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Over a decade after his rom-com sensation, “Hana and Alice“, Shunji Iwai returns to the characters of Hana Arai and Tetsuko Arisugawa with a rotoscoped prequel film that paints beautiful animated images over live-action footage. Like the first film, “The Case of Hana & Alice” is a whimsical and cute tale of self-discovery and new beginnings in a middle-school setting.

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It doesn’t deal with its predecessor’s more mature themes, as the girls are only 14 and don’t have much to worry about here. But it still addresses change, with a new school for Alice, and the rumored death of a lover for Hana. This is simply a lighthearted film about being young, with a plot that sounds even simpler on paper than that of the original. It’s the story of how Hana and Alice met and became inseparable best friends.

Miho Nakayama, a respected Japanese music and film personality, died at 54. Her agency, Big Apple, confirmed her death on Friday. Nakayama was discovered deceased at her Tokyo residence, leaving a considerable legacy in the entertainment world.

Her abrupt passing has shocked fans and colleagues. The cause of her death has not yet been determined as investigations continue. Her website had earlier that day postponed a Christmas show in Osaka owing to her health struggles.

Nakayama was born in Tokyo on March 1, 1970, and her career began in 1985. That year, she made her television debut on TBS, released her first single, “C,” and appeared in a film adaptation of the manga “Be-Bop High School.”

In the late 1980s, Nakayama became famous in the city pop genre. She is famous for successful singles like “Waku Waku Sasete” and albums like “After School,” “Catch the Nite,” and “Mind Game.” Despite releasing fewer music albums in the early 2000s,...

To follow up “All About Lily Chou-Chou“, Shunji Iwai crafted a more innocent romantic-comedy that touches on the subjects of love, memory and friendship in a time of transition, from middle-school to high-school, from careless children to slightly more responsible teenagers. With a charming and silly story that is both hilarious and heartwarming, Iwai effortlessly captures the essence of being a teenager overwhelmed by your own life, trying to balance school, goals, friendship and romance. But he also captures the happiness, the naïveté, and the freedom of youth. Like making foolish mistakes, having fun with friends, getting caught up in manipulation schemes to earn a boy’s heart and making greedy decisions like trading a friendship for love. And it all feels so genuine and authentic.

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Through Shunji Iwai’s masterful direction and gorgeous aesthetic, and Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki‘s wholesome performances,...

by Tiago Carneiro

Back in the 90s, Shunji Iwai had already established himself as a master of romance, but “Swallowtail Butterfly” redefined his craft and solidified him as a versatile filmmaker, showcasing his impressive ability to transcend genres. This film seamlessly blends a myriad of genres into a cohesive, all-encompassing tale of cinematic chaos. It is a science-fiction film, but also a musical at times, and a western, an action-thriller, a noir crime story, an entrancing mystery, a hilarious comedy, and a heartfelt coming-of-age drama. This may sound like the messy work of a madman, and it is, but in the best way.

Genres are twisted into something unique and collide with each other to form a surreal narrative that fully immerses the viewer into its intricate world-building and array of likeable characters. Shunji Iwai goes insane behind the camera and inside the editing room, making the film feel like...

Beginning Friday, October 4, Plastic, Daisuke Miyazaki‘s heartwarming love story propelled by the intoxicating power of shared musical obsession, opens for an exclusive one-week NY theatrical run at Metrograph In Theater. On the same day, the film will also have its streaming premiere on Metrograph At Home, running for an exclusive limited engagement until December 4.

Miyazaki’s tender, colorful, terribly charming tribute to headstrong youthful romance and the transcendent power of pop is inspired (and soundtracked) by musician Kensuke Ide’s eclectic, electrifying 2020 concept album—a record framed as being the work of a fictional ’70s glam rock group, Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists, and their mysterious frontman. In Plastic, rock obsessives Jun and Ibuki (Takuma Fujie and An Ogawa) bond over their mutual love for Exne Kedy’s elusive music, falling in love while trying to track their idols down, only to drift apart during the Covid-19 pandemic… until...

Tadanobu Asano is set to receive The Hollywood Reporter’s Trailblazer Award at the upcoming 37th installment of the Tokyo International Film Festival next month.

The chameleonic screen actor has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema for nearly three decades while regularly appearing in prominent supporting parts in big Hollywood productions. But his swaggering recent performance as the irascible samurai Yabushige on FX‘s smash-hit series Shogun has given him an all-new level of global recognition over the past year. In the process of becoming an indelible fan favorite, Asano also received his first Emmy nomination for the part.

THR’s Trailblazer Award, whose recent honorees include six-time Emmy winner Jean Smart, David Oyelowo, Eva Longoria, Matt Bomer, Niecy Nash-Betts and America Ferrera, is given to artists whose work and careers illuminate stories and characters who have been traditionally marginalized in Hollywood. International editor Abid Rahman will present Asano with the award on Oct.

North America’s largest Japanese film festival presents two weeks of contemporary premieres, including new films from Kei Chika-ura, Takeshi Kitano, Gakuryu Ishii, Shunji Iwai, Sho Miyake and Shinya Tsukamoto. The program features 31 films, including 5 International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, 2 East Coast Premieres and 7 New York Premieres, as well as the International Premiere of Shin Godzilla: Orthochromatic. Special guests include iconoclastic director Gakuryu Ishii, appearing for the East Coast Premiere of The Box Man as well as a retrospective screening of August in the Water; director Noriko Yuasa will appear at the International Premiere of Performing Kaoru’s Funeral, winner of the Japan Cuts Award at the 2024 Osaka Asian Film Festival; and actress Tomoko Tabata will appear...

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In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week: several music videos by Shunji Iwai. Shunji Iwai is very prolific. Not only has he made about more than ten feature movies, all equally sprawling and epic in scope, he also made many shorts, several television series, wrote many (online) novels, and above all directed more than 100 music videos. All About Lily Chou Chou, his most famous movie, started as an online serial in the form of a semi-fictional message board for a fully fictional artist, called Lily Chou Chou. When it eventually got turned into a movie, using a lot of the input Iwai had gathered from his interactions on these messageboards, Iwai decided...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

July 10–21, 2024 · Japan Society · New York, NY

North America's largest Japanese film festival presents two weeks of contemporary premieres, including new films from Kei Chika-ura, Takeshi Kitano, Gakuryu Ishii, Shunji Iwai, Sho Miyake and Shinya Tsukamoto

31 films including 5 International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, 2 East Coast Premieres and 7 New York Premieres

Includes the International Premiere of Shin Godzilla: ORTHOchromatic

Shin Godzilla: ORTHOchromatic © 2016,2023 Toho Co., Ltd

New York, NY—Japan Society announces the full lineup of the 17th annual Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film, the largest festival of its kind in North America. Set for July 10–August 21 in New York City, this year's edition will present over 30 films spanning 12 days across Feature Slate, Next Generation, Classics and Short Film sections. Among the festival's lineup are five International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, four U.S. Premieres, two East Coast Premieres and seven New York Premieres. Additionally, Japan...

Comprising international premieres, short programs, and some of the country’s finest-ever films in new restorations, 2024’s Japan Cuts––running July 10-21 at New York’s Japan Society––has been unveiled. It’s in the festival’s nature that numerous works and directors are lesser-known on American shores, though a cursory search has one regularly stopping: new films by Takeshi Kitano (Kubi), Shunji Iwai (Kyrie), Shinya Tsukamoto (Shadow of Fire), and Gakuryu Ishii (The Box Man) populate the selection. Meanwhile, Hideaki Anno’s modern classic Shin Godzilla debuts in a new, black-and-white cut Shin Godzilla: ORTHOchromatic.

Its classics section is three-for-three: Ishii’s August in the Water, Shinji Somai’s Moving, and Toshiharu Ikeda Mermaid Legend, which is more or less one of the greatest films ever made. One can anticipate at least a couple of Japan Cuts’ current unknowns are tomorrow’s figureheads.

See the full lineup below:...

Following the recipe he implemented for “A Bride for Rip Van Winkle” and “Last Letter”, of shooting movies based on his own novel, Shunji Iwai has come up with “Kyrie”, a 3-hour movie that details the story of its three main characters over the span of 13 years. At the same time, it functions as a promotional piece for the idols in the cast, mainly Aina The End whose songs are heard throughout.

Kyrie is screening at Nippon Connection

The movie starts in the present, but eventually unfolds over several different time axes. In the present, Kyrie, a mysterious girl who only whispers except when she is singing, is trying to become a professional musician, but has no luck, even having to live on the streets. Eventually, another girl her age approaches her, Ikko, who immediately convinces her to become her manager, with the two soon sharing an apartment.

It turns...

Animation studio Mappa has partnered with K2 Pictures, a newly launched film company, to produce films for the global market. This was announced on the official website of K2 Pictures.

In addition to Mappa, K2 Pictures is also partnering with renowned filmmakers, including Shunji Iwai, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Kazuya Shiraishi, Miwa Nishikawa, and Takashi Miike.

This partnership signals a significant shift for Mappa, which is the only animation studio on the list of partners. the studio has expressed its eagerness to contribute to the filmmaking process as a partner.

“We have joined this project with the desire to support K2 Pictures’ challenge. We want to contribute as much as we can as a partner in movie production while considering what an animation studio can offer.“

K2 Pictures was established by Japanese producer Muneyuki Kii, a former Head Producer at Toei, with the goal of creating a new ecosystem for Japanese films.

Animation studio Mappa will begin a partnership with K2 Pictures , a newly-launched film company based in Tokyo, to produce films for the global market, following an announcement on the company's official website . K2 Pictures was established by Japanese producer Muneyuki Kii , a former head producer at Toei. The company's official website describes its purpose as follows: The company aims to create a new funding ecosystem for Japanese films to enrich local productions by returning profits traditionally accruing to film companies to both investors and creators, and it will also produce projects with emerging and established creators. Additionally, as part of the initiative, K2 Pictures is launching a new content fund – K2P Film Fund I – which will provide support for Japanese features across both animation and live-action and will enable investors, creators and crew members to profit from the Japanese film industry. The Fund is aiming to collaborate with from investors in Japan,...

K2 Pictures, a Japanese production company launched by former Toei producer Muneyuki Kii, is to introduce a new film fund at Cannes and a slate that includes upcoming projects from Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda, acclaimed genre director Takashi Miike and top animation studio Mappa.

The K2P Film Fund I aims to support live-action and animated Japanese features, collaborating with local and international investors from the US, Asia and beyond. Profits from productions will be funnelled back to investors, creators and crew.

Announcing the fund, K2 Pictures revealed it will collaborate with leading Japanese directors and creators on...

Veteran Japanese character actor Tadanobu Asano is having a very overdue breakthrough moment. The chameleonic film star has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema for nearly three decades, while also regularly appearing in prominent supporting parts in big Hollywood productions. But his irresistible performance in FX’s period series Shōgun is giving him an all-new level of global recognition.

Asano co-stars in Shōgun as Kashigi Yabushige, the scheming lord of Izu, a rugged region of feudal Japan where much of the series takes place. Playing the character with lived-in swagger and a fatalistic sense of humor, Asano has become one of the show’s clear fan favorites, with Reddit and Twitter threads popping up to revel in his character’s antics. Asano announced himself early in Shōgun‘s run: As many have marveled, Yabushige makes his entrance to the show by boiling a man alive but then wins the audience...

Soon it's that time of year again! Just a few weeks left until the 24th Nippon Connection Film Festival once again envelops Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in bright pink. From May 28 to June 2, 2024, the world's largest festival of Japanese cinema will showcase around 100 short and feature films at eight venues. The country's culture will also be explored through the extensive culture program, reflecting Japan's musical, culinary, and artistic diversity.

The Nippon Connection Film Festival presents works by both established filmmakers and emerging directors. From Takeshi Kitano's action-packed samurai film Kubi to the captivating comedy Fly Me To The Saitama -From Biwa Lake With Love- by Hideki Takeuchi, and Yoshimi Itazu's imaginative animation The Concierge, the film program offers highlights of various genres. Most films will celebrate their German, European, or international premieres at the festival. The festival's focus on Crossing Borders, supported by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, explores...

Wong Ching Po’s crime thriller The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon has emerged as the second biggest Taiwanese film of all time on release in mainland China, having grossed over $69.5m (Rmb 500m) amid a simultaneous worldwide launch on Netflix.

Distributed by Star Alliance Movies, the film opened third on March 1 at the tail end of the Chinese New Year period, behind festive hits Article 20 and Pegasus 2. But it climbed to number one on its third day of release and has since been topping China’s daily box-office chart for 16 consecutive days, beating other new releases such as Dune: Part Two,...

Zdf Latest To ‘Race Across The World’

A six-part series based on Studio Lambert’s Race Across the World is set to air on German pubcaster Zdf in spring 2025. Planning is underway for casting and filming is set for the fall, with All3Media’s German producer, Tower, attached to make the show. Kirstin Benthaus-Gebauer will be the producer with Friederike Haedecke, Johannes Geiger, Thorsten Haas and Daniel Nemetschek the editors. The original BBC show has run to strong ratings in the UK for three seasons and one celebrity series. New seasons of both versions have been commissioned after the the first ep of the celebrity run drew 6.2 million viewers, consolidating the format’s position among the BBC’s top factual programs. The German deal, struck with distributor All3Media International, marks the fifth international version of the show, coming after three seasons on TV2 in Denmark, an upcoming production on MTV Katsomo and MTV3 in Finland,...

Busan International Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up, including opening and closing films, and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year.

Chow will be feted through the screening of two of his most iconic films – Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow – as well as recent release Once More Chance, directed by Anthony Pun.

In addition to Chow, international guests expected at the festival include Luc Besson, Japanese filmmakers Hirokazu Kore-eda and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Korean-American filmmakers Lee Isaac Chung and Justin Chon, and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.

The festival will open with the world premiere of Jang Kun-jae’s Because I Hate Korea, adapted from the popular novel by Chang Kang-myoung, and close with Chinese filmmaker Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau, which is receiving its world premiere in Toronto.

Suffering from chronic insomnia that makes him irritable and distant, Ganta Nakami struggles to fit in at Kuyo High School. Assigned by his classmates to fetch a stepladder from the supposedly haunted observatory, he meets Isaki Magari, a cheerful student suffering from the same nocturnal condition as himself. Having herself spread the rumor about the near-abandoned place, Isaki invites Ganta to share her haven. However, an overly well-intentioned teacher discovers the ruse and urges them to resurrect the astronomy club if they want to keep their little paradise. On the advice of the club's former leader, the duo organizes a stargazing event, which unfortunately falls through despite the unexpected help of several other students. Devastated, Ganta believes he is the instigator of everything that goes wrong around him, but Isaki puts things into perspective by confessing a secret that haunts her day and night. A congenital illness has left her with half a heart,...

While not the strongest film – even within director Jun Ichikawa's oeuvre – 2001's “Tokyo Marigold” is interesting within the context of Japan's ‘lost decades' and the changing face of the metropolis. At the turn of the millennium, the grime and gloom of 90s cinema was replaced by a cleaner, fresher look, as style replaced substance. Clearly a student of Ozu, Ichikawa's Tokyo story shows a Japan of the gloss and sheen of Haruki Murakami novels and Muji furnished apartments; of upwardly mobile young office workers in doomed, short-term love affairs.

Eriko (Rena Tanaka) is a young woman somewhat lost in adult life, working as a clerk for a car dealership, drifting through her days. Around her, colleagues and friends appear surer of themselves, going places with their lives, offering her friendly advice, job opportunities and chances at love: More exciting work comes when she bumps into an old school...

Sci-fi fantasy stars Aoi Ito from Katayama Shinzo’s ’Missing’.

Japan’s Free Stone Productions is launching sales at Hong Kong Filmart on sci-fi fantasy drama From The End Of The World, starring Aoi Ito from Katayama Shinzo’s Missing.

Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya, whose credits include the post-apocalyptic epic Casshern and English-language action film Last Knights, the film also stars Mari Natsuki and Shunji Iwai, the writer/director of films such as Love Letter and All About Lily Chou-Chou.

The story follows a seemingly normal high school girl who wakes from a dream about a 10-year-old girl living in...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including a series on first films featuring David Cronenberg’s Stereo, Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass, Jerzy Skolimowski’s Identification Marks: None, Fatih Akın’s Short Sharp Shock, Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow, and, with Mubi’s theatrical release of her new film Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s Summer 1993.

Additional highlights include Mathieu Amalric’s Hold Me Tight starring Vicky Krieps, Sundance favorites with films from Sean Baker, Lynn Shelton, Tom Noonan, and Andrew Bujalski, plus works from Nicolas Roeg, Claude Chabrol, and Aftersun director Charlotte Wells.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

January 1 – Stereo, directed by David Cronenberg | First Films First

January 2 – Short Sharp Shock, directed by Fatih Akın | First Films First

January 3 – River of Grass, directed by Kelly Reichardt | First Films First

January 4 – Identification Marks: None, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski | First Films...

Japan Society

One of Japan’s great living directors, Shunji Iwai, is highlighted in “Love Letters,” a four-film retrospective.

Anthology Film Archives

Histoire(s) du cinéma plays in its entirety on Saturday and Sunday as part of an ongoing Godard series.

Roxy Cinema

Every Man for Himself and A Serious Man play on 35mm this Friday; the latter encores Sunday, when a print of Close Encounters also screens.

Film Forum

Orson Welles’ The Trial, restored in 4K, begins a run; The Princess Bride screens this Sunday.

Film at Lincoln Center

The retrospective of Yoshimitsu Morita has its final weekend.

Museum of the Moving Image

The director’s cut series offers Heaven’s Gate on Friday and Saturday, while Fanny and Alexander screens this Sunday.

IFC Center

Freshly anointed the greatest film of all-time, Jeanne Dielman begins a run, as does It’s a Wonderful Life; Suspiria, Pet Sematary, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Suspiria,...

The films of Shunji Iwai present a view of the world in an almost dreamlike manner. That said, no matter how stylized his work can be, he’s never afraid to offer a raw portrait of reality. The youthful years of people’s lives are generally a time of happiness and growth, building memories that, years later, can be looked back on with a happy sense of nostalgia. Yet, the harsh truth is that’s heartbreakingly not always the case, and in a country like Japan, issues such as bullying remain a major problem. Combined with experimental filmmaking, Iwai would make a feature following Japanese youth lost in sorrow and partaking in misguided behavior. That harrowing film is “All About Lily Chou-Chou.”

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Throughout the 1990s in Japan, music was super popular, and there was a noticeable rise in juvenile delinquency,...

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.

Japan Society is pleased to announce Love Letters: Four Films by Shunji Iwai, a weekend series celebrating the defining early works of filmmaker Shunji Iwai. One of the most original talents to emerge from Japan in the ’90s, Iwai tapped into the dreams and lives of Japan’s youth with his lyrical meditations on the hardships of young adulthood, capturing pivotal and unforgettable moments of life. Balancing popular entertainment with arthouse predilection, Iwai’s exhilarating takes on the youth film provided a much-needed voice for the younger generation, offering delicate portraits of adolescence, ripe with poetic yearnings of grief, friendship, and young love. Iwai’s sumptuous visual style, coupled with his affecting and underground appeal, opened a world of new possibilities in the ’90s cinescape—marking him as one of the most accomplished and unique filmmakers of his generation.

A primer on the director’s essential works, Love...

Four Reasons Why This Multiverse Family Drama is a Must-Watch:

1. A drama version of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, but from the daughter’s perspective

Everyone thought Lin Zhaoxi (played by Zhang Zifeng) was a genius, but only she knows that she’s actually from another parallel world, and that she’s using her memories in another parallel universe to “cheat”.

Similar to the multiverse concept fleshed out in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, “The Heart of Genius” depicts Lin Zhaoxi travelling into a parallel world where she finds herself a 12-year-old again. This time, she is determined to catch up to the legacy of her father Old Lin (played by Lei Jiayin) and her crush Pei Zhi Wei (played by Zhang Xincheng) – both mathematical geniuses vastly different from her, a philosophy major. Changing major events in her life that happened when she was 12 and 18 respectively, Lin Zhaoxi is forced...

Filmmaker Hideaki Anno is one of Japan’s most imaginative and creative filmmakers working today. Whether it be his superb anime show “Neon Genesis Evangelion” or his excellent film “Shin Godzilla,” the auteur director has made a reputation for himself with his stylish filmmaking mixed with emotional storytelling and social commentary. Early on, Anno directed very grounded and haunting pieces of Japanese cinema but with touches of his usual insanity present throughout his work. His first live-action feature, “Love & Pop,” tells a powerful tale of the bond between a group of school girls and raises awareness of disturbing taboos within Japanese society. Following this, Anno would truly show his talents as a filmmaker in his intimate and beautiful film “Shiki-Jitsu.”

on YesAsia

The title of the movie translates to “Ritual” or “Ceremonial Day.” The project would be produced by Studio Kajino, a subsidiary of the popular animation company Studio Ghibli.

Second Hand Rose is a Chinese rock band from Beijing. The band is known for its bold combination of traditional Chinese instruments with solid rock & roll fundamentals and performances that include intense stage play elements. Zhang Yaoyuan, who is currently doing a PhD in Films at the Tokyo University of the Arts, decides to focus on Liang Long, the lead singer of the band, in the month before his New Year’s Eve concert in 2019, when he also shot his very first film, “Little White Boat”, directed by Geng Zihan.

On Stage is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

“On Stage” is an unusual documentary, particularly when one considers its main theme. For starters, Zhang was allowed to follow Brother Long, as many refer to him in the movie, quite closely, before, during and after his work. However there are very few moments in the film where he is actually alone with the documentarian,...

The BFI today announce full details of a hotly anticipated two-month season dedicated to Anime, running at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX from 28 March – 31 May. Originally planned for summer 2020 as part of the BFI’s major survey of Japanese cinema BFI Japan, the season arrives, at long last, to entertain and delight anime fans and novices alike.

The programme will include:

· A broad mixture of classic films such as Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Belladonna Of Sadness, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and Tekkonkinkreet, as well as an early shorts programme spotlighting work from 1917-1946· Previews of new releases including the thrillingly original Inu-oh, high-octane urban fairy tale Bubble and the powerful and thought-provoking short Summer Ghost (2021) followed by a Q&a with director loundraw· Much-loved recent work by major auteurs Mamoru Hosoda, Makoto Shinkai (Your Name) and the late great Satoshi Kon· A spotlight on emerging female talent Naoko Yamada...

During this pandemic, we have watched and reviewed a rather large number of “quarantine films”, since the creativity of many directors could not be contained due to the lockdown. It is the first time, though, to watch a kaiju one, and a black and white one for that matter, with Shunji Iwai getting particularly creative on how to achieve something like that. First hint? Capsule Kaiju.

The 12 Day Tale of the Monster That Died in 8 is screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

The inspiration behind the movie came from special-effects wizard Shinji Higuchi, who initiated an online challenge titled Kaiju Defeat Covid, where the idea was to catch an invisible monster, fuse it with your own Godzilla toy monster, and send the strengthened creature to crush the virus. Higuchi even put an instruction video on Youtube and Iwai took up the idea and turn it into a 12-part internet...

As part of the “Lost Future”-series, which is one of the many facets of BFI Japan, there will be a screening of Shunji Iwai’s “All About Lily Chou-Chou”, which hasn’t been screened since its UK debut in 2001.

The movie shows us a group of teenagers who meet online after becoming obsessed with a J-Pop starlet (Lily Chou-Chou) and it explores the onset of online communities in the early internet era of the millennium. It is a very dark and emotional story as well as visually interesting, as a quite dazzling early foray into digital cinematography.

Screening as part of #BFIJapan, see Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou at the @lost__futures 20th Anniversary Screening, Weds 10th Nov at the @ThePCCLondon. Tickets: https://bit.ly/LF007EMBERZ...

Stars: Kaori Fuji, Takako Matsu, Seiichi Tanabe | Written and Directed by Shunji Iwai

Even though I’d call myself a fan of Asian cinema, the reality is, if it isn’t horror or animated, I probably haven’t seen it. So I was thrilled to get the chance to watch 1998’s April Story at this year’s Fantasia Fest.

On the face of things, April Story is a very simple movie and not a whole lot happens. In Spring a girl, Uzuki Nireno, leaves the island of Hikkaido and her home town to attend University in Tokyo. And that’s kinda the whole story. We follow her as she struggles a little with being out of her comfort zone and the city not being quite as fantastic as she hoped.

But this is not a sad story, far from it. We see her loneliness and anxiety in new situations but...

Shunji Iwai made his feature debut in 1995 with “Love Letter” after a career directing music videos. It is a film that has some brilliant moments of filmmaking from someone who clearly knows their craft, though the music video influence can also grate and annoy at times. After a previous idol group documentary (“How to Forget Sadness: Documentary of Nogizaka46” (2015)), Takeshi Maruyama likewise switches from directing music videos to feature films with his ambitious ensemble piece “Spaghetti Code Love”.

Spaghetti Code Love is screening at Japan Cuts

Taking its name from unstructured source code, this is a number of separate stories of the lives of various young Tokyoites as they struggle to cope with love and life in the modern-day metropolis. There is a struggling musician who pines for her ex who now beds a high-class escort; a young photographer who falters at his big break, while having to fend off...

What do you do when you country experiences the devastating consequences of nuclear war? Introduce Godzilla. Japan has always found ways of using art – and monsters – to enable it to cope with existential threats. So when film director Shunji Iwai found himself living in lockdown and faced with the threat of Covid-19, he – together with a small group of artists led by co-writer and special effects designer Shinji Higuchi – decided to mount a fightback. How do you fight a monster like Covid-19? You need a special force of kaiju. Where do they come from? You buy them online – as with anything ese you need – and then hatch and nurture them at home.

As fans of kaiju movies will appreciate, raising them right is very important if they are to become friends and not foes. In this pseudo-documentary, created using home videos and recorded Zoom...

The U.S. lineup for films coming to Mubi this September has been announced, featuring some of my personal favorites of the last few years, notably Philippe Lesage’s severely overlooked coming-of-age drama Genesis, John Gianvito’s Helen Keller documentary Her Socialist Smile, Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten’s formally thrilling Slow Machine, and Robert Greene’s documentary Bisbee ’17, as well as Jia Zhangke’s latest release Swimming Out Till the Sea Turns Blue.

Also in the lineup is Bill Forsyth’s delightful Gregory’s Girl, Ari Folman’s hybrid feature The Congress, and Manoel de Oliveira’s Visit, or Memories and Confession, which was made in 1982, and only allowed to screen after his death.

See the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

September 1 | Yellow Cat | Adilkhan Yerzhanov | Festival Focus: Venice

September 2 | Visit, or Memories and Confessions | Manoel de Oliveira | Rediscovered

September 3 | Slow Machine | Joe DeNardo, Paul Felten | Mubi Spotlight

September...

Shunji Iwai always thrived in the portrayal of youths in various transitional stages of their life, with a significant part of his filmography focusing on this topic. “April Story” is another testament to the fact, although in a much tamer fashion than the majority of his work, which did not forbid it, however, from winning the audience award in Busan in 1998.

“April Story” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

Uzuki Nireno is a genuine country bumpkin from northern Hokkaido, who has just moved to Tokyo to study in the university. Adapting however, is not particularly easy, and the girl finds herself, either helping when not needed, interacting with men who seem anything but normal, and being pushed by a quirky girl in her classroom, the only one who wants to hang with her, into joining an air fishing club, presided by Fukatsu, an equally quirky young man. As time passes,...

16th episode of the TV series “If”, “Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” was Shunji Iwai’s first work to garner attention, netting him a New Director Award from the Director’s Guild of Japan. The film was eventually adapted into a highly successful anime in 2017.

“Fireworks, Should We See It from the Side or the Bottom?” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

It is the end of the elementary school year, right before a festival taking place in the area, which features a show of fireworks. A group of sixth graders are having an argument: are fireworks round, or flat? Do they change if we watch them from the side, or the bottom? The argument gets more and more heated, and eventually bets are placed. In the meanwhile, two of the group, Norimichi and Yosuke, meet their mutual object of passion, Nazuna, at the school pool.

The Fantasia International Film Festival announces a massive new assortment of feature films for its 25th edition, along with details on scheduled panels, talks, tributes, special events, and our esteemed juries. On top of our impressive virtual slate of films, all geo-locked to Canada, and in addition to our globally accessible streamed events, the upcoming festival will also feature a limited number of in-person screenings in Montreal.

Fantasia begins August 5th with the World Premiere of Quebec zombie feature Brain Freeze— following the August 4th special event screening of James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad in celebration of the festival— and ends on August 25th with newly announced closing film, Takashi Miike’s hotly-anticipated The Great Yokai War – Guardians.

Takashi Miike Closes Out Fantasia 2021 With The Great Yokai War – Guardians

The honour of Closing Film belongs to the great Takashi Miike, a constant yet always surprising presence in the festival’s long history.

Fantasia 2021 will run from August 5th to the 25th. A great number of films will be available to watch on-demand on the Festival’s virtual streaming platform (powered by Festival Scope and Shift72). Some virtual screenings will be scheduled at a specific date and time, check out the website to know when to tune in! Several films will be shown in person at Montreal’s Cinéma Impérial, Cinéma du Musée, or outdoors at Place de la Paix. Click here to see which ones! All panels, talks, masterclasses and special events will once again be completely free and accessible worldwide on Zoom or YouTube.

You can buy a Festival Passport Here. Please check the Official Website for more info.

Here are, in alphabetical order, all the Asian Films:

The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8 | Japan Dir: Shunji Iwai

North American Premiere

Shunji Iwai’s latest is a delightfully...

The Great Yokai War: Guardians

The final titles were added to this year's Fantasia line-up today, and it was revealed that the festival will close with The Great Yokai War: Guardians. Helmed by Takashi Miike, it sees Japanese demons going head to head in a battle on which the fate of the world could depend.

Other freshly added highlights include the brutal puppet mayhem of Frank And Zed, and unforgettable English documentary Alien On Stage.

The festival team also revealed today that they will be presenting writer, director and video artist Shunji Iwai with a Career Achievement award, recognising his 30 years of distinctive contributions to cinema. His latest work, The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8, will be screening as part of this year's line-up along with earlier works April Story, All About Lily Chou-Chou and Fireworks, Should We See It From The Side Or The Bottom?

Also receiving an award.

Masterclasses and special awards for Stephen Sayadian, Phil Tippett, Shunji Iwai.

Takashi Miike’s The Great Yokai War – Guardians will close Fantasia International Film Festival (August 5-25), which festival heads have turned into a hybrid event after adding a limited roster of in-person screenings in Montreal.

Japanese horror specialist Miike’s sequel to his family fantasy epic and Fantasia 2006 opener The Great Yokai War gets its international premiere and centres on a battle between Japanese monsters that will determine the fate of the world.

Paul Andrew Williams’s (London To Brighton) UK crime thriller Bull is among world premieres in...

Shunji Iwai graduated from Yokohama National University in 1987. He wrote and directed numerous music videos, commercials and television dramas before he moved to cinema. His TV drama Fireworks, Should We See It From the Side or the Bottom? (1993) earned him the Director’s Guild of Japan New Directors Award. He made his feature film debut Love Letter in 1995. Swallowtail Butterfly (1996) was nominated for the Golden St. George at Moscow International Film Festival. Vampire (2011) marked Iwai’s English-language film debut and was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. For his 2016 film A Bride for Rip van Winkle, he was inspired by internet dating. The film was released in multiple versions, including a six-episode television series. In 2016, he also received a Star Asia Lifetime Achievement Award at New York Asian Film Festival. Besides directing, he has written several essays, novels and screenplays, as well as composing the soundtrack for seven of his films.

In a departure, Japan’s Shin-Ei Animation, the studio behind two of the biggest anime TV franchises ever, “Doraemon” and “Crayon Shin-chan,” is teaming with France’s Miyu Productions to co-produce “Ghost Cat Anzu,” an auteurist animated feature film.

Directed by Japan’s Nobuhiro Yamashita and Yoko Kuno, “Ghost Cat Anzu” also marks the latest expansive move by Miyu, a major French force for years in graduate and professional short film production and distribution – “Inés” was a standout at last year’s Annecy – which is moving ever more forcefully into feature films, as a producer and sales agent.

Adapting the manga by Takashi Imashiro, “Ghost Cat Anzu” turns on Karin, 11, left by her father at the home of her grandpa, a small town monk living in the Japanese countryside. Her grandfather asks Anza, his ghost cat, to look after her.

The feature draws on the Japanese folklore that cats that...

During this pandemic, we have watched and reviewed a rather large number of “quarantine films”, since the creativity of many directors could not be contained due to the lockdown. It is the first time, though, to watch a kaiju one, and a black and white one for that matter, with Shunji Iwai getting particularly creative on how to achieve something like that. First hint? Capsule Kaiju.

The 12 Day Tale of the Monster That Died in 8 is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

The inspiration behind the movie came from special-effects wizard Shinji Higuchi, who initiated an online challenge titled Kaiju Defeat Covid, where the idea was to catch an invisible monster, fuse it with your own Godzilla toy monster, and send the strengthened creature to crush the virus. Higuchi even put an instruction video on Youtube and Iwai took up the idea and turn it into a 12-part internet series...

A parasitologist fighting a pandemic finds herself trapped in Tin Can Photo: Fantasia International Film Festival

Following the announcement last month that this year's Fantasia International Film Festival will open with Julien Knafo’s Brain Freeze, the first tranche of titles for the popular Montreal-based event has been revealed. They include Richard Bates' King Knight, which focuses on witchcraft in sunny California, and Mark O'Brien's The Righteous, which charts the impact of a stranger's arrival on a small Newfoundland community.

as usual, there are some treats in store for fans of Japanese cinema, including stylish sequel Kakegurui 2: Ultimate Russian Roulette, Masashi Yamamoto's inventively surreal Wonderful Paradise and Shunji Iwai’s tale of kaiju versus Covid, The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8. Spanish-Basque fable All The Moons brings a touch of class to the vampire genre and those who were seriously creeped out by Rainer Sarnet...

Canadian genre festival Fantasia has unveiled the first crop of titles that will screen at its 25th edition, which is set to take place virtually August 5-25.

As per last year, the event will run on a platform created by Festival Scope and Shift72 and will feature screenings, panels and workshops, available to audiences in Canada. Organizers continue to discuss with local authorities about the possibility of adding a limited range of physical events, they said.

This year’s edition will have an enhanced focus on Japanese cinema. Below, the first wave of confirmed titles is listed, with the full program announcement to follow in late July. As previously announced, Fantasia will open with Quebec-set zom-com Brain Freeze.

Fantasia 2021 titles:

The 12 Day Tale Of The Monster That Died In 8

Dir. Shunji Iwai

Japan

North American Premiere

Agnes

Dir. Mickey Reece

USA

International Premiere

All The Moons

Dir. Igor Legarreta

Spain...

Organisers consulting with local Montreal authorities on possibility of limited range of physical events.

Top brass at Fantasia International Film Festival have announced the first wave of films including a focus on Japan for the virtual edition of the 25th anniversary festival that runs August 5-25.

The festival will screen for Canadian audiences on a platform created by Festival Scope and Shift72. Organisers are taking advice from local health authorities in Montreal on the possibility of adding a limited range of physical events.

Japanese selections include Tsutomu Hanabusa’s manga adaptation Kakegurui 2: Ultimate Russian Roulette about a deadly school...

What can we do to fight an invisible enemy like Covid-19? Japanese special-effects wizard Higuchi Shinji thinks we should use our Godzilla toys as magic-conductive tools for this fight, and put an instruction video on YouTube. Shunji Iwai took up the idea and turned it into a 12-part internet series about the way model/actor/director Takumi Saitoh (playing himself) passes his solitary-confinement days by raising three tiny monsters, so-called capsule kaijū: Avigan, Remdesivir and Ivermectin. This is something he and Higuchi remembered from their childhood days, from the well-loved special-effects TV series Ultraseven (1967-68), whose hero also grew little helpers.

What looks at first like a sweet audio-visual jest with masses of in-jokes and references, reveals itself on closer inspection as an existential show of belief in cinema and television, their shared history as a source of magic, and of remembrance and play as forces of healing.