Jasper Sharp : Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre

22
Jun

The Third Shinsedai New Generation Japanese Film Festival, 21-24 July 2011

Been busy, busy, busy recently, which is why I’ve been so remiss about posting up details about this year’s Shinsedai New Generation Japanese Film Festival, which I’ve curated with Chris Magee of the Toronto J-Film Pow-wow. For full details of the programme, let me first of all direct you to the new Shinsedai homepage, which for this year has moved URL to http://shinsedai-toronto.com/.

Neil Cantwell and Tim Grabham's remarkable new documentary Kanzeon

There’s another great line-up at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre this July, high points of which include Catcher On the Shore, the directorial debut of 14-year-old Okinawan boy, Ryugo Nakamura (yes, you did read that correctly: 14-year-old!!!), a rare screening of Torajiro Saito’s 1935 Shochiku Kamada comedy Kid’s Commotion starring “the Japanese Charlie Chaplin” Shigeru Ogura and presented with a live Foley sound effects accompaniment and demonstration by Goto Koyama (this is going to be amazing!), and the world premiere of Kanzeon, a stunning new British documentary about Buddhism and music (actually it’s about a whole lot more than that, but it’s sort of difficult to explain – check out the official website). Oh yes, and there’s some other old favourites we screened in London as part of last year’s Zipangu Fest, including the CALF animation programme and Mean-eater Mountain.

Catcher on the Shore, by 14-year-old filmmaking prodigy Ryugo Nakamura

We’re also closing the festival with Yuya Ishii’s Sawako Decides, one of the titles that did the rounds of the UK as part of the Japan Foundation UK’s touring programme earlier this year. If you didn’t catch it in Britain, or if you want to see it again, you’ll be happy to hear that it’s been picked up for distribution byThird Window Films, and will be out in theatres from 8 July, with a DVD to follow. Anyway, I’m not going to go into too much detail about the programme here, other than to cut and paste some of the highlights from Chris’ page, but suffice it to say, its another goodie for Torontonians, so if you’re in the city at the end of July, don’t miss…

I unfortunately won’t be at Shinsedai this year due to scheduling conflicts with another very special film event that is occurring on the other side of the world (well, almost…) in Poland, which I’ll do my utmost to shed some light on before the week is out.

In the meantime, here’s the lowdown on this year’s Shinsedai:

OPENING NIGHT FILM: Hospitalité (dir. Koji Fukuda, 2010)

A sly, humorous and insightful satire of contemporary a Japanese family and the secrets they keep from each other that begins as an homage to the classic domestic dramas of Yasujiro Ozu, but ends up in the comic territory of Tampopo director Juzo Itami.

Sly satire from Koji Fukuda, Hospitalité

HORROR FEATURE: Shirome (dir. Koji Shiraishi, 2010)

Koji Shiraishi, director of “Occult” and the controversial “Grotesque”, revitalizes the J-Horror genre with a mockumentary that combines the low-budget scares of The Blair Witch Project and American Idol instant stardom into an entirely unique and chilling experience.

Blair Witch Project meets The X-Factor, in Koji Shiraishi's Shirome

CENTERPIECE SCREENING: Wandering Home (dir. Yoichi Higashi, 2010)

Tadanobu Asano gives a career defining performance as real-life photojournalist Yutaka Kamoshida as he struggles to overcome alcoholism. Far from being a journey into the underbelly of addiction “Wandering Home” is a life-affirming drama filled with love, gentle humour and reconciliation.

Tadanobu Asano stars in Wandering Home

FAMILY FEATURE: Azemichi Road (dir. Fumie Nishikawa, 2009)

“Azemichi Road” takes the classic underdog genre and gives it new life. Yuki, a young deaf girl, takes a journey from silence to acceptance through her involvement in an amateur dance troupe. Film-maker Fumie Nishikawa sets her feel-good kids film in the gorgeous landscapes of Japan’s countryside.

Fun for all the family, Azemichi Road

SILENT CLASSIC: Kid Commotion (dir. Torajiro Saito, 1935)

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival is very proud to present a special screening of Torajiro Saito’s “Kid Commotion”, starring Japan’s answer to Charlie Chaplin Shigeru Ogura as a harried father, with the accompaniment of live sound effects provided by foley artist Goro Koyama. Audiences will not only have a chance to see a very rare and very funny silent film, but will have the opportunity to learn about the art of movie sound effects.

Vintage Japanese slapstick, Kid's Commotion, presented with a very unusual accompaniment!

CLOSING NIGHT FILM: Sawako Decides (dir. Yuya Ishii, 2010)

Director Yuya Ishii’s return to the Shinsedai Cinema Festival, “Sawako Decides” is the hilarious story of a young woman (actress Hikari Mistushima) who returns to her home town to care for her ailing father and to straighten out her life after a series of low-paying jobs and less than ideal boyfriends.

Soon to go on theatrical release in the UK, Sawako Decides is Shinsedai's Closing Night Screening

Posted at 14:25 on 22 June 2011

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26
Aug

A look back at Toronto’s first Shinsedai New Generation Japanese Film Festival

Well, I am back at home now after a joyous weekend at the inaugural Shinsedai Festival, and I must say, the experience was wholeheartedly a positive one. I know I promised to do daily updates during the fest, but with so much crammed into such a short time, this sort of fell by the wayside, and after wrestling with jetlag and getting back to the huge pile of things that urgently needed attending to back in London, it’s only now that I’ve had time to post my thoughts.

Peaches organizer Atsuko Ohno raising a kampai with Vortex director Yoshihiro Ito

It’s always pretty tough launching a new film festival, especially one that doesn’t deal with cult or genre material, but all in all, attendances were good, the comments on the response forms positive, and everyone seemed to have a great time, myself included. I was mightily impressed with the calibre of the audience, who seemed intelligent and receptive to new and sometimes challenging material. I guess the choice of venue, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre was a key factor in this: the audience members either had firsthand experience of Japan or a genuine interest in the culture, meaning that films such as Yutaka Tsuchiya’s The New God, Yasutomo Chikuma’s Now, I… and Hiroki Iwabuchi’s Freeter’s Distress got the audiences they deserved and provoked animated discussions after the screenings. A lot of people really had their eyes opened by these titles, which show a completely different side of Japan to the one portrayed in the films that usually circulate in the West.

Akinoh Kondo's animated short The Evening Traveling

On the other side of the coin, we had more experimental material. Yoshihiro Ito’s Vortex and Others shorts programme and Aruongaku, a concert film on the avant-garde filmmaker/musician Masakatsu Takagi were met with a unanimously positive response. (I should add to European readers with a taste in such material, many of these films received their first international screening at the world’s greatest Japanese film festival, Nippon Connection in Frankfurt).

With festival co-organizer Chris Magee, and Thunderfish star Junko Kimoto at opening ceremony.

We were also lucky so many of the filmmakers came out to Toronto to join us too. Yasutomo Chikuma, Yoshihiro Ito, Peaches festival organiser Atsuko Ohno, animator/illustrator Akino Kondoh, and the Thunderfish-gumi of director Touru Hano, cinematographer Tetsuhiro Kato, and leading lady Junko Kimoto (pictured here quaffing sake with me and Chris Magee during the opening ceremony) all had a great time chatting with the audience, and participating in the panel discussion about the state of independent cinema. It’s a near certainty that we’ll be able to build upon this success for next year, with an even bigger and bolder programme, but I should add at this point that none of this would have been possible without the generous sponsorship of Subaru Canada (oh that UK-based companies were as generous!), the guiding hand of the unsung hero behind the scenes James Heron (rather like the cat in Hong Kong Phooey) and his colleagues at the JCCC, as well as the smiling, ever-helpful legions of volunteers. And of course, a huge thanks to Chris Magee of Toronto’s own J-Film Pow-Wow for his sterling work in bringing this all together in such a short time, and my personal thanks to him and the delightful Polly for putting me up for the weekend and keeping the whiskey flowing. Until the next time…

Posted at 20:35 on 26 August 2009

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