News

Megumi Okawara has worked as an actress for household names like Shinji Aoyama and upcoming talents like Tomokazu Yamada. Her films have been shown at Pia Filmfestival and the Shimokitazawa Film Festival Grand Prix. In “So Beautiful, Wonderful and Lovely” Okawara shows her full potential as an author, editor, director, and lead actress.

So Beautiful, Wonderful and Lovely is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

Nozomi Haruta, a school janitor, has her heart broken when she discovers that her lover and soulmate, the handsome teacher Chitose, secretly plans to marry another woman. Out of desperation, she decides to crash the wedding but on her escape, she gets into an accident with a courier carrying castella cakes. When Nozomi wakes up at the hospital, she sees a ghost-like version of Chitose hovering above her, who goes by the name of Castella. For the next two weeks, corresponding to the expiration date for castella cakes,...

South Korea’s Lyd is to handle international sales of upcoming Japanese drama On Summer Sand as it continues to expand its slate of non-Korean films.

The company, known for handling hit K-drama series including Mr. Queen and My Love From The Star, has also invested in the production and will handle non-theatrical distribution in Japan.

Prolific actor Joe Odagiri stars in the adaptation of an award-winning play of the same name by Masataka Matsuda.

Set in Nagasaki, Odagiri plays an unemployed man named Koura who is dealing with the loss of his four-year-old son and separation from his wife.

South Korea’s Lyd is to handle international sales of upcoming Japanese drama On Summer Sand as it continues to expand its slate of non-Korean films.

The company, known for handling hit K-drama series including Mr. Queen and My Love From The Star, has also invested in the production and will handle non-theatrical distribution in Japan.

Prolific actor Joe Odagiri stars in the adaptation of an award-winning play of the same name by Masataka Matsuda.

Set in Nagasaki, Odagiri plays an unemployed man named Koura who is dealing with the loss of his four-year-old son and separation from his wife.

Kōji Yakusho is one of the greatest actors alive by any metric. In Japan, he's been nominated for a whopping 23 Japan Academy Film Prize acting awards, and has worked with some of the greatest Japanese directors of all time — Hirokazu Kore-eda, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Masayuki Suo, Takashi Miike, Shinji Aoyama, Kon Ichikawa, Hideo Gosha, Juzo Itami, and, of course, Shōhei Imamura.

However, Yakusho has also made a huge impact around the world, his star power and handsome solitude bringing acclaim to films like Shall We Dance? and Memoirs of a Geisha. He is one of the rare international actors to break out into mainstream recognition without resorting to speaking English, thanks to films like Rob Marshall's Memoirs of a Geisha and Alejandro G. Iñárritu's Babel. In 2023, he achieved what's arguably the greatest international recognition an actor can receive, winning Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for director Wim Wenders' beautiful character study,...

In the midst of the surge of J-horror following the success of “Ringu”, it seems that someone had an idea of parodying the standards (cliches if you prefer) of the category. That someone was Shinji Aoyama and the film was “Embalming”, a production that is deceptively badly written and occasionally directed, still managing, though, to retain its fun element from beginning to end.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

Embalmer Miyako Murakami is called by her detective friend Hiraoka to treat the body of teenager Yuki Shindo, the son of a politician, after he jumps from a rooftop, apparently in a suicide. A needle found in the body, however, leads Miyako into thinking that there may be more to his death, while Hiraoka seems to think that the deceased's girlfriend, Rika is more involved than she appears to be. And more there is, in abundance actually,...

A certain type of cinephile weeb (hello) holds maybe no post-New Wave Japanese director more highly than Shinji Somai, but it’s the nature of such fandom that his brilliance––expertly plotted, emotionally precise films shot in some of the most incredible long takes (Lost Chapter of Snow: Passion should be the benchmark)––has never quite escaped westward. Having seen all of Somai’s films on, with few exceptions, ruddy DVD rips, it’s amazing to watch the trailer for “Rites of Passage,” an inaugural North American retrospective starting April 28 at New York’s Japan Society––it simply never seemed they’d be in this state.

Obviously this is uncharted waters for even the more adventurous reader, so: Criterion Daily does a nice job summarizing Somai’s importance for Japanese filmmakers, noting the affection he’s received from Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Shinji Aoyama, and Ryûsuke Hamaguchi, the latter of whom has...

Tokyo International Film Festival’s 35th edition will include titles from Bui Thac Chuyen, Olivia Wilde and Hiroki Ryuichi.

The 35th Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) today unveiled its line-up for its first full-scale physical edition since the pandemic started, with 15 international competition titles including its first from Vietnam - Bui Thac Chuyen’s Glorious Ashes.

Set to make its world premiere at TIFF, the film was a recipient of the Asean Co-production Fund (Acof) launched by the Film Development Council of the Philippines (Fdcp) and the Southeast Asia co-production grant (Scpg) established by the Singapore Film Commission (Sfc), as...

Playing in Official Selection at San Sebastian, the film is based on a novel Kawamura penned in 2019.

A Hundred Flowers, playing in Official Selection at San Sebastian, marks the first time Japan’s Genki Kawamura has sat in the director’s chair.

Kawamura is a familiar name to fans of recent Japanese cinema, having helped shepherd live-action films including Confessions and Parasyte, plus anime hits such as Your Name and Belle, to success as producer. He’s also an accomplished novelist; his debut novel If Cats Disappeared From The World has sold over two million copies worldwide.

A Hundred Flowers...

Festival will also host tributes to Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-liang and late director Shinji Aoyama.

US director Julie Taymor is to preside over the international competition jury of Tokyo International Film Festival, which has also announced plans to revive the Akira Kurosawa Award and host tribute screenings to Taiwan’s Tsai Ming-liang and late Japanese director Shinji Aoyama.

The festival has unveiled highlights of its 35th edition, which will run October 24 to November 2, ahead of the announcement of its full line up on September 21.

Taymor is known for directing features such as Frida, Titus, Across The Universe and The Glorias...

In the series of news about wars and attacks, it often seems there is no way to really grasp the impact the event, to understand the reality of the catastrophe which we just hear or read about. Because the rapid speed of news does not allow for time to recuperate or fully comprehend the human tragedies behind, the image is often one for the moment, but then quickly forgotten, even though the repercussions will probably stick with people and communities for many years to come. Many times the idea of starting over or move forward is thwarted by our memories, the lasting physical or emotional damage caused sometimes without us being aware of it.

“Eureka” is screening at Nippon Connection

In general, the second half of the 1990s and the first years of the new century can be seen as a constant stream of violent events and attacks, all of which shook people,...

Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveries. For daily updates follow us @NotebookMUBI.NEWSSian Heder's Coda took home the Best Picture award at the 94th Academy Awards, Ryusuke Hamaguchi's Drive My Car took Best International Feature, and Jane Campion won Best Director for The Power of the Dog. Find more of this year's Oscars winners here. We're saddened by the loss of Japanese filmmaker Shinji Aoyama, who recently died at the age of 57. Most revered for his 2000 film Eureka, about a trio who embark on a road trip after surviving a bus hijacking, Aoyama continued his humanist exploration of violence, family, and generation gaps in films like Desert Moon (2001) and Sad Vacation (2007), the loose sequel to Eureka. He was also a prolific novelist and critic, with his novelization of Eureka awarded the Yukio Mishima prize in 2001. Il Cinema Ritrovato has announced the programs of this year's festivities,...

Shinji Aoyama, the Japanese film director, writer and composer known for the film “Eureka,” which won him two prizes at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival, died March 21 in Tokyo after a battle with esophageal cancer, according to local reports. He was 57.

Aoyama made waves in the international film community when he premiered “Eureka” at Cannes. The film was a black-and-white drama about the aftermath of a bus hijacking, based on a real incident, and it won the Fipresci and Ecumenical Jury prizes. “Eureka” boosted Aoyama to the forefront of a new generation of Japanese filmmakers, and he returned to the festival in 2001 with “Desert Moon” and in 2005 with “Eri Eri Rema Sabakutani.”

Born on July 13, 1964, in Kitakyushu, Japan, Aoyama initially wanted to be a rock musician, but became interested in cinema after watching Francis Ford Coppola’s 1979 film “Apocalypse Now” and later cited Jean-Luc Godard’s films “Pierrot le Fou” and...

World premieres include debut from Happy Hour co-writer Tadashi Nohara and new works from Brillante Mendoza and Mikhail Red.

Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced the full line-up for its 34th edition, including the main competition section of 15 films, among which 10 titles are world premieres. Other sections include Asian Future, Gala Selection, World Focus, Nippon Cinema Now and Japanese Animation.

The competition section includes the world premieres of two Japanese films – Third Time Lucky, the debut feature of Tadashi Nohara, who co-wrote Happy Hour and Wife Of A Spy; and Just Remembering from Daigo Matsui (Ice Cream And The...

Above: Haruhara San's RecorderNow in its 32nd year, FIDMarseille found itself in a unique position in 2021. Starting just two days after the Cannes Film Festival wrapped its comeback edition—which was delayed two months due to the pandemic—Fid welcomed a number of critics, programmers, and filmmakers straight from the Croisette. While the philosophical differences between the festivals have always been pronounced, this year the calendar proximity only underscored the curatorial disparity—proving not so much Cannes’ authority as Fid’s significance in presenting a fuller picture of contemporary cinema. Freely mingling its documentary roots with au courant trends in art cinema, Fid offers a snapshot of what’s new and exciting in international filmmaking. Case in point: Apichatpong Weerasethakul, fresh off sharing the Jury Prize in Cannes for his latest film, Memoria, and recipient of this year’s Grand prix d’honneur; the Thai director’s first feature, Mysterious...

Yasuzo Masumura may be practically unknown to the west, but he is quite famous and respected in Japan, with filmmakers like Shinji Aoyama and Nagisa Oshima considering him as one of the precursors of the Japanese New Wave of the sixties, and one of the most important creators in postwar Japan. Thankfully, Arrow Films has done a significant effort to change the fact, by releasing a number of his lesser known titles. “Irezumi” is of the first films that established his exploitation style, which was later implemented in his most well known ones, like “Hanzo the Razor: The Snare” and “Blind Beast.”

Based on a novel by Junichiro Tanizaki and scripted by the great Kaneto Shindo, the story revolves around a true femme fatale named Otsuya, a daughter of a rich merchant. In the beginning of the film, she persuades her lover, Shinsuke to betray her father,...

Fetch Publicity releases the first 4K Blu-ray release outside of “Irezumi,” (1966) Yasuzo Masumura’s early masterwork, outside of Japan. The Blu-ray will be available on 21 June 2021.

From us: Yasuzo Masumura may be practically unknown to the west, but he is quite famous and respected in Japan, with filmmakers like Shinji Aoyama and Nagisa Oshima considering him as one of the precursors of the Japanese New Wave of the sixties, and one of the most important creators in postwar Japan. Irezumi is of the first films that established his exploitation style, which was later implemented in his most well known ones, like “Hanzo the Razor: The Snare” and “Blind Beast.”…“Irezumi” is an exploitation film of rare quality that will definitely satisfy fans of the genre, as it paved the way for the surge of the category that occurred in the 70’s.” (Panos Kotzathanasis)

From Fetch: Drawn from...

Eihi Shiina is a Japanese fashion model and actress from Fukuoka, Japan. She got her first big break in 1995, working for Benetton, after which she represented Japan at the global Elite Model Look ’95. More magazine work followed.

Shiina made her film debut in 1998 with “Open House”. She also published a book of photographs and poems, entitled “No Filter, Only Eyes”, that same year. She is recognized internationally for her role as Asami Yamazaki in Takashi Miike’s “Audition”, and as the vengeful police officer Ruka in Yoshihiro Nishimura’s “Tokyo Gore Police”. Apart from her many collaborations with Yoshihiro Nishimura, she has also acted in Shinji Aoyama’s “Eureka” and Takeshi Kitano’s “Outrage”.

You can follow her on Facebook and Instagram

We speak with her about taking a break from the industry, her collaborations with Takashi Miike, Yoshihiro Nishimura, Takeshi Kitano and Shinji Aoyama, being a model and an actor,...

“Do you think one can live only for others?”

In the series of news about wars and attacks, it often seems there is no way to really grasp the impact the event, to understand the reality of the catastrophe which we just hear or read about. Because the rapid speed of news does not allow for time to recuperate or fully comprehend the human tragedies behind, the image is often one for the moment, but then quickly forgotten, even though the repercussions will probably stick with people and communities for many years to come. Many times the idea of starting over or move forward is thwarted by our memories, the lasting physical or emotional damage caused sometimes without us being aware of it.

“Eureka” is streaming on Mubi

In general, the second half of the 1990s and the first years of the new century can be seen as a constant...

When someone talks about the Japanese movie industry in the 00s, inevitably the discussion goes towards anime, which, in the specific decade, accounted for 60% of the local film production. With films like Miyazaki’s “Spirited Away” and the rest of Studio Ghibli’s productions, along with masterpieces from Satoshi Kon, Mamoru Oshii, Katsuhiro Otomo and other great filmmakers, there is no wonder why the 00s were considered “Japanese Cinema’s Second Golden Age”, particularly for the penetration of local films in cinemas around the world.

However, anime were not the only story Japanese cinema had to tell in this decade. Yojiro Takita also won an Oscar, Shinji Aoyama and Naomi Kawase won at Cannes, Hirokazu Koreeda continued his successful festival run, Yoji Yamada made an exceptional trilogy of samurai films, Shunji Iwai directed one of the most critically acclaimed film of the decade, Kinji Fukasaku released his last film and Takeshi Kitano his most successful.

Takumi Saitoh is an actor, filmmaker, mobile cinema sponsor and monochrome photographer. Beginning as a model in his teens, Takumi Saitoh’s name has made inroads into such lands as Europe and Asia and has walked for shows during Paris Fashion Week. After working in advertising with Wing Shya, photographer for Director War Wong Kai , an opportunity arose for Saitoh to make his acting debut in the Korean film reboot of “Toki no Kaori – Remember Me.” Having appeared in many television and films, including “13 Assassins” on which he met director Takashi Miike, he appeared in Miike’s next 3 works, “Ace Attorney”, “For Love’s Sake” and the drama, “Qp” consecutively. For his starring role in “For Love’s Sake”, Miike lauded, “Takumi Saitoh was born to play Hiroshi Iwashimizu.” In 2017, Saitoh won the 31st annual Takasaki Film Festival, Best Supporting Actor Award for “The Projects” directed by Junji Sakamoto.

Akihiko Shiota – attended Rikkyo University, where he was in a film club with other students such as Makoto Shinozaki and Shinji Aoyama and began making 8mm films in the tradition of other Rikkyo students like Kiyoshi Kurosawa. His independent films were recognized at Pia Film Festival and he began writing film criticism and working as an assistant for Kurosawa and other filmmakers. He also studied scriptwriting under Atsushi Yamatoya and worked as the cinematographer for films by Takayoshi Yamaguchi. His films ‘Moonlight Whispers’ and ‘Don’t Look Back’, both released in 1999 earned Shiota the Directors Guild of Japan New Directors Award. ‘Don’t Look Back’ won also the Jury Prize at the Three Continents Festival. ‘Harmful Insect‘ (2002) was screened at the Venice Film Festival and earned two more awards at the Three Continents Festival. His first major commercial film ‘Yomigaeri’ was the fourth biggest grossing Japanese film in 2003. ‘Canary’ (2005) inspired by the...

Beginning 2000s, director Akihiko Shiota emerged as part of a new wave of Japanese filmmakers portraying teenage alienation in postmodern Japan. Like many other famous directors of his generation, Shiota was a student of Shigehiko Hasumi at Tokyo Film School. Though less prolific than his former classmates Shinji Aoyama (“Eureka” 2000) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa (“Cure” 1997), Shiota produced impressive movies such as “Moonlight Whispers” (1999), “Harmful Insect” (2001) and “Canary” (2004), which all deal with young outcasts and a lack of parental presence. In the course of his career, Shiota shifted his focus from serious indie dramas to sentimental commercial productions and effect-filled entertainment (“Dororo” 2007). He finally ended up in the genre of medical drama with the TBS tearjerker “I Just Wanna Hug You” (2014). What may look like a decline of artistic demand, is proven wrong by Shiota’s newest film “Farewell Song” (2019).

“Farewell Song” was screened on Japannual Film Festival in Vienna.

Although Shiota...

After he had attended Tokyo Film School Japanese director Sho Miyake went on to make numerous feature films as well as documentaries. Praised for their portrayal of friendship, youth and coming of age films like “Wild Tour”, “Playback” and “The Cockpit” have received international attention as well as various awards, such as the Nippons Visions Jury Award in 2015 or the “Best New Director Award at the 22nd Japan Film Professional Awards.

We sat down with the director on the occasion of his film “And Your Bird Can Sing”(2018) being screened at Nippon Connection 2019 and talked with him about his film, his inspirations for the project as well as the shooting of “And Your Bird Can Sing”.

“And Your Bird Can Sing” is screening at Nippon Connection

Mr Miyake, as you know the overall topic of this year’s Nippon Connection is outlaws and outsiders within the Japanese society. Would you...

In the mid-90s, a new filmmaker from Japan would be announced to the world after his experimental films with unique style, although it would not be years after that the director would give his best with his personal masterpiece “Eureka” in 2000 , perhaps his best known film to date in all his filmography. “Wild Life” belongs to the beginning of the director Shinji Aoyama, where he shows us a bizarre story of ex-boxers, yakuzas and Pachinko workers.

Wild Life is screening at doc films

“Wild Life” is about a lonely and apparently quiet person called Hiroki (Kosuke Toyohara). Hiroki is a worker who makes a living working in a pachinko parlor, although years ago he was devoted to professional boxing. His boss, Tsumura (Mickey Curtis), is the owner of that pachinko room, and everything at first looks normal, until the two of them are involved in a yakuza conflict of...

“Do you think one can live only for others?”

In the series of news about wars and attacks, it often seems there is no way to really grasp the impact the event, to understand the reality of the catastrophe which we just hear or read about. Because the rapid speed of news does not allow for time to recuperate or fully comprehend the human tragedies behind, the image is often one for the moment, but then quickly forgotten, even though the repercussions will probably stick with people and communities for many years to come. Many times the idea of starting over or move forward is thwarted by our memories, the lasting physical or emotional damage caused sometimes without us being aware of it.

In general, the second half of the 1990s and the first years of the new century can be seen as a constant stream of violent events and attacks,...

A curated programme of Japanese films called “Kinetic Visions: The Students of Hasumi Shigehiko” will be screening at the University of Chicago every Sunday starting this week. The programme will feature number of films by directors who were formerly students of Japanese critic and theorist Hasumi Shigehiko.

Hasumi Shigehiko (1932-present) is one of the most influential critics and theorists of Japanese Cinema. Emerging at the film journal Cinema 69 at the end of the 1960s, he would go on to become one of the dominant critical voices of Japanese Film Criticism in the 1970s and 1980s, write numerous theoretical books on film form and experience, and become one of the founders of Film Studies as an academic discipline at Rikkyō University and later Tokyo University.

Hasumi’s students include numerous influential Japanese film scholars such as Yomota Inuhiko and Chika Kinoshita, as well as a long list of influential genre and art-house filmmakers,...

Close-Up is a feature that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Akihiko Shiota's Wet Woman in the Wind (2016), which is receiving an exclusive global online premiere on Mubi, is showing from November 24 - December 24, 2017 as a Special Discovery.Much like Hollywood, the Japanese film industry goes to the well as often as possible once it hits a lucky strike. Such was the case with the so-called Roman Porno films of the 1970s, an infamous genre of sexploitation primarily identified with Japan’s oldest major studio, Nikkatsu. Financial trouble necessitated a popular, inexpensive product, and these softcore numbers were just the ticket. This may have been the studio where Kenji Mizoguchi and Shohei Imamura made films early in their careers, but by 1971 the Roman Porno factory was in full swing, producing quick, cheap, titillating product for an audience hungry for female toplessness and a great deal of convulsive thrusting.

The following text is an excerpt from an essay commissioned by the specialist publishing house Hatori Press (Japan) for a tribute to the great critic, scholar and teacher Shigehiko Hasumi on the occasion of his 80th birthday (29 April 2016). Other contributors to this book (slated to appear in both Japanese and English editions) include Pedro Costa, Chris Fujiwara and Richard I. Suchenski. Beyond Prof. Hasumi’s many achievements in criticism and education (he was President of the University of Tokyo between 1997 and 2001), his ‘method,’ his unique way of seeing and speaking about films, has served as an immense inspiration for a generation of directors in Japan including Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Shinji Aoyama. The online magazines Rouge (www.rouge.com.au) and Lola (www.lolajournal.com), co-edited by Martin, provide the best access to Hasumi’s work in English (see references in the notes below).Leos Carax and Shigehiko Hasumi. Photo by Michiko Yoshitake.

True Horror Story

Director: Shinji Aoyama

Writer: Na

Despite playing in the Cannes main competition two years in a row in the early 2000s (with masterpiece Eureka in 2000 and Desert Moon in 2001), Japanese auteur’s works are still largely unavailable in the Us. His last feature, 2013’s The Backwater premiered at Locarno (nabbing Best Director) and failed to book any festival play in the Us or distribution. During Cannes 2015, it was announced Aoyama would be directing True Horror Story, a Japanese-Malaysian co-production about supernatural phenomena plaguing a Japanese couple visiting Malaysia. Principal photography is rumored to begin early 2016, and we hope the project will benefit from the initial interest conveyed by the trades in early announcements.

Cast: Na

Production Co.: Roads to Shangri-La Inc.

U.S. Distributor: Rights available Tbd (domestic/international)

Release Date: Though a start date has been unconfirmed, we are hoping Aoyama could have his latest...

Spanish director José Luis Guerín is best known in the States for his pseudo-fictional love letter to women-watching In the City of Sylvia, but in fact is a prolific documentary filmmaker and has brought with him to Locarno the lovely and elegant pseudo-documentary L’Accademia delle Muse. Playful and clever as ever, Guerín has collaborated with Professor Raffaele Pinto and several actresses, perhaps students, to stage a false course in philology. The class, populated almost entirely by women, discusses the nature, influence and meaning of muses in poetry, and what starts as seemingly a documentary on this classroom, its teacher and a few select students, subtly evolves into a drama of words and unseen actions.The issues at stake as discourse in the class—what desire means, if it has to be sexual, the difference between a woman and a muse, how a lover influences the beloved and vice versa...

We're rounding up news on some of the more projects in the works announced during the Cannes Film Festival: Lucrecia Martel's Zama, Olivier Assayas’s Personal Shopper with Kristen Stewart, Abel Ferrara's Siberia with Willem Dafoe, Carlos Reygadas's "cowboy story," Todd Haynes's Wonderstruck, Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete, Bertrand Bonello's Paris Is Happening and Stéphane Brizé's Une Vie. Plus: Nicolas Cage is re-teaming with Paul Schrader and Mike Figgis and more on forthcoming films from Marjane Satrapi, Wim Wenders, Paolo Sorrentino, Pablo Larraín, Nicole Holofcener, Mike Mills, Per Fly, Shinji Aoyama, Taika Waititi, Jared Hess, Peter Ho-sun Chan, Yoji Yamada and more. » - David Hudson...

We're rounding up news on some of the more projects in the works announced during the Cannes Film Festival: Lucrecia Martel's Zama, Olivier Assayas’s Personal Shopper with Kristen Stewart, Abel Ferrara's Siberia with Willem Dafoe, Carlos Reygadas's "cowboy story," Todd Haynes's Wonderstruck, Andrew Haigh's Lean on Pete, Bertrand Bonello's Paris Is Happening and Stéphane Brizé's Une Vie. Plus: Nicolas Cage is re-teaming with Paul Schrader and Mike Figgis and more on forthcoming films from Marjane Satrapi, Wim Wenders, Paolo Sorrentino, Pablo Larraín, Nicole Holofcener, Mike Mills, Per Fly, Shinji Aoyama, Taika Waititi, Jared Hess, Peter Ho-sun Chan, Yoji Yamada and more. » - David Hudson...

Japan’s ColorBird Inc and Malaysia’s Barnet Books are joining forces to co-produce a horror film directed by Japanese filmmaker Shinji Aoyama.

Set in Malaysia, the film tells the story of a Japanese couple who set up home on a plantation and find themselves attacked by supernatural phenomena.

The cast will be primarily Japanese with a mixed Japanese-Malaysian crew. Financing will be split evenly between Japanese and Malaysian investors. Empire Film Solution will handle distribution in Malaysia, while Japanese production company Roads To Shangri-La Inc has signed on as an investor in Japan.

ColorBird Inc will handle international sales outside Malaysia. Principal photography is scheduled to start in early 2016.

“We’re very excited to be working on this film project with Barnet Books. Its unique and original premise is not just intriguing but coupled with Aoyama’s direction should be a vision that is both distinctive yet commercially accessible,” said ColorBird...

The 14th editon of the film festival set to feature a tribute to Japanese cinema.

The 14th Marrakech International Film Festival is to take place from Dec 5-13, 2014.

This year’s festival will pay tribute to Japanese cinema and will welcome a major delegation of actors, directors and producers.

It will also put the spotlight on some of the masters of Japanese filmmaking from Yasujiro Ozu to Kore-Eda Hirokazu, through Kenji Mizoguchi, Mikio Naruse, Akira Kurosawa, Nagisa Oshima, Shohei Imamura, Takeshi Kitano, Hayao Miyazaki, Shinji Aoyama, Naomi Kawaze, Kyoshi Kurosawa, Mamoru Oshii, Takashi Miike and Masaki Kobayashi.

Competition section includes six world premieres and titles from Koji Fukada, Jun Robles Lana and Lee Ju-hyoung.Scroll down for Competition list

The 26th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) has announced its line-up with six world premieres in the Competition section including Hospitalité director Koji Fukada’s Au revoir l’été, Jun Robles Lana’s previous Haf project Barber’s Tales and the Kim Ki-duk-produced Red Family.

Those that are not world premieres are all Asian premieres including Aaron Fernandez’s San Sebastian entry The Empty Hours.

Chen Kaige, the Chinese director behind Farewell My Concubine, will head the competition jury. He will be joined by Korean actress Moon So-ri (Oasis), Australian producer Chris Brown (Daybreakers), Us director-writer-producer Chris Weitz (The Twilight Saga: New Moon), and Japanese actress Shinobu Terajima (Caterpillar).

Tiff is set to run Oct 17-25 with new festival head Yasushi Shiina putting an emphasis on showcasing homegrown productions and discovering Asian talent.

The newly launched...

Organisers at the Rio Film Festival have brought in an extra 11 titles ahead of the September 26 opening night gala screening of Thierry Ragobert’s Amazonia 3D.

The late arrivals include Gianfranco Rosi’s fresh Venice Golden Lion winner Sacro Gra as well as Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra, Shane Salerno’s Salinger and Kim Ki-duck’s Moebius.

Rounding out the additions are Greg Mottola’s Clear History, Nimrod Antal’s Metallica Through The Never, Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi, Bruce Labruce’s Gerontophilia, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse Of Weakness, Shinji Aoyama’s Backwater and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.

Festival top brass also announced the full line-up of films in the Latin Première and Environment sections.

The Latin Première selection will present 21 features, of which five will be Latin American premieres. All films in the section are eligible for the Fipresci Best Latin American Film award.

Latin PremièreIl...

Organisers at the Festival do Rio, the Rio Film Festival, have brought in an extra 11 titles ahead of the September 26 opening night gala screening of Thierry Ragobert’s France-Brazil co-production Amazonia 3D.

The late arrivals include Gianfranco Rosi’s fresh Venice Golden Lion winner Sacro Gra as well as Steven Soderbergh’s Behind The Candelabra, Shane Salerno’s Salinger and Kim Ki-duck’s Moebius.

Rounding out the additions are Greg Mottola’s Clear History, Nimrod Antal’s Metallica Through The Never, Hong Sangsoo’s Our Sunhi, Bruce Labruce’s Gerontophilia, Catherine Breillat’s Abuse Of Weakness, Shinji Aoyama’s Backwater and John Maloof and Charlie Siskel’s Finding Vivian Maier.

Festival top brass also announced the full line-up of films in the Latin Première and Environment sections.

The Latin Première selection will present 21 features, of which five will be Latin American premieres. All films in the section are eligible for the Fipresci Best Latin American Film award...

I have been invited to Locarno this year and am looking forward to going once more.

It is an amazing locale at the Swiss tip of Italy's Lago Maggiore. While the town sure looks old Italian to me people there tend to speak German.

Very charming. Their grand outdoor theater in a big piazza is rare in our film world and quite magnificent. I look forward to the films and seeing old friends.

Just announced the 20-film competition lineup features 18 world premieres and represents 16 countries, while the Piazza Grande selections run from big budget to art house films.

The Locarno Film Festival, in its first edition under the new artistic director Carlo Chatrian, on Wednesday revealed an eclectic and international lineup.

The 8,000-seat Piazza Grande, the largest silver screen in Europe and Locarno’s signature venue, this year illustrates the mixed genres Locarno traditionally features, with a lineup that includes Quentin Dupieux’s crime comedy Wrong Cops, with a cast that includes celebrity goth Marilyn Manson.

“I want the Piazza Grande selection to feature a sampling of what the festival has to offer in its various sections and tributes, and I think we made a big step in this direction,” said Chatrian, a veteran festival programmer and author who took over direction of the lakeside festival after the unexpected departure of Olivier Pere last year.

Mr. Morgan’s Last Love, a drama from Sandra Nettelbeck that stars Michael Cain as a retired professor who finds a connection with a young Parisian woman.

We’re the Millers, a comedy from Rawson Marshall Thurber with a cast that includes Jennifer Aniston and Ed Helms.

Also scheduled to screen in the picturesque Piazza Grande: 1981 classic Rich and Famous, part of the festival’s retrospective dedicated to director George Cukor (the film's star, Jacqueline Bisset, will be in Locarno to introduce the film)

Werner Herzog’s great Fitzcarraldo, the director’s 1982 biopic about Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald that will screen as part of the festival’s homage to Herzog, who will be honored with a lifetime achievement prize.

The Piazza Grande will also feature an Italian film -- La Variabile Umana (The Human Factor), the feature film debut from acclaimed documentary maker Bruno Oliviero -- for the first time in six years.

The festival previously announced that much-heralded blockbuster 2 Guns, from Baltasar Kormákur -- which stars Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg -- would open the festival August 7.

The competition lineup, which includes 18 world premieres and two international premieres, is nearly as varied as the selection showing in the Piazza Grande.

Among the highlights: E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me) from Portugal’s Joaquim Pinto, the director’s touching and vibrant telling of his battle with HIV.

Albert Serra's Historia de la Meva Mort (Story of My Death), which had been tabbed by the European press as a likely Cannes selection.

Real, the first film from Japan’s Kiyoshi Kurosawa in five years.

U Ri Sunhi (Our Sunhi) by South Kore's acclaimed Sangsoo Hong.

Sangue (Blood) from Italy’s Pippo Delbono, which explores Italy’s Red Brigade insurgency.

Short Term 12, a remake of a 2008 short (both directed by Destin Cretton), is the only U.S. film screening in competition.

“There’s an intriguing mix of young director and first time works with more experienced talent in the competition lineup,” Chatrian said. “I’m eager to see how the public will react to these films we’ve chosen.”

Piazza Grande selections:2 Guns by Baltasar Kormákur (United States)Vijay and I by Sam Garbarski (Belgium/Luxembourg/Germany)La Variabile Umana (The Human Factor) by Bruno Oliviero (Italy) Wrong Cops by Quentin Dupieux (United States)We’re the Millers by Rawson Marshall Thurber (United States)The Keeper of Lost Causes by Mikkel Nørgaard (Denmark/Germany/Sweden)Les Grandes Ondes (Longwave) by Lionel Baier (Switzerland/France/Portugal) Rich and Famous by George Cukor (United States)Gabrielle by Louise Archambault (Canada)L’Experience Blocher by Jean-Stéphane Bron (Switzerland/France)Gloria by Sebastián Lelio (Chile) Mr. Morgan’s Last Love by Sandra Nettelbeck (Germany/Belgium)Blue Ruin by Jeremy Saulnier (United States)About Time by Richard Curtis (United Kingdom)Fitzcarraldo by Werner Herzog (Germany/Peru) Sur le Chemin de l’École by Pascal Plisson (France) International competition lineup:Când se lasă seara peste Bucureşti sau metabolism (When Evening Falls on Bucharest or Metabolism) by Corneliu Porumboiu (Romania) E Agora? Lembra-me (What Now? Remind Me) by Joaquim Pinto (Portugal)Educacão Sentimental (Sentimental Education) by Júlio Bressane (Brazil)El Mudo by Daniel and Diego Vega (Peru/France/Mexico) Exhibition by Joanna Hogg (United Kingdom)Feuchtgebiete by David Wnendt (Germany)Gare du Nord by Claire Simon (France/Canada)Historia de la Meva Mort (Story of My Death) by Albert Serra (Spain/France) L’Étrange Couleur des Larmes de Ton Corps (The Strange Color of Your Body’s Tears) by Hélène Cattet and Bruno Forzani (Belgium/France/Luxembourg)Mary, Queen of Scots by Thomas Imbach (Switzerland/France) Pays Barbare by Yervant Gianikian and Angela Ricci Lucchi (France)Real by Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Japan)Sangue (Blood) by Pippo Delbono (Italy/Switzerland)Short Term 12 by Destin Cretton (United States) Shu Jia Zuo (A Time in Quchi) by Tso chi Chang (Taiwan)Tableau Noir (Black Board) by Yves Yersin (Switzerland)Tomogui (Backwater) by Shinji Aoyama (Japan)Tonnerre by Guillaume Brac (France) U Ri Sunhi (Our Sunhi) by Sangsoo Hong (South Korea)Une Autre Vie by Emmanuel Mouret (France)...

British-produced rom-com added to festival along with new film from Archipelago director Joanna Hogg

UK film-makers Richard Curtis and Joanna Hogg have joined the line-up for the 66th edition of the Locarno international film festival, held in the lakeside Swiss city.

The Balthasar Kormákur action comedy 2 Guns, starring Denzel Washington and Mark Wahlberg had already been announced as the opening film, as well as a retrospective of golden-age Hollywood director George Cukor.

Curtis' new time-travel romantic comedy About Time, starring Domnhall Gleeson and Rachel McAdams has been invited to screen in the 8000-seat outdoor Piazza Grande venue, alongside the award-winning Chilean film Gloria, and the much-admired Us indie Blue Ruin, fresh from the Director's Fortnight at Cannes.

Hogg's latest film, her third, will have its world premiere at Locarno in the festival's international competition line-up. Previously known as London Project, it has been given the title Exhibition, and stars Viv Albertine...

A total of 18 world premieres feature in the main Competition line-up of this year’s Locarno Film Festival.Scroll down for full lists

The programme for the 66th Locarno Film Festival has been unveiled and was compiled with “diversity” in mind, according to new artistic director Carlo Chatrian.

“The only categorical imperative was to work with diversity, take it to extremes,” said Chatrian.

“For years, the festival’s policy has been to position its mission of discovery within a programme that includes mainstream cinema, but only of the kind that, despite its high production values, is not just pure spectacle, the kind that doesn’t see entertainment and intelligence as incompatible.”

As previously announced, the Swiss festival will open at the open-air Piazza Grande on August 7 with the international premiere of 2 Guns, the action film starring Mark Wahlberg and Denzel Washington as cops, directed by Baltasar Kormakur (The Deep).

Other films to screen at the 8,000 seater venue include...

Everyone's thoughts are turning towards the 66th edition of the Cannes Film Festival (from May 15th to 26th, 2013) and predictions abound about which films might be chosen by Thierry Frémaux. Overview of the main contenders for a selection on the Croisette, with an opening that would look good with The Great Gatsby by Australian director Baz Lurhmann, for example.

On the European side, where exceptionally Lars Von Trier and Pedro Almodóvar will be absent, the most widely expected contenders are Only God Forgives by Danish director Nicolas Winding Refn, Twelve Years a Slave (an American production) by British director Steve McQueen, La grande belleza by Italian director Paolo Sorrentino, and the French favourites: Un indien des plaines (Jimmy P.) by Arnaud Desplechin, Blue is the Warmest Colour by Abdellatif Kechiche, Bird People by Pascale Ferran, and possibly Venus in Fur by Roman Polanski if editing is speeded up. Amongst the outsiders, it is worth mentioning Nine Minutes Interval by Romanian director Corneliu Porumboiu, Michael Kohlhaas by Arnaud des Pallières (starring Mads Mikkelsen), Un château en Italie by Valeria Bruni-Tedeschi, Jeune et jolie by François Ozon, Abus de faiblesse by Catherine Breillat and Bastards by Claire Denis.

Amongst the Old Continent’s other potential candidates for a trip to the Croisette are We Come As Friends by Austrian director Hubert Sauper, The Invisible Woman by British director Ralph Fiennes, A Field in England by Ben Wheatley, the German film Happy Birthday by French director Denis Dercourt, Nude Area by Urszula Antoniak, a Dutch director of Polish origin, the mysterious Dau by Russian director Ilya Khrzhanovsky, The Gambler by Hungarian director Szabolcs Hajdu, Oktober November by Austrian director Götz Spielmann, Histoire de la Meva Mort by Portuguese director Albert Serra, Open Windows by Spanish director Nacho Vigalondo and Goodbye to Language by Jean-Luc Godard.

The selection is not short of American possibilities this year, with notably The Nightingale by James Gray, Inside Llewyn Davies by the Coen brothers, The Bling Ring by Sofia Coppola, Nebraska by Alexander Payne, Her by Spike Jonze, Night Moves by Kelly Reichardt, and maybe Only Lovers Left Alive by Jim Jarmusch and The Butler by Lee Daniels. We can also dream about the out-of-competition screenings of The Wolf of Wall Street by Martin Scorsese, Blue Jasmin by Woody Allen and Pacific Rim by Guillermo del Toro. As for Canada, it will be placing its bets on Tom à la ferme by Xavier Dolan and An Enemy by Denis Villeneuve.

Asia could be in the running with, amongst others, Le Passé by Iranian director Asghar Farhadi, The Congress by Israeli director Ari Folman, Snowpiercer by Korean director Bong Joon-ho, Diary of a Young Boyby Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-Liang, Blind Detective by Chinese director Johnnie To and three Japanese movies: A Perfect Day for Plesiosaur by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Like Father, Like Sonby Hirokazu Kore-Eda and Dog Eat Dog by Shinji Aoyama

While Africa will set its hopes on Grisgris by Chadian director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun,surprisescould come from Latin America where only Mexican productions appear in the predictions so far, with Manto Acuifero by Michael Rowe, Chavez by Diego Luna and A los ojos by Vicky and Michel Franco.

Finally, it is worth mentioning on the French side (probably out of competition), possibilities like Once Upon a Forest by Luc Jacquet, Mood Indigo by Michel Gondry(even if its release in April seems incompatible for the moment with the selection process), L’extravagant voyage du jeune et prodigieux T.S Spivet by Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Blood Ties by Guillaume Canet, Grace de Monaco by Olivier Dahan and Malavita by Luc Besson. Also aiming for selection are Grand Central by Rebecca Zlotowki, Suzanne by Katell Quillevéré, Jacky in Women’s Kingdom by Riad Sattouf, Une autre vie by Emmanuel Mouret, Eastern Boys by Robin Campillo, Gare du Nord by Claire Simon,Tip Top by Serge Bozon, Tirez la langue mademoiselle by Axelle Ropert, L’inconnu du lac by Alain Guiraudie, Réalité by Quentin Dupieux and Dark Touch by Marina de Van. So many enticing titles for a hypothetical panorama, which is not exhaustive and that only Thierry Frémaux will clarify at the press conference on April 18th.

This article was written by Fabien Lemercier and also appeared in Cineuropa.org.

#45. Shinji Aoyama’s Dog Eat Dog

Gist: Based on Shinya Tanaka’s novel, Dog Eat Dog revolves around a 17-year-old boy named Tooma Shinogaki who lives with his father and his father’s new girlfriend in an isolated riverside town. Having to witness his father’s sadistic sexual behavior toward his girlfriend on a daily basis, Tooma grows increasingly frustrated and disgusted, but he’s also influenced by it and has a difficult time fighting the urge to try it out with a local high school girl.

Prediction: Aoyama, who adapts the screenplay himself, reteams with producer Naoki Kai (who also produced his 2007 film, Sad Vacation) and we’re predicting a Directors’ Fortnight slot for this selection. In 2001, Ayoama competed in the Main Competition with Desert Moon, as well as in 2000 for Eureka, which took home both the Fipresci and Prize of the Ecumenical Jury.

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Screen Daily is reporting that International production and distribution company Pictures Dept. has picked up the worldwide sales rights to a yet-untitled Shinji Aoyama film based on Shinya Tanaka’s Akutagawa Prize-winning novel “Tomogui” (Dog Eat Dog). He will reportedly be teaming up with stylejam producer Naoki Kai on the project, who he worked with on 2007’s Sad Vacation.

The original novel revolves around a 17-year-old boy named Tooma Shinogaki who lives with his father and his father’s new girlfriend in an isolated riverside town. Having to witness his father’s sadistic sexual behavior toward his girlfriend on a daily basis, Tooma grows increasingly frustrated and disgusted, but he’s also influenced by it and has a difficult time fighting the urge to try it out with a local high school girl.

Aoyama will be adapting the screenplay himself. Filming will begin this autumn in the Kyushu region and...

HollywoodNews.com: The 2012 Tribeca Film Festival (Tff), presented by American Express®, today announced the World Narrative and Documentary Competition film selections, along with selections for the out-of-competition Viewpoints section—the program established last year that highlights personal stories in international and independent cinema. Forty-six of the 90 feature-length films were announced. The 11th edition of the Festival will take place from April 18 to April 29 at locations around New York City.

The Festival was curated by a new programming team this year. Frédéric Boyer has joined Tff as Artistic Director, having most recently served as Artistic Director and Head of Programming for the Directors’ Fortnight at the Cannes Film Festival. Geoffrey Gilmore, Chief Creative Officer of Tribeca Enterprises, has expanded his role in overseeing the Festival program. Genna Terranova has been promoted to Director of Programming and Cara Cusumano returns as Programmer.

“It’s been so gratifying to watch the new programming...

I've only just now caught wind of a one-time-only event that took place in the Port of Tallinn last Thursday, 60 Seconds of Solitude in Year Zero, via Alison Nastasi at Movies.com: "An international collective of directors… contributed their shorts to the single 35mm film anthology that was screened for an audience one time — as part of Estonia's 2011 European Capital of Culture celebration — and then burned to the ground (along with the screen itself). Why, exactly? The project's website describes it as 'flying in the face of the cynicism of marketing, production, business operators, and the moral majority … dedicated to preserving freedom of thought in cinema.'" The roster of participating directors and artists is pretty impressive:

Brian Yuzna (USA), Michael Glawogger (Austria), Aku Louhimies (Finland), Ken Jacobs (USA), Gustav Deutsch (Austria), Tom Tykwer (Germany), Mark Boswell (USA), Malcolm Le Grice (UK), Aki Kaurismäki (Finland), Bruce McClure (UK), Mika Taanila...

onedotzero, London

Projection mapping? Granimator? Holotronica? Dogboarding? The digital moving image festival presents yet another lineup of next-level music videos, graphics, animation and artwork, augmented by dauntingly up-to-date terminology. Some of it is awesomely futuristic, but much is actually fluffy and friendly – especially the new family oriented Sprites strand, and the fantastically silly Dogboarding. Specialities include Adam Buxton on Björk's music video career, a new documentary on Nasa (the all-star music project, not the space agency), bracing audio-visual installations, and a workshop on projection mapping (using buildings as cinematic backdrops, but you knew that, didn't you?).

BFI Southbank, SE1, Wed to 27 Nov

The All Night Bad Movie Experience, Nottingham

Ever come out of a movie and thought, "That's two hours of my life I'll never get back"? Well, why not make it a whole night you'll never get back, with a quadruple bill of utter crud? These aren't just any bad movies,...

Japanese writer/director Shinji Aoyama takes a break from the serious dramas upon which he made his name for this gentle and even lighthearted drama about the plight of Koji (Haruma Miura), an aspiring young photographer as he attempts to juggle the women in his life.Even before the film begins, Koji has been through plenty of hardship. His mother died at a young age, leaving him and his father to rebuild their lives. His father remarried and moved to the countryside, but now his second wife is seriously ill and bedridden in a remote hospital. The marriage also gave Koji a step-sister, Masaki (Manami Konishi). Nine years his senior, she is nevertheless warm and affectionate to Koji, getting him a job at her friend's restaurant and...

The 33rd edition of the Pia festival wrapped on Friday, September 30. A week and an half in the rather dowdy National Film Theatre saw a slew of hipsters, film students, pedants, critics and film fans making their annual pilgrimage to check out the newest of the new – with hopes of discovering the newest and best of the Japanese film scene. Pia has played host to the first-time efforts of such folks as enfant terrible Sono Shion as well as the more gentle international festival favorite, Naomi Kawase. Recently they’ve been nurturing the career of whipsmart indie wunderkind, Yuya Ishii. This year’s festival opened with the Japanese premiere of his newest feature, Mitsuko Delivers. Like the best of Ishii’s work Mitsuko Delivers delivers a smart social satire couched in situation comedy. Riisa Naka handily plays a very pregnant Mitsuko, who embarks not only on controlling her own life,...

#7. Cut Director: Amir Naderi Cast: Hidetoshi Nishijima, Takako Tokiwa,Takashi Sasano, Shun Sugata, Denden Distributor: Rights Available Buzz: Opening Venice's Orizzonti section before shipping out to Toronto, this marks a noteworthy new direction for one of the most important figures in New Iranian cinema of the 70's and 80's. After working as an American filmmaker for a pair of decade, Amir Naderi has gone all "The Five Obstructions" on his career by ordering his latest work to be all things Japanese. With collaborations from Shinji Aoyama (2000's Eureka) who helped co-write the film and Kiyoshi Kurosawa (2003's Bright Future) who served as special consultant, this should be a standout item in Naderi's filmography. The Gist: Described by the festival "as a visual love poem for the cinema set in the world of the yakuza," I'm a huge fan of filmmakers making films about the filmmaking process - in this case...

Argentine/Swiss production "Abrir Puertas Y Ventanas" (Back to Stay) won the golden leopard at the Locarno Film Festival over the weekend, capping the ten day event. Japanese director Shinji Aoyama received a special golden leopard in recognition of his career and for his film, "Tokyo Koen," while Israeli filmmaker Nadav Lapid received a special prize for "Hashoter" (Policeman). Adrian Sitaru received the best director prize for "Din Dragoste cu Cele ...