The 10th Japanese Film Festival
Celebrating 10 years:
Showcasing the new wave of Japanese cinema
Sydney:November 29 - December 8
Text and film photographs courtesy
of the Japan Foundation, Sydney
In 2006, the Australia-Japan Year of Exchange, the Japanese
Film Festival celebrates its 10th anniversary as Australia's
largest festival dedicated to Japanese cinema. This year
the Japan Foundation, Sydney announced its biggest ever
line-up with a total of 19 films to be screened in Sydney.
The 10-day festival, which runs from November 29 to December
8 at the new location of Greater Union George Street,
is jam-packed with an array of new and exciting films
to cater for a wide range of audiences.
Opening night, November 29, will feature Always ? Sunset
on Third Street, a film which swept the 2006 Japanese
Academy Awards, winning all but one prize. The closing
night, December 8, will screen Forget-Me-Not, which recently
premiered in Tokyo. The film will be introduced by director,
Hiroshi Sugawara, and producer, Kiyoko Sakuma, and will
feature a question and answer session following the screening.
New to this year's festival is J-Horror Night, December
5, an evening showcasing two of Japan's latest and most
popular horror films in a back-to-back special. This year,
for the first time, the fifth Australia-Japan Student
Film Forum will also join the festival on December 4.
This free event will screen a high-calibre selection of
short films by recent film school graduates from Japan
and Australia in a cross-cultural forum. Directors from
both countries will introduce their works with a prize
for Best awarded Film. For school students, there will
be a one-off daytime screening on Friday, December 8,
of Shinobu Yaguchi's (Water Boys) comedy Swing Girls (PG).
This is an ideal opportunity for school excursions in
which students and teachers can explore Japanese language
and culture through film. With families in mind, the festival
will hold Family Sunday, which showcases three titles
which families can enjoy together - Glass Rabbit (PG),
Boy Meets Ghost (M) and Swing Girls (PG).
During November and December, Brisbane and Perth will
also hold free screenings of a selection of films from
the festival. Please see our website for further details.
The following are just some of the films on offer at the
10th Japanese Film Festival.
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| Always - Sunset
on Third Street (Opening Night) |
The Castle of Sand
(Digital re-master) [PG] |
2005 NTV / ROBOT / SHOGAKUKAN / VAP / TOHO / DENTSU / YTV / THE YOMIURI SHIMBUN / SHIROGUMI / IMAGICA |
1974 SHOCHIKU, Co. Ltd. |
| Based on Japan's best-loved comic
book series Sunset on Third Street, this multi-Japanese
Academy Award winning film takes viewers on a nostalgic
journey back to Tokyo circa 1958, revealing the
lives and struggles of ordinary folk. Japan's best
visual effects director, Takashi Yamazaki, uses
astounding effects to recreate the city with amazing
accuracy, including the emerging figure of the yet-to-be-completed
Tokyo Tower - the great symbol of Japan's post-war
economic recovery. |
The dead body of a man in his 50s is discovered
at a railway yard in Tokyo. An intense investigation
is launched, led by veteran officer Imanishi and
rookie Yoshimura, which at first offers few leads
and no motive for the death of a man who by all
accounts was well liked. This Japanese classic masterfully
weaves three seemingly unconnected stories as it
builds towards its unforgettable ending. |
|
La Maison de HIMIKO
|
Kamikaze Girls |
2005 LA MAISON DE HIMIKO Film Partners |
2004 Shimotsuma Story Media Partners |
| Saori has spent most of her life denying the existence
of her estranged gay father Himiko. One day, his
young, attractive lover, Haruhiko, appears saying
that Himiko is dying of cancer. Filled with repulsion
but desperate for money, Saori arrives unexpectedly
at Maison de HIMIKO, a nursing home for gay men
established by her father. In time, a delicate and
intriguing relationship starts to form among the
three who could not possibly have understood one
another. |
Wishing to escape the boredom of her humdrum rural
hometown Shimotsuma, in yakuza heartland, Momoko
(Kyoko Fukada) loses herself in the dreamy, doll-like
fashions of the "Lolita" scene. One day
she meets her diametrical fashion opposite, the
surly biker chick Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya) and the
two form an unlikely friendship. This is a mildly
surreal, frenetically comic journey into Japan's
youth subcultures based on the novel by cult manga
creator Novala Takemoto.
|
|
| The Mamiya Brothers |
Glass Rabbit [PG] |
2006 THE MAMIYA BROTHERS Film Partners |
2005 The Glass Rabbit Production Committee |
The Mamiya brothers have lived together
for more than 30 years. Whether it be marking baseball
scorecards in front of the TV or solving crossword
puzzles, the two do everything together. When it
comes to romance, however, they are totally inexperienced.
To kick-start their love lives they organise a curry
party at their apartment, inviting two girls they
know... but are they really ready to sacrifice their
fun times together for an intricate love relationship?
|
Twelve-year old Toshiko loses her mother, father
and two sisters as a result of the air raids in
Tokyo and neighbouring areas during World War II.
Her most treasured possession is the half-melted
glass rabbit she retrieves from the rubble of her
father's bombed glass factory. This highly moving
animated feature is based on the best-selling novel
by Toshiko Takagi which closely mirrors her own
experiences of wartime Japan.
|
|
| Ghost Train |
The Stars Converge |
2006 GHOST TRAIN FILM PARTNERS |
2003 The Stars Converge Production Committee |
Eighteen-year old high school student
Nana is looking after her younger sister Noriko
while their mother is in hospital. Nana's world
suddenly turns into a nightmare when Noriko mysteriously
disappears. The only clue is the train pass she
picked up on the train before disappearing and the
dark shadow seen on the surveillance camera that
follows Noriko at the station.
See Ghost Train and The Neighbour No. 13 in a back-to-back
J-Horror Night special.
|
In 1977 Japanese student Ikuko and Korean student
Ahn meet and fall in love during the goodwill track
and field competition between Pusan and Shimonoseki.
Before parting, they decide to meet again on July
7, just like the mythical lovers of the night sky
do in the Tanabata (Chilsok in Korean) legend. A
year later they are reunited and vow to meet again
in four years' time. Set over three decades, this
is a nostalgic tale about cross-cultural love.
|
|
Forget-Me-Not (Closing
Night)
|
|
2006 Hayazakinohana Film Partners |
|
A camerawoman who is losing her eyesight
revisits the countryside where she and her brother
were evacuated to during World War II. Life was
hard then but the eyes of the children still radiated
with life; that is until the sudden flash of an
allied bombing raid changed the children's lives
forever. This superbly crafted film uncovers the
true story of a little-known event in Japan's history,
revealing the devastating effects of a bombing that
happened more than 61 years ago.
|
 |
A
further 10 films will be screened at the 10th Japanese
Film Festival in Sydney - The Samurai I Loved, Princess
Raccoon, Swing Girls (PG), Ubume, The Neighbour No. 13,
Aegis, Boy Meets Ghost (M), The Face of Jizo (PG), A Cheerful
Gang Turns the Earth, and Josee, the Tiger and the Fish.
For all synopses and screening times please visit the
festival website: 10thjff.jpf-sydney.org
*All films are 35mm (excluding
the event on December 4) and are in Japanese with English
subtitles. All films are restricted to persons 18 years
of age and over unless specified. Program is correct at
time of printing, however it is subject to change.
| FESTIVAL TICKETING INFORMATION |
Single Session:
5-Film Pass:
J-Horror Night:
Australia-Japan Student Film Forum:
Bookings:
Inquiries: |
Adult $14 / Concession $12
$55 (excludes Opening and Closing Night)
$20 (includes 2 films)
Free Event (Bookings for this event only through
the Japan Foundation, Sydney)
Greater Union George Street (02) 9273 7431
Japan Foundation, Sydney (02) 8239 0055 |
 |
Interview - Brennan Wrenn
SBS Feature Films Programmer
Brennan Wrenn has been feature films programmer for SBS
Television since 2003 and in that role is responsible
for the acquisition and scheduling of about 250 foreign
language movies every year.
The films are not only shown on the free-to-air SBS network
but recommended to its pay TV partner World Movies.
Brennan's job entails regular attendance at international
film festivals and markets where he represents SBS and
sources material. He previously worked in film distribution
in the United Kingdom.
Asked how Japanese films are chosen, Brennan says "It's
based on a combination of the success in their country
of origin, their profile on the international festival
circuit and how we feel they would relate to a multicultural
Australian audience."
He points out that SBS has a panel of assessors that views
and discusses each individual feature film. Information
on movies from countries like Japan is collected from
a variety of sources; from SBS's own industry contacts
and sales agents in that country, local and international
film festivals and trade publications.
Of Japanese films yet to be seen on Australian TV that
Brennan would like to be aired, he says "One series
that has been incredibly successful in Japan is the action
franchise Bayside Shakedown.
"We've had difficulties
sourcing these titles but we pride ourselves on seeing
everything that's of note so we're persevering with the
company that holds the rights. However, I can't yet say
we're keen to transmit these titles as we're yet to assess
them."
Brennan says contemporary Japanese films are often powerful
meditations on the human condition. "A recent example
- and it's one of my favourite recent Japanese films -
is Jun Ichikawa's haunting and incredibly moving Toni
Takitani, which will be seen on SBS next year.
"They
also tend to contain characters clearly governed by a
strong set of morals which are adhered to in spite of
everything, especially themselves, as in the work of Takeshi
Kitano and Yoji Yamada."
Brennan points out that Japan is also known for its horror
titles "And in this it truly owns the genre".
He instanced The Ring series and One Missed Call (which
can also be seen on SBS next year).
In addition, he says, there's Japan's huge anime industry.
"This gives filmmakers a blank canvas for their imagination.
If box office takings are anything to go by, fantasy is
incredibly popular with Japanese audiences." (Spirited
Away was the highest grossing film of all time in Japan).
Brennan said in most other territories animation was something
considered, and predominantly produced and marketed for
younger age groups but in Japan it was clearly more adult,
apparently transcending age demographics.
And his three favourite Japanese films? Seven Samurai,
Tokyo Story and The Eel.
For further information on SBS please visit: www.sbs.com.au
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