Thursday, July 08, 2010

The Japanese Film Festival is Coming!


Call me a slow burner, but I only started to religiously follow the Japanese Film Festival in Singapore from 2005, and honestly, it's one of the premier festival for film buffs here given its eclectic programming from classics to contemporary offerings, with a free screenings to boot!

The Embassy of Japan and Singapore Film Society present the Japanese Film Festival 2010 - an eleven-day celebration of Japanese films - in Singapore. From August 19-29, festival-goers will be treated to 31 Singapore Premieres of groundbreaking Japanese classics, independent cinema and award winning titles that offer a rare glimpse into the Japanese film history, its culture and its filmmakers’ commentaries on the joys and perils of YOUTH. This year, the festival returns to the National Museum of Singapore's Gallery Theatre.

The showcase for this year includes:

1. Works of directors who led the revolutionary change in the 1960s which became known as the Japanese New Wave – a major turning point in the history of Japanese cinema, celebrating the works of OSHIMA Nagisa through his acclaimed works like Boy, Diary of a Shinjuku Thief, Sing a Song of Sex and Sinner in Paradise. Other works in this showcase include YOSHIDA Yoshishige's Good for Nothing and Bloody Thirst, IMAMURA Shohei's Hogs and Warships and A Man Vanishes, SHINODA Masahiro's A Flame at the Pier and ICHIKAWA KON's Ototo.

2. Works by young, aspiring directors birthed from 2 current initiatives in Japan:

a. The independently funded PIA Film Festival in Tokyo, with selections here from its 14th to 17th scholarship films which include A Stranger of Mine, Water Flower, Fourteen, ASYL and Mime-Mime.

b. The Visual Industry Promotion Organisation's New Directions in Japanese Cinema (VIPO NDJC) program, which will feature 10 short films from 2007 and 2008.

3. Latest award-winning films from up-and-coming Japanese filmmakers that are blazing a trail in the international film circuit, which includes KORE-EDA Hirokazu's Air Doll, Live Tape by MATSUE Tetsuaki (who was here in 2008's edition), YOSHIDA Kota's Yuriko's Aroma, NAKAMURA Yoshihiro's Fish Story, MIYANO Masayuki's LALAPIPO and YOKOHAMA Satoko's Bare Essence of Life.

Phew! I doubt you can't find anything here that doesn't tickle your fancy. Mark those dates on the calendar, and head on down to the Related Links below to keep tabs on the full list of films and their screening schedules. See you at the Gallery Theatre this August!

Ticket Sales
Begins on 19 July at 9am from Tickets.com

Related Links
Official Festival Website with information about ticket sales, films, schedules and other Festival news and updates
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YouTube

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