With 20 films of various genres selected for more than 100 screenings across six major cities nationwide, organizers said this year’s edition is set to be the “biggest and best yet”.
The festival officially kicks off its 20th anniversary in grand style with its opening night on July 6, featuring the screening of the heartwarming drama, Her Love Boils Water (Yu o wakasu hodo no atsui ai) at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall Cineplex. It is a poignant story of a terminally ill matriarch determined to reconcile her family during the last remaining weeks of her life.
It will be graced by this year’s special guest director Ryota Nakano, who is also scheduled to hold talks for filmmakers and the general public during his stay in the Philippines to discuss both his career and the making of his first successful commercial film.
Celluloid lineup
TO commemorate the anniversary, JFF/Eiga Sai 2017 presents a retrospective showcase of films.
There will be a special encore screening of Departures (Okuribito), the 81st Academy Award winner for Best Foreign Language film, and one of the most well-received in the history of Eiga Sai. It follows a young failed cellist who stumbles across work as a traditional Japanese ritual mortician. Despite the crushing social prejudice, he eventually earns respect for the dignity of his work.
Two rare 16-mm films screened at the first Japanese Film Festival in 1997 are The Sting of Death (Shi no toge), a period drama about a couple trying to salvage their faltering marriage after the husband’s secret love affair, directed by Kohei Oguri, the Grand Prix du Jury winner at the 1990 Cannes Film Festival; as well as Memories of You (Love story wo kimi ni), directed by Shinichiro Sawai, telling the story of university student Akira who encountered Yumi, the little girl he used to tutor. Diagnosed with leukemia and with only six months to live, Yumi admits how much she wants to survive her illness to be with Akira.
Both will be shown on July 1 at the birthplace of the Japanese Film Festival, the Cultural Center of the Philippines (CCP), and will serve as a prelude to the grand opening night on July 6, also at the Shangri-La.
A long-lasting partnership with the CCP and the Japan Foundation’s support toward independent filmmakers brings forth anew the screening of the Japanese independent film Poolsideman, winner of the Best Picture Award in the Japanese Cinema Splash at the Tokyo International Film Festival 2016. It is a thriller about a lonely swimming pool lifeguard who accompanies his colleague to a neighboring town plagued by an epidemic.
Hirobumi Watanabe, director of the film, will also be present at his Philippine premier during the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival in August, which is an allied festival of JFF/Eiga Sai since last year.
The 2016 Seattle International Film Festival, San Sebastian International Film Festival and Culinary Cinema winner Tsukiji Wonderland is a documentary about the iconic Tsukiji Market. Filmed over 16 months, it closely chronicles this center of Japanese food culture as it prepares to be moved to a different location.
Winner of the Animation of the Year Award from the 40th Japan Academy Film Prize, In this Corner of the World captures the experiences of a feisty young housewife as she fights for happiness and a normal life in the midst of World War II.
The Anthem of the Heart is an animated film about a young girl who loses her ability to speak because of a traumatic incident in her childhood. However, her outlook on life changes as she discovers the magic of music and friendship.
Chihayafuru Parts 1 and 2 is a wonderful story about friends brought together by their passion for the traditional Japanese cards game of Karuta. Determined to be the best, Chihaya forms a competitive karuta club with tai chi to prove the game is more than just about old customs, and to hopefully reunite with their estranged friend Arata.
Japanese horror master Kiyoshi Kurasawa directs the highly acclaimed film Creepy, which follows former detective Takakura as he tries to figure out the behavior of his strange new neighbor, while his old colleagues enlist his help in reopening the case of a missing family.
What a Wonderful Family, winner of the “Officially Recommended” category in the 2016 Shanghai International Film Festival and the 2016 Fantasia International Film Festival, is a heartwarming comedy about an elderly couple who sends their family into a panic when they suddenly decide to end their marriage of 50 years.
The Magnificent Nine is a comic tale of nine merchants trying to use their wit and wealth to save their town from poverty and the feudal lord’s harsh taxes without getting caught, or worse, executed.
Winner in the 2015 Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard category, Sweet Bean is about a dorayaki shop owner who meets elderly woman Tokue with her own wonderful recipe for the pancake-like snack filled with red-bean paste. Their newfound partnership and booming business, however, is threatened when an unkind rumor drives Tokue away.
The Long Excuse follows an adulterous celebrity novelist who loses his wife in a bus accident. After faking the part of a bereaved husband, he meets Yoichi and his children who show him the genuine kind of connections he has not experienced before.
Meanwhile, If Cats Disappeared From The World depicts a postman diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor who strikes a deal with the devil to prolong his life in exchange for making things—like mobile phones—vanish from the world.
Bakuman portrays the gifted illustrator Moritaka who used to be afraid of working to death, much like his manga artist uncle, until he met the aspiring writer Akito. The two of them team up as artists to realize their dreams of writing for the biggest name in manga publications.
In Sadako vs. Kayako, university student Natsumi watches the infamous cursed videotape, then she only has two days left to live before Sadako kills her. Her only chance of survival is to pit Sadako against Kayako, a vengeful spirit in a haunted house.
Produced by the Japan Foundation and the Tokyo International Film Festival, Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections is an omnibus film that brings together three acclaimed directors who each created a segment following the theme, “Living Together in Asia”.
The Philippines’s Brillante Mendoza directs SHINIUMA Dead Horse, a film about an illegal Filipino immigrant in Japan who is deported back to the Philippines. Upon his return home, he discovers that his family has dispersed long ago and there’s no place for him to stay.
Pigeon by Isao Yukisada focuses on an elderly Japanese man who is emotionally distant from his son and chooses to live in solitude on an estate in Malaysia, where he soon forms a bond with his new caretaker.
Beyond the Bridge, set against the backdrop of the Cambodian civil war and the history of the Cambodia-Japan Friendship bridge, tells the love story between a Japanese architect and a local woman whom he ends up leaving behind.
Bigger staging
FOR the 20th edition, Eiga Sai is part of the Japan Foundation Asia Center’s unified JFF held around Southeast Asia and the Pacific region. Together with JFF Manila, different genres of films covering animation, drama, comedy, documentaries and horror were curated, with a total of 20 titles, 17 of which are with English subtitles, while three are dubbed in Tagalog, offering Japanese film lovers the chance to experience their favorite genre while discovering something new.
In addition to cinema partners from last year, JFF/Eiga Sai 2017 is expanding its reach and impact in other regions by adding cinemas in the cities of Bacolod and Iloilo, at the same time extending the festival period until the end of August.
As with the previous years, the festival will also have its provincial run in key provincial capitals such as Baguio, Cebu and Davao.
Screening venues are CCP Dream Theater, CCP Complex, Pasay City (July 1 and August 5, 10 and 11), Shang Cineplex Cinema, Shangri-La Plaza, Mandaluyong City (July 6 to 16), UP Film Institute, UP-Diliman, Quezon City (August 16 to 19), Abreeza Mall Cinema, Davao City (July 21 to 23), Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) Cinematheque-Davao, Davao City (July 26 to 30), Ayala Center Cebu Cinema, Cebu City (August 2 to 6), SM City Baguio Cinema, Baguio City (August 10 to13), SM City Bacolod Cinema, Bacolod City (August 24 to 27), and FDCP Cinematheque-Iloilo, Iloilo City (August 25-29).
Admission is free on a first-come, first-served basis, except the screenings at Shang Cineplex Cinema, which will be P100 per one film screening.
Image credits: Photo by Film Partners