Event: ‘Whose Film Is It Anyway? Contemporary Japanese Auteurs’ Japan Foundation UK Touring Programme

Venue: Institute of Contemporary Arts, then Belfast Queen’s Film Theatre, Bristol Watershed, Edinburgh Filmhouse, Glasgow Film Theatre, Nottingham Broadway and Sheffield Showroom

Kenji Uchida's A Stranger of Mine.

This year’s Japan Foundation annual touring film programme looks at narrative creativity by contemporary Japanese directors in contrast to the recent storm of adaptations, and how they express their voices through cinema. Ranging from the emerging to the established, this programme showcases directors who are not necessarily well-represented in this country, but whose works demonstrate their keen creativity.

Giants such as Akira Kurosawa and Yasujiro Ozu are renowned for their uniquely creative signature styles, along with more recent examples such as Takeshi Kitano and Kiyoshi Kurosawa, but recent years have revealed a more mundane side to the industry, where the top-grossing titles have largely been generic spin-offs of TV shows or adaptations of other sources such as popular manga and novels unpublished outside Japan, in order to generate audiences based on a pre-existing associated market.

This programme is an effort to demonstrate that there are in fact still a number of Japanese directors who, rather than being swayed by ever-fickle markets and following a “safe” formulaic film model, have instead elected to pursue their own methods of expressing themselves and using film as a voice. 9 directors have been selected for this programme, including the respected Masayuki Suo and unique auteure Miwa Nishikawa.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme continues to go from strength to strength, returning this year with more films and more venues than ever before!

Programme advice from Jasper Sharp

Films In Season:

A Stranger of Mine (Kenji Uchida, 2005)

About Her Brother (Yoji Yamada, 2010)

All Around Us (Ryosuke Hashiguchi, 2008)

Bad Company (Tomoyuki Furumaya, 2001)

Dear Doctor (Miwa Nishikawa, 2009)

Heart Beating In The Dark (Shinichi Nagasaki, 2005)

I Just Didn’t Do It (Masayuki Suo, 2007)

Sleep (Katsumi Sakaguchi, 2011)

The Dark Harbour (Takatsugu Naito, 2008)

Guests from Japan:

Q&A session with director Masayuki Suo (I Just Didn’t Do It)

ICA Screenings: 11th February (3:30pm) ; 12th February (4:00pm)

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Q&A session with director Katsumi Sakaguchi (Sleep)

ICA Screening: 16th February & Showroom Screening: 17th February

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Venue: Institute of Contemporary Arts, The Mall, London SW1Y 5AH

When: 18-24 November 2011

Following the success of last year’s inaugural festival, the second Zipangu Fest – celebrating the best of cutting edge and avant garde Japanese cinema – will be held at London’s Institute of Contemporary Arts from November 18th to 24th, before moving to venues around the UK.

Showcasing a selection of Japan’s finest features, documentaries, shorts, animation and experimental films, this year’s Zipangu Fest will include a retrospective screening of two rarely seen gems that have never been shown in the UK. One of these – a pre-war horror title – has been subtitled especially for the festival.

SECOND ZIPANGU FEST TO KICK OFF AT LONDON’S ICA

Festival director and head programmer, Jasper Sharp, comments: ‘After the runaway success of last year’s festival, we are very excited about Zipangu Fest 2011. Our aim is to showcase the wealth of talent in the independent and experimental filmmaking scene in Japan by showing the sort of films that other festivals barely seem to be aware of. The beauty of Japanese film is that you know you’re always going to see something different, and this year we’ve got another exciting and diverse range of titles to challenge, provoke and entertain. We’re particularly thrilled that the ICA is hosting this year’s event, as it is the perfect venue for us, and with last year’s programme touring to cities including Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle and Tallinn in Estonia, we hope to continue with our goal of bringing these films to as wide an audience as possible.’

To make sure you are kept up to date with Zipangu Fest news, please subscribe to our press list: http://zipangufest.com/press/2011

For further press information please contact: Sarah Macdonald: sarah@zipangufest.com

You can also join out Facebook group or sign up to our Twitter feed.

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Venue: Rio Cinema, 103-107 Kingsland, High Street, London E8 2PB

When: Saturday 24 September 2011, from 11pm

All-nighter at the Rio, Dalston

Cigarette Burns Cinema’s second instalment of the Scala Forever season, this time with Special Guest Host, Jasper Sharp.

Back in the late 60s the Japanese film studios targeted the growing teenage audience by combining Pinky or soft porn films with the violent Yakuza and Samurai genres, thus was born: Pinky Violence.  Top of the list is the hugely influential FEMALE CONVICT SCORPION series. We follow Sasori as she is double crossed and set up by her high ranking detective lover. A powerful performance by Meiko Kaji (LADY SNOWBLOOD) creates one of cinema’s most unforgettable women. Imprisoned, defiant and bent on revenge, they call her Scorpion for a reason.

Dee Dee is busy stocking her Vault of Vintage and the ever present Graham Murphy of Flashback Records will be spinning sexy tunes into the wee hours.Of course the bar will remain open throughout the film and after. All for a measly £15.
Getting home will NOT be a problem, we aim to be finished in time for you to be able to catch the first trains homes, with no standing around time.The Rio Cinema is stupid easy to get to and from-Buses, 38, 56, 67, 76, 243, 242, 149, plus East London Line to Dalston Junction and the Overground to Dalston Kingsland all drop you off at the Rio’s doorstep and plenty of night buses back.
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Venue: Kinomaja, Tallinn, Estonia

When: 25-28 August, 2011

New Horizons audience for Yumi Yoshiyuki's Widow Apartment

A 20-film retrospective of pink and Roman Porno films at the New Horizons International Film Festival in Wroclaw to coincide with the Polish-language edition of Behind the Pink Curtain, entitled “Za różową kurtyną”, published by Korporacja Ha!art Press. Special guest included Yumi Yoshiyuki.

Event: Shinsedai Cinema Festival: The New Generation Japanese Film Festival
Venue: The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, 6 Garamond Court, North York, ON M3C 1Z5, Canada
When: 21-24 July 2011

Curated by Chris MaGee, the founder and editor of Toronto’s own J-Film Pow-Wow and Jasper Sharp, author, film historian, and co-founder of Midnight Eye, the Shinsedai Cinema Festival will celebrate the wide range of talent coming out of Japan today. For four days between 21-24 July the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre will be host to everything from insightful dramas, quirky comedies, hard-hitting documentaries, experimental shorts, and beyond. The Shinsedai Cinema Festival will have something for everyone this summer.

Read about the lineup here.
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Where: Frankfurt Am Main, Germany

When: Wed 27 April – Sun 1 May 2011

From April 27 to May 1, 2011, Nippon Connection in Frankfurt am Main will show exciting and creative cinema from Japan for the eleventh time. The preparations for the festival are already in full swing. Once more, Nippon Connection will present a broad range of avantgarde, anime, blockbusters and documentaries with more than 100 of the latest Japanese short and feature films, many of them screened as German, European or international premieres and accompanied by the presence of film-makers and actors.

Aside from the film program Nippon Connection will also give you the chance to experience various aspects of Japanese culture – from “pop art” to high culture. Prepare to be amazed!

Highlights this year include a comprehensive Sion Sono retrospective.

Where: The Star and Shadow Cinema, Stepney Bank, Newcastle Upon Tyne  NE1 2NP
Tel: 0191 261 0066

When: Thurs 7 – Sun 17 April 2011

The Star and Shadow Cinema is very excited to be screening some excellent programmes from Zipangu Fest, the first UK-wide Japanese Film Festival, with programmes very rarely seen in the UK, from mesmerising new animation to beautiful live action feature films.

Newcastle's Star and Shadow Cinema

Thursday 7th April

7:30 p.m. – Beyond Anime: CALF Animation + TALK

A very rare screening of no less than 13 short animation programmes from the new CALF label, which distributes work from some of the most innovative independent Japanese filmmakers + Jasper Sharp, director of London Japanese Film Festival and specialist of Japanese cinema, will introduce the night!

Sunday 10th April

7:30 p.m. – NN-891102 + shorts

Unforgettable indie classic about a man struggling to overcome the trauma of the A-bomb through sound.

Thursday 14th April

7:30 p.m. -  Ero Guro Anime Night

This is a selection of 4 nightmarish short animation films, from underground filmmakers Hiroshi Harada and Naoyuki Niiya. The films sit within a hybridised East-West freakshow tradition, and promise a night you won’t soon forget!

Sunday 17th April

7:30 p.m. – Footed Tadpoles + shorts

A quirky coming-of-age comedy about first love in junior high school.

Season curated by Jasper Sharp, Director of Zipangu Fest, and who will come over to introduce the night on 7 April!

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Where: Pictureville Cinema, National Media Museum, Bradford BD1 1NQ

When: Fri 25–Mon 28 March 2011

“Come and see Cinerama and 70mm in all its splendour. We will include new 4k DCP prints of classic widescreen and large format films, as well as a mix of new and old 70mm prints, from the vaults and collectors alike, in its 70mm curved screen splendour.

Join Sir David and Col. Nicholson, the Prescotts and Dersu to see the whole wide world in breathtaking letterbox format. Feel the Russian cold, Jarre’s classic tunes, Varykino’s real estate and a hot day on the job for an English map maker in Arabia, while not minding of course. Dance craze to the ska beats of the 1980s and push the button on the curve with Max. Get a black and white Wise scare-o-rama, while you enjoy a Goodwin orchestrated German rocket science blow-up and a DDR large format interpretation of a Spanish painter in ORVO color.”

How the West Was Won, playing in Bradford in 3-strip Cinerama on the curve with 7-track magnetic stereo with introduction by Sir Christopher Frayling

The Pictureville Cinema in Bradford is the only cinema left in the world outside of the United States capable of showing original 3-strip Cinerama.

Films showing at this year’s Widescreen Weekend include: Operation Crossbow, How the West Was Won, The Dark Crystal, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Lion in Winter, The Great Race and Goya.

I’ll be introducing the screening of Akira Kurosawa’s Dersu Uzala , in Sovscope 70, on the Friday.

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Where: Warwick Arts Centre, Gibbet Hill Road, Coventry, West Midlands, CV4 7AL

When: Fri 11–Sun 13 Feb 2011

Tickets: Per screening: £6.60; students £4.30; Warwick Students and CUEAFS members £3.00. Also available: Festival ticket at £20 for 4 films (inc booking fees). Contact the Box Office on 024 7652 4524, or visit the Warwick Arts Centre website.

From February 11th to 13th 2011, Third Window Films in conjunction with the Coventry University East Asian Film Society present East Winds: A Third Window Film Festival.

“Our goal is to raise awareness of Asian cinema to a university crowd who might normally not have much chance to catch Asian cinema on the big screen. With a 220-seater cinema, cheap ticket prices and a variety of films from all over Asia being shown, Third Window Films and CUEAFS hope you can all enjoy a new type of cinema and let us help you explore a window to the East!”

The East Winds facebook page is here. I’m going to be present to conduct a few onstage interviews, as detailed in this blog post.

The festival coincides with a two-day international symposium Asian Exposure: East Asian Cinema in a Global Context held at Coventry University on February 11-12.

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