It totally slipped my mind that the Edinburgh International Film Festival is happening in June and were it not for Genkina Hito’s post on Japanese Films at the event, I might have forgotten entirely. That would have been a real pity, because although I can’t make it up north this month, there is so much good stuff on the programme!
The festival runs from June 19 to 30 this year and is spotlighting two countries – one of which is Korea (the other is Sweden). That of course means there are tons of cinematic goodies for East Asian cinephiles. But it’s not just South Korean films that are on the programme, there are submissions from North Korea, Japan, Hong Kong and China as well, plus of course from many other countries. Continue reading »
I’m not quite ready to be back yet (still busy marking exams)… but I thought some of you might appreciate not having to wait too long for the monthly Events post.
So, what’s on offer this June for South East Asian film fans in the UK? We have got「009 Re: Cyborg」screenings in Edinburgh, Liverpool and elsewhere, a Jackie Chan film in Derby as well as a fabulous Imamura Shohei Retrospective at the Sheffield Doc/Fest, but for the rest it’s all happening in LondonUpdate 7/6/2013: Not quite. I totally blanked on the Edinburgh International Film Festival – so there is loads outside of London as well! Anyhow, it’s a month of festivals and celebrations to commemorate a number of anniversaries.
We start with Seasons in the Sun: The Heyday of Nikkatsu Studios, one of the calendar highlights at the British Film Institute in June. The Terracotta Film Festivalis about to kick off and promises to be bigger and better than ever with 27 films (and plenty more) from all over East Asia in store for cinephiles. June is also a good month for Studio Ghibli fans as multiple screenings are scheduled for two animations that were first released 25 years ago, plus another Double Bill at the Prince Charles. I’m also looking forward to「長州ファイブ」 (Chosyu Faibu/Choshu Five), an anniversary screening organised by the Japanese Embassy that commemorates an event from 150 years ago and I’m super-thrilled that a rare indie gem,「はなればなれに」(Hanarebanareni/Kuro), has popped up on the East End Film Festival programme. So we are really not short on choice this month, heck, it almost feels like October, which is normally the height of the film festival season in London town. Anyhow, peruse what’s on and, if you are not in the capital, it might be a good time for a visit!
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 »
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 »
Here it is… the much awaited line-up for this year’s Terracotta Film Festival, bigger and better than ever. It’s divided into four sections (Current Films, Terror Cotta, Spotlight on Indonesia and In Memoriam of Leslie Cheung and Anita Mui), all screening at the Prince Charles Cinema (June 6–9), except for the Indonesia section, which will be held at the ICA (June 11-15). Further festival highlights include masterclasses and a short film competition (with a trip to Hong Kong as top prize).
Because it’s such a lengthy list of films, I’ve limited myself to one-sentence synopses. If it grabs your interest, watch the trailer and/or hop over to the official festival website, where longer summaries are featured.
The official website has just gone live, although links for booking (which is meant to open today) don’t yet work. I would expect booking to be available some time later this afternoon.
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.
It’s been a while since we have had news about the indie film project 나를 잊지 말아요 (Naleul Ijji Malayo/Remember O Goddess, South Korea), but Lee Yoon Jung recently posted an update with some big news: there has been a change of cast! Not just any cast member either, but the lead. Continue reading »
I’m kinda starving (it’s almost 4 p.m. and I haven’t had lunch yet), so I’ll give you this week’s trailers without any further ado and shall head to the kitchen to make myself some gyoza and bibimbap.
Note 1: Trailers are in no particular order (they never are, but I thought I’d remind you just so you make sure to read till the end and don’t to miss a gem!).
Note 2: A particularly weak offering of film posters – some I couldn’t find, most are rather small in size and too many are just terribly designed! Honestly, the Mushishi poster is the only one I actually like.
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 »
As May approaches, so does the Cannes, which is of course one of the highlights of the European film festival calendar. This morning the line-up was revealed, with a number of films from Asia to look foward to. I have listed them all below, with trailer and synopses as far as they are available.
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:
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 »
Year: 2011
Country: Japan Language: Japanese Director: Kobayashi Keiichi Screenplay: Kobayashi Keiichi Cinematography: Kobayashi Keiichi Soundscore: No soundscore. Cast: Ikeda Ai, Koshino Ena, Fujiwara Reiko, Takayama Tsubasa, Togetsuan Hakuysu Runtime: 117 min Distribution: Uzumasa Official webpage: http://www.momoirosora.jp (日本語/English) Official FB page:https://www.facebook.com/thePinkSky?fref=ts Twitter: @momoirosorawo
Trailer (subtitled):
Seen at the Raindance Film Festival in London, where Momoira Sora wo had its UK premiere and screened twice.
The heroine of Momoiro Sora wo is called Kawashima Izumi (Ikeda Ai). Izumi has no superpowers – she is not that kind of heroine, but rather an ordinary seventeen year-old girl. Izumi is gutsy and frank. She reacts impulsively – whipping water with a fishing rod a gazillion times in a sudden and extended explosion of frustration – and gives a wide, sheepish smile when she is fibbing, which happens on a regular basis. Although she doesn’t always know what she actually wants, she stays true to herself even if her sense of fairness is a little warped, at least from the point of view of others. Continue reading »
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.
Year: 2012
Country: Japan Language: Japanese Director: Yoshida Daihachi
Studio: NTV, Showgate
Adaptation from: Asai Ryo’s 2010 novel of the same title Screenplay: Kiyasu Kohei, Yoshida Daihachi Cinematography: Kondo Ryoto Soundscore: Kondo Tatsuro Cast: Kamiki Ryunosuke, Hashimoto Ai, Higashide Masahiro, Ohgo Suzuka, Shimiza Kurumi, Yamamoto Kizuki, Matsuoka Mayu, Ochiai Motoki, Maeno Tomoya, Kurihara Goro & others Runtime: 103 min Distribution: Showgate Film’s official website: http://www.kirishima-movie.com/index.html Twitter: @kirishima_movie
Trailer:
Kirishima, the titular hero of the Japan Academy’s Best Picture of the Year, is rather like Godot: although everyone is waiting for him to appear, he never actually shows up. Different from Godot, however, we can be fairly certain that the character – a teenage boy and star athlete at his school – does exist, it’s just that he seems to have literally vanished off the face of the earth after suddenly quitting the volleyball team he previously captained. His resignation is, for a long time, pretty much the most eventful thing that happens in this tale, but takes place not just off-screen but also before the narrative begins, the film itself concerning itself only with the aftermath of the event.
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.
What to say? I was going to introduce this post with a few words on all the food thoughts I had today thanks to filling my bag with lots of goodies from the farmers’ market today (tomatoes, for the first time in months!) and my cooking plans (1, 2, 3) for the week (to spoil my ‘little sister’ that will be visiting), but after a long day at work I’m a bit tired and too lazy to write anything much. So, we’ll get right to this week’s trailers instead.
Year: 2012
Country: South Korea Language: Korean Director: Leesong Hee-il Screenplay: Leesong Hee-il Cinematography: Yoon Ji-Yoon (Baekya) Cast: Won Tae-hee, Li Yi-kyung (Baekya); Kim Young-jae, Han Joo-wan (Jinanyeoreum, Gapjagi); Kim Jae-heung, Chun Shin-hwan (Namjjokeuro Ganda) Runtime: 75 min, 37 min, 45 min Distribution: CinemaDal
Although there was not all that much on offer from South East Asia at this year’s London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, the BFI did do a mini-feature on Leesong Hee-il, whom they called “one of the most exciting contemporary gay Asian directors” in their festival programme. Leesong has, by now, quite a number of films to his name, all featuring a gay storyline in one way or another. His cinematic debut came in 2004 with a short featured in 동백꽃 (Dongbaegkkoch/ Camellia Project, 2004), but he is probably better known for his 2006 film 후회하지 않아 (Huhoehaji Anha/No Regret). In 2009 the director contributed to the 황금시대 (Hwang-geumsidae/Short! Short! Short!) omnibus project and also made the feature-length 탈주 (Talju/Break Away, 2009), finally following up in 2012 with the ‘One Night and Two Days’ trilogy of 백야 (Baekya/White Night), 지난여름, 갑자기 (Jinanyeoreum, Gapjagi/Suddenly, Last Summer) and 남쪽으로 간다 (Namjjokeuro Ganda/Going South), three unconnected stories which all began as shorts but the first of which was later extended into a 75-minute movie.
I didn’t quite manage to finish this Trailer Weekly last night, staying out somewhat late to attend one final screening of the London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival (the Leesong Hee-il double bill). I rather enjoyed all films I watched as part of LLGFF this year (reviews to come), although I was struck by the fact that at most events viewers were predominantly male. Admittedly, except for آینه های روبرو (Aynehaye Rooberoo/Facing Mirrors, Iran/Germany, 2011), a drama on transgender identity, all films I saw focused on male-male relationships, but still… Does this mean that the audience of this festival is mostly made up of gay attendees? (If so, why?) And that those will often gravitate towards films reflecting their own sexuality/gender?
Yume Uru Futari appeared on quite a number of Top 10 Films of 2012 lists. Tom Mes, Catherine Munroe Hotes and Eija Niskanen all counted it among their favourites in a Midnight Eye feature and Jason Grey (Loaded Films) included it as part of the “10% goodness” of cinema of the past year over at Wildgrounds, to name some examples. Continue reading »
Although I watch quite a lot of films, there are generally few shorts among them. I like to be entertained for an hour or two because it’s a length that allows a decent amount of development in a story and characters. When there is a film festival, it is for this reason that when I have to choose between seeing a feature film or multiple 5-, 10-, 20-minute clips, I’ll habitually always go for the former and leave the latter as an afterthought – as also happened when the Pan-Asia Film Festival rolled around. Then CUEAFS had a ticket competition for the HK Fresh Wave Shorts screening on Twitter and somehow I got lucky (and I didn’t even mean to… only retweeted to spread the news about the competition).
