During its tenth edition, CAMERA JAPAN Festival serves its 7,000+ audiences with no less than 51 (mostly) recent Japanese titles.
Ranging from arthouse drama to out-of-bounds horror and pink films, the selection offers eleven international or European premieres and a theme programme focusing on female directors (including four works by TANADA Yuki). The festival also treats visitors with three anime, four documentaries and the latest films by maestros KORE-EDA Hirokazu, KUROSAWA Kiyoshi and KITANO Takeshi. CAMERA JAPAN 2015 runs 24-27 September in LantarenVenster, Rotterdam
Female Focus
“We are proud to present this strong and diverse programme to introduce even more visitors to the delicacies of the rich Japanese film industry”, states festival director Alex Oost, “While also in Japan most directors are male, fortunately there are prominent female directors active in the local film industry. This edition, we highlight eleven works by what we think are some of today’s most prominent women directors, including four by highly talented TANADA Yuki.”
Also represented are her peers ANDO Momoko, O Mipo, KAZAMA Shiori, SUGINO Kiki, WATANABE Yoshiko and MATSUI Hisako. The theme programme includes lectures on the subject by Catherine MUNROE HOTES, EZAWA Aya and Maureen DE VRIES.
Premieres
CAMERA JAPAN 2015 acts as gateway for new Japanese cinema to Dutch audiences. Three films get their international premieres: Dictator Koga, a debut feature written and directed by IIZUKA Toshimitsu; The Mourner, a gripping tale about moral values by TSUTSUMI Yukihiko, seasoned director of many box office hits and Murder on D Street (photo) by KUBOTA Shoji, an erotic thriller adapted from a mystery tale by popular author EDOGAWA Ranpo, who died 50 years ago.
Recent films by O Mipo, FUJIWARA Kenichi, HARADA Masato, TANNO Masato, WATANABE Yoshiko, TANADA Yuki and the two-part anime Beyond the Boundary by ISHIDATE Taichi all see their European premieres. Furthermore, CAMERA JAPAN screens Cannes selections Our Little Sister by KORE-EDA Hirokazu and Journey to the Shore by KUROSAWA Kiyochi as avant-premieres ahead of their Dutch theatrical releases later this year.
Classics
In its Special Screenings section, CAMERA JAPAN presents three classic films. Award-winning comedy Hotel Hibiscus (2003) by NAKAE Yuji perfectly accompanies the festival’s Filmbrunch on Sunday 27 September. It portrays a family running a ramshackle one-room hotel and is filled with local music, fascinating characters and mythical encounters. LEE Sang-il’s Hula Girls, CAMERA JAPAN Audience Award winner in 2007, is a heartwarming comedy about mineworkers’ daughters opening a Hawaiian resort in their small mountain town. From much further back dates The Scent of Pheasant’s Eye (1935, photo) by KAWATE Jiro, in its time a revolutionary film about a lesbian relationship. Renowned benshi KATAOKA Ichiro narrates and Kevin TOMA accompanies on piano.
Opening performance, exhibitions, events and kick-off
CAMERA JAPAN offers arthouse drama, genre works (crime, action, pink film, comedy and anime), documentaries and short films. Next to these, the festival opens Thursday 24 September with ‘Merge’, an image and sound performance using dance and video by ENDO Sato, KUSUDA Kenzo and Nicola UNGER. At festival venue LantarenVenster festival visitors are invited to join arts exhibitions, a shibori workshop, short ‘interventions’ (dance or music performances held in the lobby), a pop-up market for Japanese products, the Filmbrunch and Kids’ Day (both on Sunday 27 September) or, at WORM (Rotterdam), the kick-off event on Wednesday 23 September with experimental films followed by a music performance of Japanese duo Group A.
Event data: Thu September 24, 14:00 in LantarenVenster, Otto Reuchlinweg 996
Link: http://ww.camerajapan.nl
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Originally published on We Own Rotterdam