. On the other.
Final titles revealed for the Generation Kplus and Generation 14plus strands.
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-Mar 1) has revealed the final raft of titles that will comprise its Generation strand and confirmed that 58% of the features and shorts in the youth section are directed by women.
Scroll down for full list of titles
It follows a recent announcement that more than 50% of the films in the official project selection of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are from female directors.
The 43rd edition of Berlin’s Generation sidebar will comprise 59 competition entries from 34 countries, including 29 world premieres.
After revealing 20 films in the strand last month,...
The Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 20-Mar 1) has revealed the final raft of titles that will comprise its Generation strand and confirmed that 58% of the features and shorts in the youth section are directed by women.
Scroll down for full list of titles
It follows a recent announcement that more than 50% of the films in the official project selection of the Berlinale Co-Production Market are from female directors.
The 43rd edition of Berlin’s Generation sidebar will comprise 59 competition entries from 34 countries, including 29 world premieres.
After revealing 20 films in the strand last month,...
- 1/22/2020
- by 1100453¦Michael Rosser¦9¦
- ScreenDaily
Japanese Director Nobuhiro Suwa most recent film “The Phone of the Wind” is set for release on January 24, 2020. The drama is inspired by true events, in 2011 Itaru Sasaki built a white telephone booth in a garden, as a way to communicate to his cousin who passed away in the 2010 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The phone booth served thousands of people to help them mourn the passing of loved ones. A trailer for the production was previously made available, and can be viewed below.
Synopsis
Haru in Hiroshima goes back to her hometown in Iwate Prefecture. She comes upon the “Wind’s Telephone.” Set in a garden, the “Wind’s Telephone” is a white phone booth with a black telephone placed in it. The phone booth is not connected to any telephone lines or wires. People come here to talk to those that passed away or are missing. During Haru’s journey,...
Synopsis
Haru in Hiroshima goes back to her hometown in Iwate Prefecture. She comes upon the “Wind’s Telephone.” Set in a garden, the “Wind’s Telephone” is a white phone booth with a black telephone placed in it. The phone booth is not connected to any telephone lines or wires. People come here to talk to those that passed away or are missing. During Haru’s journey,...
- 12/22/2019
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Leading curated streaming platform Mubi announced today its August release slate of films and curated series from both emerging talent and acclaimed directors from across the globe. Mubi continues its ongoing commitment to exclusive new releases with two bold first features in the “Debuts” strand. Elizaveta Stishova’s gritty and unconventional “Suleiman Mountain” charts the exploits of a con-man on the run across the Kyrgyzstan countryside, while Yui Kiyohara’s subtle yet unsettling “Our House” uses Bach’s fugues as the backdrop for an exploration of parallel realities and hidden mysteries.
Mubi will celebrate the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival with an exclusive presentation of some of the most exciting titles from last year’s festival including Tarık Aktaş’s award-winning debut “Dead Horse Nebula”.
Highlights from the August line-up are as follows:
Exclusive Premieres
[Debuts] Elizaveta Stishova’s unconventional family drama centers on a con-man on the run,...
Mubi will celebrate the 72nd edition of the Locarno Film Festival with an exclusive presentation of some of the most exciting titles from last year’s festival including Tarık Aktaş’s award-winning debut “Dead Horse Nebula”.
Highlights from the August line-up are as follows:
Exclusive Premieres
[Debuts] Elizaveta Stishova’s unconventional family drama centers on a con-man on the run,...
- 7/20/2019
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSBarry Jenkins by Liz Seabrook for Little White LiesBarry Jenkins is set to direct a film about the life of the late Alvin Ailey, the choreographer considered one of the most important of the twentieth century. Recommended Viewinga wonderfully lush and eerie trailer for the 4K restoration of Nicolas Roeg's Don't Look Now, which opens in theaters on July 5. The BFI and the Royal Astronomical Society have uncovered the very first film of a solar eclipse, captured by British magician Nevil Maskelyne in 1900. One century after the solar eclipse was first captured on film, arrives the first trailer for James Gray's Ad Astra, which stars Brad Pitt as an astronaut searching for his missing father—who was involved in a government project on extraterrestrial life—in space. The official trailer for Carlos Reygadas's Our Time,...
- 6/5/2019
- MUBI
Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Nobuhiro Suwa's The Lion Sleeps Tonight (2017), which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from May 28 – June 26, 2019 in Mubi's Luminaries strand.From the charged realism of his first feature, the raw, bristling relationship drama 2/Duo (1997), to his most recent, the tender ode to lost love and bygone youth, The Lion Sleeps Tonight (2017), the sublimely understated work of Nobuhiro Suwa comprises a rich, but mostly unexposed pocket of contemporary Japanese cinema. Between the filmmaker’s formal command and his direction of beautifully organic, often improvised performances, Suwa’s films have enjoyed critical acclaim, but only of the amnesiac variety—praised and then summarily forgotten. Despite the accessibility promised by digital platforms, most of us today will find the bulk of his work is entirely unattainable through traditional means, a seemingly arbitrary punishment for an auteur well-worth discovering.
- 6/4/2019
- MUBI
A finger pokes a small hole through a fusuma (Japanese-style sliding door). A girl bends down and peeks through the hole. She sees something. A woman notices a hole on one of the fusuma in the apartment. Bewildered by this, she moves closer to the door and tries to see through the small crack if there is anything on the other side. Coincidence? Or is there a larger mystery behind the doors?
Our House is screening at Japannual Festival
This is the intricate world created by young director Yui Kiyohara (清原唯) in her master thesis film. Graduated from Tokyo University of Arts, Kiyohara won the Grand Prix at Pia Film Festival, Japan’s most important film festival dedicated to independent filmmaking. Mentored by auteurs like Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Nobuhiro Suwa (Suwa and producer Shoji Matsui served as the advisors for “Our House”), Kiyohara invokes the unknown within an ordinary world...
Our House is screening at Japannual Festival
This is the intricate world created by young director Yui Kiyohara (清原唯) in her master thesis film. Graduated from Tokyo University of Arts, Kiyohara won the Grand Prix at Pia Film Festival, Japan’s most important film festival dedicated to independent filmmaking. Mentored by auteurs like Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Nobuhiro Suwa (Suwa and producer Shoji Matsui served as the advisors for “Our House”), Kiyohara invokes the unknown within an ordinary world...
- 10/7/2018
- by I-Lin Liu
- AsianMoviePulse
The Us premiere of Mathieu Amalric’s Barbara will open the 23rd Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, set to run in Hollywood from March 8-18.
The Us premiere of Mathieu Amalric’s Barbara will open the 23rd Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, set to run in Hollywood from March 8-18.
The annual French cinema showcase will showcase 24 films from both emerging and established filmmakers, Film Society of Lincoln Centre and UniFrance announced on Wednesday (February 7).
Amalric and his leading lady and co-star Jeanne Balibar will attend the screening of his drama, which was recently nominated for nine Cesar awards including best film, actor, and actress.
Other films in the 2018 series include: Léonor Serraille’s Montparnasse Bienvenue, which received the Camera d’Or award in Cannes; Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s A Paris Education (Mes Provinciales); Noémie Lvovsky’s Tomorrow And Thereafter; (Demain Et Tous Les Autres Jours); Xavier Legrand’s Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde); Xavier Beauvois’ The Guardians (Les Gardiennes); and Nobuhiro Suwa...
The Us premiere of Mathieu Amalric’s Barbara will open the 23rd Rendez-Vous With French Cinema, set to run in Hollywood from March 8-18.
The annual French cinema showcase will showcase 24 films from both emerging and established filmmakers, Film Society of Lincoln Centre and UniFrance announced on Wednesday (February 7).
Amalric and his leading lady and co-star Jeanne Balibar will attend the screening of his drama, which was recently nominated for nine Cesar awards including best film, actor, and actress.
Other films in the 2018 series include: Léonor Serraille’s Montparnasse Bienvenue, which received the Camera d’Or award in Cannes; Jean-Paul Civeyrac’s A Paris Education (Mes Provinciales); Noémie Lvovsky’s Tomorrow And Thereafter; (Demain Et Tous Les Autres Jours); Xavier Legrand’s Custody (Jusqu’à La Garde); Xavier Beauvois’ The Guardians (Les Gardiennes); and Nobuhiro Suwa...
- 2/7/2018
- by Jenn Sherman
- ScreenDaily
Films from Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano, Alexandros Avranas and Diego Lerman added to competition line-up.
Further competition titles for the 2017 San Sebastian Film Festival (22-30 September) have been announced, including The Disaster Artist.
Written, directed and starring James Franco, the project tells the story of Tommy Wiseau’s infamous cult film The Room. It will also appear at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Other titles competing for the Golden Shell include Diego Lerman’s A Sort Of Family (Una Especie De Familia); Love Me Not from Alexandros Avranas; Barbara Albert’s Mademoiselle Paradis; and The Lion Sleeps Tonight from Nobuhiro Suwa.
Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s C’est La Vie!, Ivana Mladenovic’s Soldiers. Story From Ferentari and Matt Porterfield’s Sollers Point have also been announced.
Alexandros Avranas won the best director Silver Lion at Venice for Miss Violence in 2013. Diego Lerman’s Suddenly won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Festival in 2002.
Nakache...
Further competition titles for the 2017 San Sebastian Film Festival (22-30 September) have been announced, including The Disaster Artist.
Written, directed and starring James Franco, the project tells the story of Tommy Wiseau’s infamous cult film The Room. It will also appear at the Toronto International Film Festival.
Other titles competing for the Golden Shell include Diego Lerman’s A Sort Of Family (Una Especie De Familia); Love Me Not from Alexandros Avranas; Barbara Albert’s Mademoiselle Paradis; and The Lion Sleeps Tonight from Nobuhiro Suwa.
Olivier Nakache and Éric Toledano’s C’est La Vie!, Ivana Mladenovic’s Soldiers. Story From Ferentari and Matt Porterfield’s Sollers Point have also been announced.
Alexandros Avranas won the best director Silver Lion at Venice for Miss Violence in 2013. Diego Lerman’s Suddenly won the Silver Leopard at the Locarno Festival in 2002.
Nakache...
- 8/4/2017
- by orlando.parfitt@screendaily.com (Orlando Parfitt)
- ScreenDaily
I was standing outside the hotel room of a movie icon, unsure quite what I would find on the find on the other side of the door. It was the final day of the 2016 Cannes Film Festival, and after a week of frantic coordinating with various schedulers, I’d finally managed to land an interview with Jean-Pierre Léaud. He had just played the lead role in “The Death of Louis Xiv,” and still endured the impact of enacting his death for the cameras.
Léaud became one of international cinema’s most famous faces at 14, when he starred in Francois Truffaut’s seminal French New Wave debut “The 400 Blows.” As the adolescent Antoine Doinel, who spends much of the movie acting out at school and at home while witnessing the dissolution of his parents’ marriage, Léaud quickly became the defining face of angst-riddled youth. The movie’s memorable closing freeze-frame...
Léaud became one of international cinema’s most famous faces at 14, when he starred in Francois Truffaut’s seminal French New Wave debut “The 400 Blows.” As the adolescent Antoine Doinel, who spends much of the movie acting out at school and at home while witnessing the dissolution of his parents’ marriage, Léaud quickly became the defining face of angst-riddled youth. The movie’s memorable closing freeze-frame...
- 3/31/2017
- by Eric Kohn
- Indiewire
The series includes I Am Sion Sono!!.
The Forum strand of the Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed its programme with a series of Special Screenings.
Artist Ulrike Ottinger’s 12-hour film Chamisso’s Shadow (Chamissos Schatten) opens this year’s Forum with a mammoth screening at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on Feb 12. At the end of the festival, it will be repeated in three separate parts at CineStar at Potsdamer Platz.
Under the title “Hachimiri Madness – Japanese Indies from the Punk Years”, the Forum is showing a series of newly digitised and subtitled Japanese 8-mm films from 1977 to 1990.
Many of the highest profile directors Japan has to offer today made their debut features in this format but very few of them have ever been shown internationally. The series was jointly curated by Keiko Araki (Pia Tokyo), Jacob Wong (Hong Kong Film Festival) and Christoph Terhechte (Berlinale Forum).
The series includes Sion Sono’s I am Sion...
The Forum strand of the Berlinale (Feb 11-21) has completed its programme with a series of Special Screenings.
Artist Ulrike Ottinger’s 12-hour film Chamisso’s Shadow (Chamissos Schatten) opens this year’s Forum with a mammoth screening at the Haus der Berliner Festspiele on Feb 12. At the end of the festival, it will be repeated in three separate parts at CineStar at Potsdamer Platz.
Under the title “Hachimiri Madness – Japanese Indies from the Punk Years”, the Forum is showing a series of newly digitised and subtitled Japanese 8-mm films from 1977 to 1990.
Many of the highest profile directors Japan has to offer today made their debut features in this format but very few of them have ever been shown internationally. The series was jointly curated by Keiko Araki (Pia Tokyo), Jacob Wong (Hong Kong Film Festival) and Christoph Terhechte (Berlinale Forum).
The series includes Sion Sono’s I am Sion...
- 1/26/2016
- by michael.rosser@screendaily.com (Michael Rosser)
- ScreenDaily
With today's announcement of a series of special screenings, the Berlinale Forum completes its lineup. There's be world premieres of Ulrike Ottinger's 12-hour Chamisso's Shadow, Serpil Turhan's portrait of Rudolf Thome and Dominik Graf and Johannes F. Sievert's Doomed Love - A Journey through German Genre Films. Then the program of "Japanese Indies from the Punk Years" will feature work by Sion Sono, Shinya Tsukamoto, Nobuhiro Suwa, Katsuyuki Hirano, Macoto Tezka, Sogo Ishii, Shinobu Yaguchi, Masashi Yamamoto and Akira Ogata. » - David Hudson...
- 1/26/2016
- Keyframe
With today's announcement of a series of special screenings, the Berlinale Forum completes its lineup. There's be world premieres of Ulrike Ottinger's 12-hour Chamisso's Shadow, Serpil Turhan's portrait of Rudolf Thome and Dominik Graf and Johannes F. Sievert's Doomed Love - A Journey through German Genre Films. Then the program of "Japanese Indies from the Punk Years" will feature work by Sion Sono, Shinya Tsukamoto, Nobuhiro Suwa, Katsuyuki Hirano, Macoto Tezka, Sogo Ishii, Shinobu Yaguchi, Masashi Yamamoto and Akira Ogata. » - David Hudson...
- 1/26/2016
- Fandor: Keyframe
Read More: San Sebastian Film Festival Announces 2015 Competition Titles The 63rd San Sebastian Film Festival will have a retrospective focusing on independent cinema produced in Japan over the last 15 years. The category will include works from both first-time directors as well as some of the country's most experienced. The "Japanese Independent Cinema 2000-2015" retrospective is organized by the San Sebastian Festival, CulturArts-ivac (Valencia), the Filmoteca Vasca, the San Telmo Museum and the San Sebastian European Capital of Culture 2016. The retrospective will also be accompanied by the publication of a book by Shozo Ichiyama, a Japanese producer and director of programming at the Tokyo Filmex International Film Festival. The titles for the retrospective include: 1. "H Story" (2001)- Directed by Nobuhiro Suwa 2. "Sora no ana" ("Hole in the Sky") (2001)- Directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri 3. "Border...
- 8/19/2015
- by Kaeli Van Cott
- Indiewire
Retrospective will focus on Japanese independent cinema from the past 15 years and includes Cannes favourite Naomi Kawase.
The San Sebastian Film Festival is to programme a retrospective for its 63rd edition (Sept 18-26) titles New Japanese independent cinema 2000-2015.
Among the titles making up the retrospective from known directors are:
H Story (2001) by Nobuhiro Suwa;A Snake of June (Rokugatsu no hebi, 2002) by Shin’ya Tsukamoto;Bright Future (Akarui mirai, 2003) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa;Vibrator (2003) by Ryuichi Hiroki;Bashing (2005) by Masahiro Kobayashi;Birth/Mother (Tarachime, 2006) by Naomi Kawase;Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi, 2008) by Shion Sono.
The works of several new talents to have made their debut since 2000 include:
Hole in the Sky (Sora no ana, 2001) by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri,Border Line (2002) by Sang-il Lee,No One’s Ark (Baka no hakobune, 2003) by Nobuhiro Yamashita, The Soup, One Morning (Aru asa, soup wa, 2005) by Izumi Takahashi,Fourteen (Ju-yon-sai, 2007) by Hiromasa Hirosue,Sex Is Not Laughing Matter (Hito no sekkuso...
The San Sebastian Film Festival is to programme a retrospective for its 63rd edition (Sept 18-26) titles New Japanese independent cinema 2000-2015.
Among the titles making up the retrospective from known directors are:
H Story (2001) by Nobuhiro Suwa;A Snake of June (Rokugatsu no hebi, 2002) by Shin’ya Tsukamoto;Bright Future (Akarui mirai, 2003) by Kiyoshi Kurosawa;Vibrator (2003) by Ryuichi Hiroki;Bashing (2005) by Masahiro Kobayashi;Birth/Mother (Tarachime, 2006) by Naomi Kawase;Love Exposure (Ai no mukidashi, 2008) by Shion Sono.
The works of several new talents to have made their debut since 2000 include:
Hole in the Sky (Sora no ana, 2001) by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri,Border Line (2002) by Sang-il Lee,No One’s Ark (Baka no hakobune, 2003) by Nobuhiro Yamashita, The Soup, One Morning (Aru asa, soup wa, 2005) by Izumi Takahashi,Fourteen (Ju-yon-sai, 2007) by Hiromasa Hirosue,Sex Is Not Laughing Matter (Hito no sekkuso...
- 5/7/2015
- ScreenDaily
This is a talk given by French director of photography Caroline Champetier at the La Roche-sur-Yon International Film Festival in October 2012, originally published in two parts on the festival’s site (www.fif-85.com). This translation is being published with their kind permission. This year's festival will take place from October 16-21, Kelly Reichardt will be the guest of honor. Many thanks to Emmanuel Burdeau, programmer of the festival, Jordan Mintzer and Caroline Champetier.
Caroline Champetier: I’ve always tried to take a step back from what I’m doing. The more I work, however, the less I’m able to deal with this exercise. I just finished production on Claude Lanzmann’s The Last of the Unjust and have barely said goodbye to David Teboul, a young director who I worked with on Cinq avenue Marceau (2002), a film I think very highly of and that’s about Yves Saint Laurent’s last collection.
Caroline Champetier: I’ve always tried to take a step back from what I’m doing. The more I work, however, the less I’m able to deal with this exercise. I just finished production on Claude Lanzmann’s The Last of the Unjust and have barely said goodbye to David Teboul, a young director who I worked with on Cinq avenue Marceau (2002), a film I think very highly of and that’s about Yves Saint Laurent’s last collection.
- 9/20/2013
- by Ted Fendt
- MUBI
Not even Moneyball could beat The Lion King 3D at the box office this weekend, as Anthony D'Alessandro reports, but it's for Moneyball that we've got a roundup rolling on and on beyond all reason. IndieWIRE's Peter Knegt notes that "the specialty box office had a clear winner in Weekend," and we've got a roundup on that one as well.
"Wholly unrelated to the 1975 Sam Peckinpah film of the same name, Killer Elite is distinguished by one no-mercy, eye-gouging, testicle-punching brawl, and one whoppingly indifferent screenplay," writes Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. A quick sketch from Time Out Chicago's AA Dowd: Jason Statham "plays an ex-special-ops agent yanked out of retirement when someone kidnaps his mentor (Robert De Niro, in the Liam Neeson role). The guilty party, a deposed dictator with a chip on his shoulder, wants our erstwhile Transporter to knock off a trio of British mercenaries. 'I'm done with killing,...
"Wholly unrelated to the 1975 Sam Peckinpah film of the same name, Killer Elite is distinguished by one no-mercy, eye-gouging, testicle-punching brawl, and one whoppingly indifferent screenplay," writes Nick Pinkerton in the Voice. A quick sketch from Time Out Chicago's AA Dowd: Jason Statham "plays an ex-special-ops agent yanked out of retirement when someone kidnaps his mentor (Robert De Niro, in the Liam Neeson role). The guilty party, a deposed dictator with a chip on his shoulder, wants our erstwhile Transporter to knock off a trio of British mercenaries. 'I'm done with killing,...
- 9/25/2011
- MUBI
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