The second annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival has come and gone with much success. This year I actually decided to help out by volunteering and I'm very glad I did. I managed to meet some fantastic people and still catch a few films from the diverse lineup available.

"Gunman Champion" star Shaq, not Shaquille O'Neil the basketball player, will be joining in on the festivities that are the Shinsedai Cinema Festival 2010.

Comedian, actor and singer Shaq, star of sugarmountain's "Gunman Champion" (screening with Katsuya Tomita's "Off Highway 20" on Saturday, July 24th at 3:45PM), will be a special guest at this years festival. How he will be involved is anybody's guess. Could he be singing? Perhaps doing some standup? Or a combination of both during a Q&A? Anything is possible at these kinds of events and the only way to find out is to be there.

The 2nd annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival, the New Generation Japanese Film Festival, taking place at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre between July 22nd and July 25th, 2010 has announced their full lineup.

The 2nd annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival, the New Generation Japanese Film Festival, taking place at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre between July 22nd and July 25th, 2010 has announced the first round of films.

Film Historian, author and Midnight Eye co-founder Jasper Sharp and Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow creator Chris MaGee are still putting together the final list of films for this year's festival but they've been kind enough to let the cat out of the bag on the first batch they've selected.

The dates have been set, it is official that the Shinsedai Cinema Festival will return in 2010!

From the festival website directly: