Far East Film Festival 2011: The Japanese Official Line-Up

The Far East Film Festival in Udine announced its official line-up this week. The Japanese selections include both mainstream award-winners and quirky genre and cult films.  Here are the trailers for this year's  films with links to reviews.

Cannonball Wedlock (婚前特急, 2011)

• a comedy/drama directed by Koji Maeda
• review by Mark Schilling 
• International Festival Premiere

Confessions (告白, 2010)

• a revenge drama directed by Tetsuya Nakashima
• adapted from a 2009 bestselling novel by Kanae Minato
• won Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay and Best Editor at the 34th Japanese Academy Awards
• Italian Premiere
• reviews by Mark Schilling, Virginie Sélavy and Niels Mattijs 

The Lady Shogun and Her Men (大奥, 2010)

• period drama by Fuminori Kaneko
• adapted from the manga by Fumi Yoshinaga
• International Festival Premiere 
• Variety review

The Lightning Tree (雷桜, 2010)

• a mystery/romance directed by Ryuichi Hiroki
• adapted from the novel by Mari Ueza
• stars Masaki Okada and the luminous Yu Aoi
• review by Mark Schilling
• European Premiere

Paranormal Activity 2: Tokyo Night (2010)

• a horror film directed by Toshikazu Nagae 
• International Festival Premiere 
• review

SABI♂ SABI♀ – Quirky Guys and Gals (2011)

Sabi_Otoko_Sabi_Onna-trailer von sarangni

• an omnibus comedy directed by Yosuke Fujita (Fine, Totally Fine), Tomoko Matsunashi, Mipo Oh, Gen Sekiguchi
• starring the always hilarious YoshiYoshi Arakawa
• aka Groovy Guys, Groovy Girls
• review by Mark Schilling
• International Festival Premiere

Seaside Motel ( シーサイドモーテル, 2010)

• a black comedy directed by Kentaro Moriya
• European Premiere

Underwater Love (おんなの河童, 2011)

• pink musical by Shinji Imaoka
• a German-Japanese co-production
• cinematography by Christopher Doyle
• Jason Gray behind the scenes report
• European Premiere

Villain (悪人, 2010)

• a dark, romantic drama by Sang-il Lee (Hula Girls)
• won Best Actor, Best Actress,  Best Supporting Actor, and Best Supporting Actress at the Japanese Academy Awards
• won Best Film, Best Director and Best Suporting Actor at the Kinema Jumpo Awards
• won Best Film at the Mainichi Film Awards
• European Premiere 
• JFilm Pow-Wow Review

Wandering Home (酔いがさめたら、うちに帰ろう, 2010)

• a drama directed by Yoichi Higashi
• Italian Premiere 
• JFilm Pow-Wow Review 

Yakuza Weapon (極道兵器, 2011)

• a violent action-comedy co-directed by Yudai Yamaguchi and Tak Sakaguchi
• based on the Ken Ishikawa manga
• read more about the film
• European Premiere

Japanese Animation at Anifest 2011

Japanese animation will have a strong presence at the 10th annual Anifest in Teplice, the Czech Republic.  The festival runs this year from April 26th until May 1st.  The festival will feature a retrospective of the career of Shinichiro Watanabe (渡辺 信一郎, b. 1965). Screenings will include Samurai Champloo (TV anime, 2004-5), Cowboy Bebop: Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door (2001), and the OAV collaborative anthology The Animatrix (2003).

Watanabe’s favoured composer, Yoko Kanno (菅野 よう子, b. 1964) will also be performing at the festival. In addition to Watanabe’s works she also works closely with directors like Yoshiyuki Tomino and Shoji Kawamori writing the scores for a wide variety of popular anime including Macross Plus (1994), Turn A Gundam (1999), Escaflowne: The Movie (2000), Wolf’s Rain (2003) and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex (2002).

The festival will also be holding a special screening of Hayao Miyazaki’s Ponyo (2008).

My favourite part of Anifest is the competition, which always brings out the best in world animation.  Here are the Japanese shorts competing this year, as listed in the online programme:

In a Pig’s Eye (Atsushi Wada, 2010)

A giant pig is lying in front of a single-family house. Everyone in the family knows of its existence and the pig is aware of the family's life. Yet neither can understand the way the other perceives things. The film's dreamlike atmosphere combines with the characters' bizarre behaviour.

Two Tea Two (Hiroco Ichinose, 2010)

As the alarm rings, a woman wakes up and decides to enter into her own past. Yet becoming one with one's own former self is not the right solution. Indeed, there is a whole new image. This "fluid" felt-tip drawn animation reminds viewers of a dream just before an awakening.

Omokage/Remains (Maki Satake, 2010)

Grandfather died ten years ago and left a series of photos. Travelling to the places where they were taken, the film becomes a journey through time back to childhood. This film combines the pixilation of a real-life environment with old photographs.

Kuchao/The Gum Boy (Masaki Okuda, 2010)

Kuchao is a first grader, but he is not part of anything that goes on at school. He even stands aside while others go and have fun releasing balloons. But when he starts chewing gum, he enters the world of his own imagination and his balloon changes into anything he can think of.

Tatamp (Mirai Mizue, 2010)

This abstract animation visualizes the relationship between music and different shapes. Each shape produces a tone or a tune - the louder the sound gets, the greater the individual structures grow. Here comes chaos, hand in hand with astonishing musical tunes.

CALF Animation Special at Nippon Connection

As I mentioned in my earlier post, there will be a lot of exciting, innovative animation at Nippon Connection 2011. On Friday, 29th April at 18:00 in the Festivalzentrum there will be a presentation of works by CALF animators with the film critic Nobuaki Doi, the animation team Tochka, and independent animator Mirai Mizue in attendance. The programme includes works by these artists and Atsushi Wada, Kei Oyama, Shin Hashimoto, Aico Kitamura, Saori Shiroki, Masaki Okuda, Naoyuki Tsuji, Wataru Uekusa and Dong-Hun Kim.

This event will be followed by a discussion with Nobuaki Doi, Mirai Mizue and Tochka at 20:30 that I will be moderating.  Hope to see you there!

Click on the links to read reviews of the films/more about these artists on this site.
 

Hand Soap (Kei Oyama, 2008)

Consultation Room (Kei Oyama, 2005)

In a Pig’s Eye (Atsushi Wada, 2010)

The Mechanism of Spring (Atsushi Wada, 2010)

Playground (Mirai Mizue, 2010)

Tatamp (Mirai Mizue, 2010)

PiKA PiKA (Tochka, 2007)

Steps (Tochka, 2010)

Beluga (Shin Hashimoto, 2011)

Getting Dressed (Aico Kitamura, 2010)

Maggot (Saori Shiroki, 2007)

A Gum Boy(Masaki Okuda, 2010)

Angel: The Place Where We Were (Naoyuki Tsuji, 2008)

Gentle March (Wataru Uekusa, 2011)

Yoko (Dong-Hun Kim, 2010)

Kei Oyama's Consultation Room is available on:

Thinking and Drawing