12 Sunday May 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Film, Random
Tags
It’s going to be a super-short Trailer Weekly today, with only two clips, because I’m really, really busy at the moment (more about that below). I wasn’t even sure if this Trailer Weekly was going to happen at all, but then I thought I should really squeeze these two trailers in because they just can’t wait…
Continue reading »
12 Sunday May 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Film, Japanese
Shinkai Makoto’s 「言の葉の庭」(Kotonoha no Niwa/Garden of Words, Japan, 2013) recently premiered at the Gold Coast Film Festival (Australia) and is now gearing up for its home release on May 31st. As part of the run-up to the Japanese premiere TV Tokyo aired the first five minutes of the film. While the clip is available on YouTube, it does not currently appear on the film’s official website, so the video may be removed in the near future. I am linking it below, but don’t be surprised if it does become unavailable. Continue reading »
05 Sunday May 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Film, Japanese, Korean
30 Tuesday Apr 2013
Tags
#Women on Screen, BFI, Derby, Film Festival, Korean Film Night, Leicester, London, Miyazaki Hayao, Prince Charles Cinema, Studio Ghibli, Tsumabuki Satoshi, Year of 4 Actors
May brings Cannes with many exciting film premieres. With the English Channel in our way, we’ll however have to make do with events on this island instead. Luckily, a whole lot is on offer this month, in all corners of the UK – Derby, London, Leicester and even Inverness. You can get a taste of Hong Kong cinema as well as watch quite a number of Japanese olden goldies (directed by Ozu Yasushiro and Kurosawa Akira, among others) at various cinemas and festivals across the country. There is also the Chinese Visual Festival, but nothing Taiwanese this month. Korean films fare a bit better – though only because our beloved Korean Cultural Centre (KCCUK) is, as always, screening two films as part of its Year of 4 Actors Korean Film Nights for year. The good news, however, is that the KCCUK has just launched another film season, Women on Screen, which commences in May and will run until August, doubling the monthly offering of screenings.
For trailers, click on film titles (where available).
Note: As always, I’ll update this post if I hear about any other events.
Last updated: 6/5/2013
21 Sunday Apr 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Events, Film, Japanese, Theatre
If you are following the Whole Hog Theatre on Twitter, you will know that the Leamington Spa based theatre group that is putting on the world’s first stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s「もののけ姫」(Mononoke Hime/Princess Mononoke, 1997) has been making its way to Japan, where the play will have a run in Tokyo during Golden Week (April 29 to May 6, 2013).
As they touched down in Japan today, they were greeted by an article on their project in The Japan Times: Continue reading »
16 Tuesday Apr 2013
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Every year Sci-Fi-London comes to town and brings, as its title suggests, “all things science fiction” (quote) with it, meaning apocalypse and robot galore among other things.
The festival will be running from April 30 to May 6, 2013 this year, with a costume parade for “[c]osplayers, zombies, stormtroopers, steampunks, daywalkers, superheroes” or whichever other fantasy character tickles your fancy starting off the fun on April 28.
Films, which will screen at the Stratford Picture House and the BFI Southbank, come from all over the world, with multiple offerings from Asia included:
13 Saturday Apr 2013
All images © Polly Clare Boone of Whole Hog Theatre.
Year: 2013
Country: UK
Language: English
Director: Alexandra Rutter
Company: Whole Hog Theatre
Adaptation from:「もののけ姫」(Mononoke Hime/Princess Mononoke, Japan, 1997)
Screenplay: not specified on programme or website
Concept arts and set design: Polly Clare Boon
Puppet design: Charlie Hoare
Soundscore: Hisaishi Joe, arranged by Kerrin Tatman for the play
Cast: James Blake-Butler, Lilith Brew, Adam Cridland, Oliver Davis, Andy Elkington, Jack Gyll, Jackie Lam, Amelie Leroy, Mei Mac, Miyake Yuriko, Jess Neale, Maximilian Troy Tyler, Victoria Watson, Samuel Wightman, Elizabeth Mary Williams
Runtime: approx. 130 min (including 20 min intermission)
Official website: http://www.wholehogtheatre.com (London performances),
http://www.princess-mononoke.jp (Tokyo performances – 日本語)
Teaser (16 sec, for Tokyo performances):
Seen during the play’s first run at the New Diorama Theatre in London. I attended the Friday evening performance. Further Princess Mononoke performances are scheduled for Tokyo (April 29 – May 6, 2013) and London (June 18-29, 2013). London tickets are sold out.
Note: I provide no synopsis of the story here – this review presumes you are familiar with Miyazaki Hayao’s film already and hence is also full of spoilers.
How does one even begin to imagine a stage adaptation of an animated film of the calibre of「もののけ姫」(Mononoke Hime/Princess Mononoke, Japan, 1997), made by the masters of Studio Ghibli and well loved the world round? It is not a challenge that most – even those with plenty of experience and unlimited budgets – would want to take on, but the Whole Hog Theatre, a young performance company from Leamington Spa, England, with only a handful productions (Dangerous Liaisons, Constanzo and Five Kinds of Silence) to their name, was undaunted by the task and simply went ahead anyway. Continue reading »
09 Tuesday Apr 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Events, Film, Japanese
It’s funny sometimes how things are right before your eyes, but some how you don’t see them. Like the fact that the title of Shinkai’s forthcoming film has Kanji strokes in the form of leaves. How could I only notice it now?
Well, this isn’t what I mean to be writing about today, but the real topics of this post are a) the world premiere of the film, b) further character descriptions and c) a new image gallery for Kotonoha no Niwa.
01 Monday Apr 2013
Tags
BFI, Dublin, Film Festival, Hosoda Mamoru, Korean Film Night, Leeds, London, Miyazaki Hayao, Prince Charles Cinema, Shinkai Makoto, Studio Ghibli, Tsumabuki Satoshi, Year of 4 Actors
April, April… this year is flying by… I would rather not think about it though. Instead, let’s just see what April has in store for us, film-wise mostly but also otherwise as there are some exciting events at the London Book Fair and elsewhere too.
Note: As always, I’ll update this post if I hear about any other events.
Last updated: 17/4/2013
17 Sunday Mar 2013
Tags
Posting early today as I’m off to see two films at the BFI Lesbian & Gay Film Festival this afternoon/evening (with a visit to Chinatown in between).
17 Sunday Mar 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Events, Japanese
While others may be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day around this time of the year, anime fans have declared the early spring the moment to express their appreciation of animation filmmaker Shinkai Makoto. This year it’s not just Global Shinkai Day, but Shinkai Weekend.
What better occasion could there be for this post? I have had these musings on my mind for a while already, but this is perfect opportunity to assemble them into a post sooner rather than later.
16 Saturday Mar 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Events, Japanese, Korean
Couleur de peau: Miel.
The Leeds Young People’s Film Festival, the children’s offshoot of the regular festival, released its programme yesterday. The festival runs from March 25 until April 5 and tickets are fairly cheap (£2 for under-19, £5/£4 for adults), so if you live in the area, treat yourself. There are a few films from Japan & Korea:
16 Saturday Mar 2013
Tokyo Waka.
All kinds of things were happening this week, not quite substantial enough for each to make it into a post of their own and a bit too much to squeeze them into the Bonus Bits section of the Trailer Weekly, so, instead, I’ve assembled them into this post. Continue reading »
10 Sunday Mar 2013
The Pan Asia Film Festival began this week and I skipped my Japanese class to attend the screening of《女朋友。男朋友》(Nyeobungu. Nambungu/GF*BF, Taiwan, 2013) and somehow – despite that backlog of reviews that reaches to the moon - reviewed it within two days (admittedly, staying up till four in the morning was part of this)*. I didn’t however go to see Lotte Reiniger’s Die Abenteuer des Prinzen Achmed (The Adventures of Prince Achmed), the world’s first feature-length animation from 1926, as I had originally planned – purely for reasons of laziness and the fact that it didn’t seem possible to book concession tickets at the Southbank online (and the £15 full price was a little steep). I am kind of kicking myself for this lack of self-motivation, because that is definitely not a film that screens every day, plus it’s just lame of me as someone who loves animation to skip such an event *hangs head in shame*. Coming up next week is more of the Pan Asia Film Festival, the bimonthly KCCUK screening and lots of the London Lesbian Gay Film Festival, which I’m super-excited for.
Trailers…….this Trailer Weekly somehow ended up being full of images (alternative posters and things of the sort) but most of all I think it’s a really fabulous selection of films this week. Just because I wish I could watch half of them like right now.
*And then of course, no one comments on the review that I lost sleep over! Oh, you lovely lurkers. Either that or it’s badly written. 
05 Tuesday Mar 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Events, Film, Japanese, Theatre
Kodama, happily speechless at the announcement. 
Exciting news from the Whole Hog Theatre today: They are taking their stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke to Japan! Early this morning they tweeted the following: Continue reading »
02 Saturday Mar 2013
Tags
Year: 2011
Country: South Korea
Language: Korean
Director: Yeun Sang-Ho
Studio: Studio Dadashow, KT&G Sangsangmadang
Screenplay: Yeun Sang-Ho
Art Direction: N/A
Animation Direction: N/A
Soundscore: Eom Been
Voice Cast: Yang Ik-joon, Oh Jung-se, Kim Hye-na, Kim Kkobbi, Park Hee-von
Runtime: 97 min
Distribution: Terracotta (UK)
Trailer (subtitled):
Seen at the Terracotta on Tour screening at the Genesis Cinema thanks to winning tickets from Eastern Kicks. Special thanks also go to the Korean Film Council, which provided me with online access to the film. The King of Pigs will screen in London on March 8, 2013 as part of the Pan-Asia Film Festival and will be released on DVD by Terracotta on March 11, 2013.
This review is part of the K-Animation Season on Otherwhere.
Dark themes in Hakkyo 2013: Best enemies (top row); parental neglect & abuse (bottom left); driven to suicide (bottom right).
학교 2013 (Hakkyo 2013/School 2013, South Korea, 2013), a television drama that recently aired on KBS2, explores the life and struggles of high school students on a number of levels, tackling issues such as the pressure of academic achievement, strained relationships with parents and suicide, but also the hierarchical structures of classrooms and bullying, breaking with the silence that still surrounds many of these problems in Korean society. Hakkyo 2013 deserves praise for the candid as well as sensitive portrayal of these issues, but it does not go all the way, for although the picture it presents is surprisingly dark, it is not one entirely without hope. Indeed, as television productions face the judgment of a media regulation agency and weekly viewing figures from an audience that remains hesitant about open conversations on such issues, it is left to a few, audacious films to play out the worst scenarios imaginable until the very end. One of these films – in animated form – is 돼지의 왕 (Daegieui wang/The King of Pigs, 2011).
01 Friday Mar 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Japanese
Tags
Image: Artist unknown.
It has been there before and it’s back again, but it’s Studio Ghibli so who is going to complain? The Retrospective last had a stopover in Nashville, TN, in June 2012 – I blogged about it - and now returns to the Belcourt with a whole bunch of Saturday screenings for children. Continue reading »
01 Friday Mar 2013
Lots of stuff again – something from pretty much every (South East) Asian country. And nicely spread out over all the UK too, so it’s not just film-fun for Londoners!
Click on titles for links to trailers (when available).
As always, if I’ve missed anything, get in touch!
LAST UPDATED: 17/3/2013
28 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Japanese, OST
Another update from the lovely people preparing the (sell-out) stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke: they have received the blessing from the Japanese animation studio and Hisaishi Joe to use the original music score of the film for their performance. Continue reading »
26 Tuesday Feb 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Film, Japanese
No, it’s not a vandal that has been scribbling on the poster encasing for Miyazaki Hayao’s upcoming animation feature「風立ちぬ」(Kaze Tachinu/The Wind Rises), but it’s Suzuki Toshio, the film’s producer, with a message for the fans: Miyazaki’s film will be released on July 20, 2013. This is reported via nausicaa.net, although I haven’t yet seen a confirmation from the Studio directly.
Continue reading »
21 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Film, Japanese
Tags
Also hot off the press today is the first trailer for「言の葉の庭」(Kotonoha no Niwa), Shinkai Makoto’s forthcoming feature animation film. Continue reading »
21 Thursday Feb 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Film, Japanese, Theatre
Tags
Hot off the press: The lovely people from the Whole Hog Theatre have officially announced twelve further London performances for their stage adaptation of Studio Ghibli’s Princess Mononoke between 18-29 June, 2013. Continue reading »
04 Monday Feb 2013
Posted in Anime / Animated Film, Film, Japanese
Tags
adaptation, documentary, ICA, London, Okada Masaki, trailers
In an effort to not fall behind with the Trailer Weeklies even more, I’m doing a double Trailer Weekly today – lots of films thus. I am a little late with that too, but that’s because I got to see「ゼロの焦点」 (Zero no Shōten/Zero Focus, Japan, 2009) from the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme tonight last night when I thought I wouldn’t (the screening was sold out but I got lucky in the end as the first one on the waiting list ). It was quite a thrill to watch – a murder mystery set at a turning point in time for the Japanese nation. 「八日目の蝉」 (Youkame no Semi/Rebirth, Japan, 2011), another film on the Touring Film Programme that I saw on Friday, I enjoyed even more, but hopefully I’ll be able to share my thoughts with you in detail in some reviews soon.
Before we tackle the monster list of eleven trailers, I just wanted to mention (in case you missed it) that I added a new page on Otherwhere: a schedule of all the 2013 (South East) Asian film releases (both home and cinematic) in the UK.
01 Friday Feb 2013
Tags
Birmingham, Bristol, Edinburgh, Film Festival, Glasgow, ICA, Japanese Embassy London, KCCUK, Leeds, London, Manchester, Newcastle upon Tyne, Nottingham, Sheffield, Studio Ghibli
You are not going to run out things to do (or, rather, films to watch) in February, regardless of where you are in the UK.
Note: I’m not really providing synopses this time round, there are simply too many films. Just click on the external links, where you’ll find more info.
As always, if I’ve missed anything, get in touch!
LAST UPDATED: 6/2/2013
31 Thursday Jan 2013
The programme for the Fifth Pan-Asia Film Festival has been finalised and, as I predicted, there are several more goodies for us to enjoy now. In addition to films already announced - 穷人榴莲吗要偷渡客 (Qióngrén liúlián ma yào tōudù kè/Poor Folk, Taiwan/Myanmar/Thailand, 2012), पतंग (Patang/The Kite, India/USA, 2011),「ラビット・ホラー３Ｄ」(Rabitto horā 3D/Tormented 3D, Japan, 2011), 111 Dokhtar (111 Girls, Iran/Iraq, 2012)* and ฝนตกขึ้นฟ้า (Headshot, Thailand, 2012), see also my previous post on the festival - there are seven more feature-length productions, plus a slot for shorts. Continue reading »
