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.
Film Historian, author and Midnight Eye co-founder Jasper Sharp and Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow creator Chris MaGee have finally selected their films and on top of the first batch announced earlier (click here for that story), they've got an interesting bunch to add.
KAKERA: A PIECE OF OUR LIFE (Toronto Premiere/ Opening Night Film): Haru (Hikari Mitsushima) is a university student with a less than ideal boyfriend whose life is turned upside down after meeting a young woman named Riko (Eriko Nakamura). The two women fall for each other and embark on a rocky and romantic relationship. Director Momoko Ando will be in attendance at this screening!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlUH5O3nxRE
YURIKO’S AROMA (Canadian Premiere/ Closing Night Film): Massage therapist Yuriko (Noriko Eguchi) is a master of scent. She whips up aromatherapy lotions to slather into her clients at her friends massage spa, but Yuriko isn’t prepared when she catches a whiff of the the salon owner’s sweaty 17-year-old soccer-playing nephew Takeshi (Shota Someya) and is immediately overcome with desire… or love… or possibly both in this sexy black comedy by Koya Yoshida.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRz1nMQMa-s
A NORMAL LIFE, PLEASE! (North American Premiere): 37-year-old cement truck driver Nobukazu Kaikura, kept up a hellish work schedule during the spring of 2006 – 552 hours in a single month. When Kaikura seeks the protection of a labour union he incurs the wrath of his bosses and the thugs they hire to intimidate Kaikura and his family day and night.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdu7ZqSITlk
OUR BRIEF ETERNITY (Canadian Premiere): A mysterious virus is infecting the population in Takuya Fukushima’s Our Brief Eternity. Those afflicted suddenly fall into a coma and when they recover they have lost their memories of the person closest and dearest to them. During this epidemic, irresponsible playboy Teru (Kouta Kusano) runs into his old girlfriend Mio (Romi), but she doesn’t remember him. Mio has fallen victim to the virus. The two must start their relationship from scratch, but Teru’s case of cold feet causes him to make a drastic decision – to risk infection and his memory.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIiw99qS378
LOCKED OUT (Canadian Premiere): Six-year-old Ketia (Takeru Shimada) gets lost in a mall parking lot and accidentally gets into the car of a young man named Hiroshi (Kiichi Sonobe). Hiroshi has a bloody pick axe in the trunk of his car and is haunted by a violent, demonic doppelgänger, but is he what he appears to be – a psychotic killer, or is there a different story to be told?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2LCIsfNjjOg
OFF HIGHWAY 20 (Canadian Premiere): Route 20 is a highway that runs west out of Tokyo as far Shiojiri in Nagano. About 130 kilometres from the highway’s starting point is Kofu City. Off Highway 20 shows us a side of Japan that many people never see. One populated by yakuza, small time street thugs who huff solvents, gambling addicts and speed freaks.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVRGzJFGHcE
KIHACHIRO KAWAMOTO: JAPAN’S MASTER PUPPETEER: Born in 1925 in Tokyo, Kihachiro Kawamoto orginally wanted to pursue a career in architecture while taking up doll-making as a hobby, but in 1950 he embarked on what is now a legendary career in animation. Kawamoto has spent the last five plus decades creating exquisite stop-motion puppet animation that has won him praise worldwide. In a special programme curated by Jasper Sharp, audiences will get to see a sampling of some of Kawamoto’s best known short films including 1970’s The Demon, 1973’s The Trip, 1976’s Dojoji Temple, 1979’s House of Flame, 1988’s To Shoot Without Shooting and 1990’s Briar-Rose, or the Sleeping Beauty.
OH! OTSUKA DRUGSTORE: (Canadian Premiere): An off kilter comedy about a curmudgeonly woman who runs a drugstore and one of her regular customers – a young high school girl she takes under her wing. It turns out this girl has a crush on a certain boy but is too shy to make the leap and speak to him. Can the drugstore owner help her young friend find true love? And if so will her crazy methods actually work? Romantic comedy meets bizarre friendship tale, and all set to music by Japanese pop sensation AKB48.
DOME ANIMATION SPECIAL: (Presented in partnership with Nippon Connection) Tokyo’s Image Forum is the most respected producer of experimental film, video and animation in Japan, as well as one of the most important sources for experimental visual culture in the world. DOME Animation collects 15 short animated films by 15 of Image Forum’s most promising young animators.
NN-891102 (Toronto Premiere): A survivor of the bombing of Nagasaki has in his possession an astounding document of that tragic day –the sound of the “Fat Man” atomic bomb detonating on August 9th, 1945 at 11:02AM. At first he is appalled by this recording, but as time goes by he becomes obsessed with recreating this terrifying sound… a process that will jeopardize his sanity and his life.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwjGc_Bs_jo
On top of the feature films mentioned (and the shorts program) Shinsedai also has a collection of shorts that will be playing during the festival including sugarmountain’s “Gunman Champion”, Satoshi Nagano’s “Finishing Touch”, Shoh Kataoka’s “Jellyfish Boy”, Reiko Tahara’s “Remnants”, Kotaru Wajima’s “Invitation” and Hiroshi Iwanaga’s “That’s All”.
Last, and for the first time, there will be a selection of experimental indie films showing alongisde the regular schedule. As a way to highlight some of the more off-center and experimental Japanese indie films the festival has created the Jishu Eiga Room. Throughout July 24th and July 25th the following films will be playing continuously starting at 12:00PM.
DOME ANIMATION SPECIAL
DIFFERENT CITIES
OH! OTSUKA DRUGSTORE
YUKI KAWAMURA TRILOGY
Access to the Jishu Eiga Room is FREE for DELUXE and 5-FILM pass holders (entry into the Jishu Eiga Room does not use up one of the five films on the 5-Film Pass), while individual entry for non-pass holders costs only $4.
All tickets and passes will be going on sale for the 2nd annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival this coming WEDNESDAY, JUNE 23rd.
For more information on the festival visit http://shinsedai-fest.com/