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Indian filmmaker Payal Kapadia’s poignant drama All We Imagine as Light went home with the best picture prize Sunday night at the 18th Asian Film Awards. It was the film’s final stop on a ten-month festival and awards season journey that began last May when it won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival.

“Thank you so much to my lead actors — three incredible artists and human beings. They are the ones who made this film what it is,” Kapadia said from the stage inside Hong Kong’s gleaming Xiqu Centre, where the ceremony was held. “I’m so happy that we could end our journey here in Hong Kong, a city that has meant a lot to me, watching the amazing films from this city over the years.”

Legendary Hong Kong filmmaker and martial arts star Sammo Hung served as president of the jury that selected the winners of the 2025 AFAs,...

Japanese actor Koji Yakusho, known for his critically acclaimed performances in films such as Perfect Days and Shall We Dance?, is to receive the lifetime achievement honour at the 18th Asian Film Awards.

The veteran performer will accept the award at the ceremony in Hong Kong on March 16. As part of a schedule of events associated with the awards, he will attend a screening of Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days on March 15. Yakusho’s role in the film, as a public toilet cleaner in Tokyo, won him the best actor award at Cannes in 2023 and the same honour at last year...

Cinema Champion

Veteran Japanese actor Yakusho Koji will be feted with the prestigious lifetime achievement honor at the 18th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. Yakusho, who won best actor at Cannes in 2023 for Wim Wenders‘ “Perfect Days,” becomes the third Japanese recipient of the Afa’s highest accolade, following director Yamada Yoji (2008) and actress Kiki Kirin (2016).

A former civil servant who first ventured into Taiga drama (long-running TV series broadcast by Nhk), then played in several films by Kurosawa Akira, Yakusho became a major 1990s star in Asia as a result of “Shall We Dance?,” in which he portrayed a ball room dancer, and “Lost Paradise.” He also starred in Itami Juzo’s “Tampopo.”

The honor recognizes Yakusho’s four decades of contributions to cinema. The acclaimed performer was nominated four times and has previously nabbed the Afa best actor trophy twice — for “The Blood of Wolves” (2018) and “Perfect Days...

A decades-old unproduced screenplay set during Japan’s 1868-’69 civil war has been dusted off and given thoroughly modern action-movie treatment in Kazuya Shiraishi’s “11 Rebels.” A highly entertaining and highly blood-drenched take on the trusty old tale of crooks and miscreants embarking on a military suicide mission on the promise of being pardoned should they happen to survive, “11 Rebels” has just the right balance of spectacular swordplay, revenge-fueled drama and double-crossing political intrigue.

After opening the Tokyo Film Festival, Shiraishi’s lusty samurai slash-’em-up will march into Japanese cinemas on Nov. 1. A slightly different version of the film has been acquired for North America by specialty distributor Well Go USA. Fans of FX’s smash-hit “Shogun” series should find plenty to like about this handsomely produced tale set in the dying days of feudal Japan. In the broader scope of samurai cinema, it combines the chamber...

Kazuya Shiraishi has emerged as one of the most ‘fun to watch’ Japanese filmmakers in the last decade, with films like “The Blood of Wolves” “Dare to Stop Us” and “Lesson in Murder” taking up a number of the most popular genres of local cinema and reinvigorating them in the most entertaining fashion. “11 Rebels”, which is based on a script written by Kazuo Kasahara in 1964 that got shelved due to Toei Kyoto’s studio head Shigeru Okada not liking the ending, is an attempt to do the same with the jidai-geki.

11 Rebels is screening at Tokyo International Film Festival

The script is based on a historical event that took place during the Boshin war, when the Shibata domain of Niigata betrayed the forces of the shogunate in order to support the Emperor’s army. The instigator of the whole thing in the case of the film is Retainer Mizoguchi,...

Film Movement has acquired North American rights toKazuya Shiraishi’s period samurai drama and Udine Far East Film Festival winner Bushido.

The film also played in official selection at New York Asian Film Festival and will open theatrically in 2025 followed by digital roll-out.

Based on a classic story from the rakugo style of Japanese verbal entertainment, Bushido stars Tsuyoshi Kusanagi as Kakunoshin Yanagida, a down-on-his-luck samurai and master player of the board game Go who seeks revenge on the man who destroyed his life. Kaya Kiyohara, Jun Kunimura, and Takumi Saitoh also star.

Shiraishi’s roster of contemporary action credits...

Kazuya Shiraichi’s 11 Rebels has been acquired by Well Go USA for North America and Splendid Film for German-speaking territories from Japan’s Toei Company, ahead of its world premiere at Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

The samurai action thriller will open the 37th TIFF on October 28 ahead of a theatrical release in Japan through Toei on November 1. Dates have yet to be revealed for its US and German releases.

The film is based on a script by Kazuo Kasahara, the late screenwriter of popular yakuza features such as Battles Without Honor and Humanity who died in 2002, and went unproduced for decades.

Kazuya Shiraishi’s 11 Rebels is set to world premiere as the opening film of the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, which has also set Christophe Honoré’s Marcello Mio as its closing feature.

Based on a previously-unproduced script by late screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara, 11 Rebels is a thriller set in the 19th century and centres on 11 prisoners who are ordered to defend a fortress from the government’s army so their past crimes will be forgiven.

Starring Takayuki Yamada and Taiga Nakano , the screenplay was written by Junya Ikegami based on an original story by Kasahara, known for writing 1970s yakuza...

Kazuya Shiraichi’s 11 Rebels is set to world premiere as the opening film of the 37th Tokyo International Film Festival, which has also set Christophe Honoré’s Marcello Mio as its closing feature.

Based on a previously-unproduced script by late screenwriter Kazuo Kasahara, 11 Rebels is a thriller set in the 19th century and centres on 11 prisoners who are ordered to defend a fortress from the government’s army so their past crimes will be forgiven.

Starring Yamada Takayuki and Nakano Taiga, the screenplay was written by Ikegami Junya based on an original story by Kasahara, known for writing 1970s yakuza...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Ampas) has invited 487 artists and executives to become members, with Sandra Huller, Justin Triet, Celine Song and Da’Vine Joy Randolph among the high profile invitees.

Also invited to join are actors Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Fiona Shaw, directors Alice Diop, David Yates and S S Rajamouli, and writers Arthur Harari and Tony McNamara.

Executives invited to join that branch of the Academy include British Film Institute CEO Ben Roberts and Fifth Season co-CEOs Chris Rice and Graham Taylor.

Among those invited to join the costume designers branch are Holly Waddington and Małgorzata Karpiuk.

Every summer, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences invites a deluge of new members to join its ranks. Since #OscarsSoWhite back in 2015, the Academy has moved away from its elitist tendencies and toward embracing younger and more diverse artists and executives from all over the world. This year’s invited class is no exception.

If the invitees all accept Academy membership, the total members will number 10,910 and voting members 9,934. And with the addition of the 2024 members, 35 percent of Academy members identify as women, 20 percent of Academy members are from underrepresented ethnic and racial communities, and 20 percent of Academy members are from countries or territories outside the U.S.

As usual, a slew of Oscar nominees and winners are gaining admittance to the club (71 Oscar nominees and 19 winners), including actors Lily Gladstone (“Killers of the Flower Moon”), Sandra Hüller, and Da’Vine Joy Randolph (“The Holdovers”), costume designer Holly Waddington...

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Tuesday that it is extending invitations to 487 to join the membership ranks of the Oscar organizer. If all accept, it will bring the Academy’s total membership to 10,910, of which 9,934 would be voting members.

This year’s list across 19 branches include 2024 Oscar winners Da’Vine Joy Randolph from The Holdovers; Poor Things costume designer Holly Waddington and production design team James Price, Shona Heath and Zsuzsa Mihalek; 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov, War Is Over! producer Brad Booker; The Zone of Interest sound duo Tarn Willers and Johnnie Burn; the Godzilla Minus One VFX team Tatsuji Nojima, Kiyoko Shibuya, Masaki Takahashi and Takashi Yamazaki; American Fiction writer-director Cord Jefferson; and Anatomy of a Fall writing duo Justine Triet and Arthur Harari.

Jefferson and Triet are among eight names on the list who were invited to more than one branch (noted...

K2 Pictures, a Japanese production company launched by former Toei producer Muneyuki Kii, is to introduce a new film fund at Cannes and a slate that includes upcoming projects from Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda, acclaimed genre director Takashi Miike and top animation studio Mappa.

The K2P Film Fund I aims to support live-action and animated Japanese features, collaborating with local and international investors from the US, Asia and beyond. Profits from productions will be funnelled back to investors, creators and crew.

Announcing the fund, K2 Pictures revealed it will collaborate with leading Japanese directors and creators on...

Former Toei producer Muneyuki Kim has launched K2 Pictures, which will work with major directors such as Hirokazu Kore-eda and aim to create a new funding ecosystem for Japanese animated and live-action features.

The plan is to return profits that would traditionally go to film companies to investors and creators, which its founder says closely follows approaches used in Hollywood and elsewhere. Creators who team with K2 will be able to participate on projects as shareholders.

Kii, who will be K2’s CEO, says most Japanese films are produced through a system of ‘production committees’ with industry know-how formed through film companies, TV networks and publishers, which it believes makes entry into the market difficult and limits returns to producers and creators.

To this end, company has launched the K2P Film Fund I, which will provide support for animated and live-action features and enable to “investors, creators and crew...

The 17th annual Asian Film Awards (Afa) announced the winners and special award recipients at a ceremony held at the West Kowloon Cultural District's Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong on March 10, 2024. Sixteen competitive prizes and six honorary prizes were given out.

A total of thirty-five films from 24 countries and regions were nominated for 16 prizes at the 17th Afa. From Japan, Ryusuke Hamaguchi 's Evil Does Not Exist received the Best Film Award and Best Original Music (Eiko Ishibashi), marking the second year in a row that Hamaguchi and Ishibashi have received Afa Awards; and Hirokazu Kore-eda won the Best Director Award with Monster, following last year's wins with his Korean film Broker. Koji Yakusho won the Best Actor Award for Perfect Days, his second such Afa Award following his win at the 13th Afa in 2019 for The Blood of Wolves. Perfect Days won the Best Director Award at the Japan...

Opening its doors on Wednesday for its first in-person event since 2019, the Tiffcom content market in Tokyo is celebrating its 20th-anniversary edition in a new venue and with an even more international flavor to its exhibitors.

“In terms of the exhibition area, it is now almost 50-50, compared to 60 percent domestic and 40 percent overseas in 2019,” says Yasushi Shiina, Tiffcom CEO. “The number of visitors from abroad will also increase to more than 280 invitees and more than 1,000 if other overseas visitors are included.”

Running for three days until Oct. 27 across four floors of the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center Hamamatsucho, the market is showcasing film, television and IP from Japan, Asia and across the globe.

Recently renovated, the new venue was the “perfect choice,” given its proximity to the main festival venues and accessibility from major airports and bullet train stations, says Shiina.

Among the more than 320 booths are sizable contingents in pavilions from Cambodia,...

Tiffcom, the film market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival, is set to be more international and more diverse in its first full comeback year after the Covid hiatus. It should also be more pleasant and convenient, having re-located to a more modern venue that is close to the film festival.

“Bringing the in-person market back after four years, my priority was to make sure that Tiffcom could happen during the festival, not some other time,” said Shiina Yasushi, who has headed the market for ten years. “That meant juggling dates, venue choices and budget.” Tokyo’s limited selection of appropriate venues came with other complications such as being in areas with expensive hotels or difficult transport options.

The new venue at the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center in Hamamatsucho, on paper seems ideal. It is a newer building than the old market building in Ikkebukuro, is closer to...

Tiffcom, the rights market that sits alongside the Tokyo International Film Festival, is celebrating its return to an in-person format for the first time since 2019, with a move to another venue and the launch of the new Tokyo Story Market.

The three-day market (Oct. 25-27) will relocate from Ikkebukuro to the Tokyo Metropolitan Industrial Trade Center (aka Hamamatsucho-Kan) in Hamamatsucho district. Organizers say that makes it easily accessible from the airports and Shinkansen stations and puts the market closer to the film festival which relocated in 2021 to the Hibiya-Ginza area.

The Tokyo Story Market will specialize in business negotiations for film and audiovisual adaptations of original works (stories) including manga (Japanese comics) and novels. It is expected to include the participation of leading Japanese publishers including Kadokawa, Kodansha, Shueisha and Shogakukan. The buyers are expected to be audiovisual producers.

The Tokyo Gap Financing Market will be held for the fourth time,...

The financing and development platform at Tiffcom will take place in person for the first time.

The Tokyo Gap-Financing Market (Tgfm) has revealed the 15 projects selected for financing and development at Tiffcom, the content market of Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF).

The 4th edition of Tgfm will take place in-person for the first time from October 25-27, having launched during the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 when all industry activity took place online.

Scroll down for full list of titles

Projects include The Fox King by Malaysia’s Woo Ming Jin, whose revenge thriller Stone Turtle premiered in competition at Locarno in...

Masaya Kakei (Kenshi Okada) is a university student who is dissatisfied with his life and gloomy about his future. He had failed to be accepted into his university of choice. One day, out of the blue, he receives a letter from convicted serial killer Yamato Haimura (Sadao Abe) who is on death row. Yamato once ran a bakery at Masaya’s hometown where the latter, then a middle school student, was a frequent customer. According to the letter, Yamato admits to his actions but insists he did not commit the last murder. Masaya begins to investigate and uncovers the devastating truth.

Directed by Kazuya Shiraishi (The Blood of Wolves and its sequel Last of the Wolves) with a screenplay by Ryo Takada, this psychological suspense thriller is adapted from the 2017 novel “Shikei ni Itaru Yamai” by Riu Kushiki. The film was released in Japan on May 6, 2022.

London-based sales agent Sc Films International has boarded “December,” a Japanese courtroom thriller from India’s Anshul Chauhan whose cast is led by Shogen, star of Brillante Mendoza’s “Gensan Punch.”

Sc Films International will handle international sales outside of Japan on “December,” Chauhan’s follow-up to notable family drama drama “Kontora” which scooped the Grand Prix Prize at the Tallin Black Nights Film Festival. The sales agent plans to launch “December” at May’s Cannes Marché du Film before submitting it to fall festivals, said Sc Films co-founder Simon Crowe.

The sales pact was clinched by Sc Films’ Fumie Suzuki Lancaster and “December” producer Yamashita Takahiro, also behind “Gensan Punch.” It builds on the companies’ partnership on “Gensan Punch” which sold to HBO for the world and scored the top Asian plaudit, the Kim Jiseok Award, at 2021’s Busan Intl. Film Festival.

“Kontora” proved a singular coming of age...

From a futuristic existential animation about androids to a culturally rich documentary delving into the art of ramen-making, the Japanese Film Festival: Online returns from 14-27 February 2022 with a free streamed Festival featuring the best in Japanese cinema.

The 2022 Festival presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney will screen 17 films nation-wide for free, including feature films and documentaries. Jff Online 2022 marks the second time The Japan Foundation, Sydney will screen the festival across Australia to enjoy online.

Japanese Film Festival Director, Yurika Sugie said:

“Jff Online invites Australian audiences to celebrate the richness of Japanese cinema from the comfort of their own homes, with an eclectic virtual program traversing the hottest new international film festival award-winners, past Jff favourites and cult hits.”

Japanese Film Festival Programmer, Susan Bui said:

“Enjoy cutting-edge titles from Japan’s finest auteurs in tandem with Japanophiles from 25 countries world-wide as part of this exciting global initiative.

Japanese film sellers are once again out in force at Tiffcom, which is completely online for the second year in a row. Buyers will find much familiar from the Busan market, but new titles are on offer as well.

Nikkatsu

Japan’s oldest continuously operated studio, Nikkatsu is bringing Matsui Daigo’s “Just Remembering,” a romantic drama selected for the TIFF competition. Ito Sairi and Ikematsu Soksuke star as a couple on the verge of a break-up who reminisce about better days. Matsui’s original script was inspired by the Jim Jarmusch classic “Night on the Planet.”

Also, on offer is the other Japanese competition title, “Third Time Lucky.” The film is the directorial debut of Nohara Tadashi, a scriptwriter whose credits include Hamaguchi Ryusuke’s 2015 ensemble drama “Happy Hour” and Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s WWII thriller “Wife of a Spy.” Kawamura Rira, who also appeared in “Happy Hour,” stars as...

This year’s festival will highlight in-person programming at Film at Lincoln Center and Sva Theatre, featuring over 60 world, international, and North American premieres, with many selections also available virtually to fans of Asian cinema across the country.

On August 6, 2021, the New York Asian Film Foundation and Film at Lincoln Center will kick off the 20th edition of the New York Asian Film Festival (Nyaff), a hybrid event with Nyaff’s largest film lineup to date. The Festival will screen over 60 films, both virtually and in person, to audiences in New York and across the country from August 6 – 22, 2021.

Nyaff’s 2021 lineup will include two world premieres, six international premieres, 29 North American premieres, eight U.S. premieres, and nine New York premieres, showcasing the most exciting action, comedy, drama, thriller, romance, horror, and art-house films from East Asia.

Following an unprecedented year in which Covid-19 and increased violence against the Asian...

The last 10 years have seen director Kazuya Shiraishi rapidly becoming a household name of Japanese cinema. A director who challenges himself with a variety of genres, from crime thriller ”The Devil’s Path”, to the Roman porno reboot “Dawn of the Felines”, from the traditional Yakuza movie “The Blood of Wolves” to the docudrama “Dare to Stop Us”, a film particularly dear to him. Shiraishi in fact worked for Wakamatsu’s production company in the final years, often daydreaming – as he confessed in an interview – about the militant and hyperactive times of the master’s early prolific career. He is also a regular friend of Udine Far East Film Festival and this year he is present for the forth time with his latest effort “One Night”, a layered exploration of a family shattered by guilt and grudge, trying to come to terms with the consequences of violence.

One Night is...

Naoko Ogigami has been appointed head of Skip City’s Japanese Film Competition juries.

Japanese filmmaker Takashi Miike will head the jury for the International Competition at this year’s Skip City International D-Cinema Festival (July 13-21).

Naoko Ogigami has been appointed head of Skip City’s Japanese Film Competition juries, which includes sections for features and short films.

Miike’s latest film, First Love, co-produced by Toei and the UK’s Recorded Picture Company, premiered at Cannes last week in the Directors Fortnight section. Ogigami has credits including Close-Knit (2017), which won a Teddy Award and Panorama Audience Award at the Berlin film festival.

Centrepiece Highlight

World Premiere of “Dance With Me”

Director Shinobu Yaguchi, Lead Actress Ayaka Miyoshi in attendance

Opening Night

North American Premiere of Masayuki Suzuki’s mystery thriller, “Masquerade Hotel“

Special Guests:

Star of “Love’s Twisting Path” – Mikako Tabe

Director of award-winning “Born Bone Born” – Comedian Toshiyuki Teruya “Gori”

Director Tatsushi Omori – “When My Mom Died, I Wanted to Eat Her Ashes” and “Every Day a Good Day”

Star of “The Gambler’s Odyssey 2020” – Takumi Saitoh

The samurai, of the cinematic variety, are set to descend on Toronto this summer. They are joined by reluctant sake brewers, yakuza assassins, tea ceremony sages, deadly mahjong-playing robots, dashing hotel detectives, and calculating masters of “corporate kabuki”.

Now in its eighth year, the 2019 Toronto Japanese Film Festival brings Toronto audiences 28 of the finest contemporary Japanese films recognized for excellence by Japanese audiences and critics, international film festival audiences and the Japanese Film Academy.

During the latest years, Kazuya Shiraishi has emerged as one of the prominent names of the “entertaining” Japanese film, with works like “The Blood of Wolves” and “Birds Without Names” among others. This tendency of his continues in “Dare to Stop Us”, a rather appealing look at the work of Koji Wakamatsu (Shiraishi actually worked for his production company), through the eyes of an almost completely unknown assistant, Megumi Yoshizumi.

“Dare to Stop Us” is screening atUdine Far East Film Festival

The story begins in 1969, when Megumi, 21-year old at the time, manages to get to Wakamatsu’s “family” as assistant director, through a common acquaintance known as the Spook. While there (with there meaning an office where everyone gatheres to organize their movies), she meets a number of “figures” except the eccentric Wakamatsu, including Masao Adachi, Haruhiko Arai and Kenji Takama, who eventually becomes a love interest. At the beginning,...

During the latest years, Kazuya Shiraishi has emerged as one of the prominent names of the “entertaining” Japanese film, with works like “The Blood of Wolves” and “Birds Without Names” among others. This tendency of his continues in “Dare to Stop Us”, a rather appealing look to the work of Koji Wakamatsu (Shiraishi actually worked for his production company), through the eyes of an almost completely unknown assistant, Megumi Yoshizumi.

“Dare to Stop Us” screened at Helsinki Cine Aasia 2019

The story begins in 1969, when Megumi, 21-year old at the time, manages to get to Wakamatsu’s family as assistant director, through a common acquaintance known as the Spook. While there (with there meaning an office where everyone gathered to organize their movies), she meets a number of “figures” except the eccentric Wakamatsu, including Masao Adachi, Haruhiko Arai and Kenji Takama who eventually becomes a love interest. At the beginning, Wakamatsu ignores her,...

It was another successful night for Hirokazu Koreeda’s “Shoplifters“, which won Best Picture at the 13th Asian Film Awards, beating the likes of Lee Chang-dong’s critically acclaimed “Burning” and the hugely successful Chinese film “Dying to Survive” to the prize. The film also won Best Original Music for Haroumi Hosono’s wonderful music.

Director Lee Chang-dong, who returned with “Burning” after an eight years’ absence, was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award. He was also awarded Best Director on the night for “Burning”.

The Best Actor/Actress Awards were evenly shared between productions of different countries, with Koji Yakusho replicating his win at the Japan Academy Awards with a Best Actor win for “The Blood of Wolves“, Zhang Yu winning Best Supporting Actor for the Chinese film “Dying to Survive”, Samal Yeslyamova winning Best Actress for the Russian-German-Polish-Kazakh-Chinese joint production “Ayka” and Kara Hui winning Best Supporting Actress for...

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film also took best original music, while Zhang Yimou’s Shadow won four awards in technical categories.

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters won best film at this year’s Asian Film Awards (March 17), although Zhang Yimou’s Shadow took home the biggest haul of prizes with four awards in the technical categories.

Shoplifters was also presented with the award for best original music for its score by Haruomi Hosono.

Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong took best director for Burning and was also presented with the lifetime achievement award. Japan’s Koji Yakusho won best actor for The Blood Of Wolves...

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s film also took best original music, while Zhang Yimou’s Shadow won four awards in technical categories.

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters won best film at this year’s Asian Film Awards (March 17), although Zhang Yimou’s Shadow took home the biggest haul of prizes with four awards in the technical categories.

Shoplifters was also presented with the award for best original music for its score by Haruomi Hosono.

Korean filmmaker Lee Chang-dong took best director for Burning and was also presented with the lifetime achievement award. Japan’s Koji Yakusho won best actor for The Blood Of Wolves...

Shadow, by China’s fifth generation heavyweight Zhang Yimou, topped the list of victors at the 13th Asian Film Awards (Afa) with four wins, all in the technical categories.

The awards were otherwise rather evenly distributed with no clean sweep.

The visually stunning martial arts epic Shadow won best cinematography, costume design, production design and sound.

Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Cannes winner Shoplifters took home the best film award. South Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award this year, was named best director with Burning.

The best actor award went to Japanese thespian Koji Yakusho for The Blood of Wolves; he ...

Shadow, by China’s fifth generation heavyweight Zhang Yimou, topped the list of victors at the 13th Asian Film Awards (Afa) with four wins, all in the technical categories.

The awards were otherwise rather evenly distributed with no clean sweep.

The visually stunning martial arts epic Shadow won best cinematography, costume design, production design and sound.

Japanese master Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Cannes winner Shoplifters took home the best film award. South Korean auteur Lee Chang-dong, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award this year, was named best director with Burning.

The best actor award went to Japanese thespian Koji Yakusho for The Blood of Wolves; he ...

“Shoplifters” and “Burning” were the big winners at the 13th Asian Film Awards, with Hirokazu Kore-eda’s family drama winning Best Picture and Lee Chang-dong being named Best Director for his cerebral thriller. “Shadow” led all films by taking home four prizes, with Zhang Yimou’s epic period piece winning four technical awards: Best Production Design, Best Costume Design, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing.

Samal Yeslyamova received Best Actress laurels for her performance in “Ayka,” just as she did at Cannes last year, with “The Blood of Wolves” star Yakusho Kōji joining her as Best Actor. “Burning” only left the ceremony with one of the eight prizes for which it was nominated, but Lee received a Lifetime Achievement award as well. Full list of winners:

Best Picture

“Shoplifters”

Best Director

Lee Chang-dong, “Burning”

Best Actor

Yakusho Kōji, “The Blood of Wolves”

Best Actress

Samal Yeslyamova, “Ayka”

Best Supporting Actor

Zhang Yu,...

Zhang Yimou’s highly stylized period epic “Shadow” was the numerical winner at Sunday’s Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. It bagged four technical awards. But the major prizes went to Japanese and Korean filmmakers.

Kore-eda Hirokazu’s “Shoplifters,” a Japanese drama about a family surviving on shoplifting, was named best picture. The film had been the surprise Palme d’Or winner at the Cannes festival last year, but has since won wide acclaim and achieved record scores at the Japanese and Chinese box office.“Shoplifters” also won best original music with Japanese music pioneer Hosono Haruomi’s score.

South Korean director Lee Chang-dong won the best director prize for the psychological drama “Burning”, which Lee also co-wrote as an adaptation of a Murakami Haruki short story. Going into the ceremony, “Burning” was the favorite, having been nominated in eight categories. Lee was also presented with a lifetime achievement award,...

It was a good day for both Hirokazu Koreeda’s Palme d’Or winner “Shoplifters” as well as Kazuya Shiraishi’s crime thriller “The Blood of Wolves” who both managed to clean up at the 42nd Japan Academy Awards.

For a second year running, a Koreeda film managed to win most awards on the night, with “Shoplifters” picking up a total of eight awards.

The other big winner of the night was “The Blood of Wolves”, which, despite fierce competition in most of the categories in won in from Shoplifters” and others, managed to pick up an impressive four awards, including two for its male leading duo. The other two films to get a look-in were Mamoru Hosoda’s “Mirai” and Shinichiru Ueda’s “One Cut of the Dead“.

Check out all the winners below:s

Best Film: Shoplifters (Hirokazu Koreeda)

Best Animated Film: Mirai (Mamoru Hosoda)

Best Director: Hirokazu Koreeda...

Lee Chang-dong’s Cannes hit Burning scored the most nominations for the 2019 Asian Film Awards. The Korean mystery-drama was nominated for eight awards, including best film. Scroll down for nominations in major categories.

Other best film nominees were Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Shoplifters, Pema Tseden’s Jinpa, Wen Muye’s Dying To Survive, and Rajkumar Hirani’s Sanju. The nominations were announced in Hong Kong on Friday afternoon. The winners will be revealed at a ceremony in the same city on Sunday, March 17.

Cannes Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters, Sanju, and Zhang Yimou’s Shadow each garnered six nominations. Kore-eda’s acclaimed drama also won the top film prize at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards in November.

In Burning, Jong-su bumps into a girl who used to live in the same neighborhood as him, who asks him to look after her cat while on a trip to Africa. When back, she introduces Ben,...

After dealing with the Roman Porno Reboot, doing the same with the Yakuza film was the reasonable path for Kazuya Shiraishi, whose career seems to be picking up during the last few years, with productions like “Twisted Justice”, “The Devil’s Path”, and “Birds Without Names”. Furthermore, his approach toward the Yakuza film, with a combination of Kinji Fukasaku’s aesthetics as dictated in the “Yakuza Papers” and the style of “Training Day”, seems to be the way for the genre to go from now on. Let us take things from the beginning though.

“The Blood of Wolves” is screening at Five Flavours Festival

The script is based on the novel “Korou no Chi” by Yuko Yuzuki and is set in 1988 in Hiroshima, prior to the enactment of the anti-organized crime law. Shuichi Hioka is the new guy in the East Kurehara precinct and is partnered up with Detective Shogo Ogami,...

“Once more, with feeling,” hollers a sadist mobster in the opening scene of The Blood of Wolves as he readies to saw off yet another finger from his victim. But the words might serve as a concise description of Kazuya Shiraishi’s gangster movie. The Blood of Wolves takes its cues from a staple in Japanese cinema – the yakuza flick as embodied by the legendary Battles Without Honor and Humanity series (1973-76), with which the film shares the same geographical setting of Hiroshima – but then runs with it by dialing up the melodrama and visceral gore, while offering ...

“Once more, with feeling,” hollers a sadist mobster in the opening scene of The Blood of Wolves as he readies to saw off yet another finger from his victim. But the words might serve as a concise description of Kazuya Shiraishi’s gangster movie. The Blood of Wolves takes its cues from a staple in Japanese cinema – the yakuza flick as embodied by the legendary Battles Without Honor and Humanity series (1973-76), with which the film shares the same geographical setting of Hiroshima – but then runs with it by dialing up the melodrama and visceral gore, while offering ...

Five Flavours Asian Film Festival is a yearly review of the cinema of East, Southeast, and South Asia. For the 12th time, the Festival presents a meticulous selection of films from the region – auteur projects, avant-garde animations, classics from the film archives, local blockbusters, and Asian Film Awards-winning genre cinema.

The majority of the films will be screened in Poland for the first time. For five of them, the festival screening will be their European premiere. Asian filmmakers will visit the festival and join us for Q&A sessions, providing the titles presented with additional context.

In Asian cinemas, the year 2018 is marked by a variety of auteur projects by renown directors, classic genre cinema, and blockbusters gaining momentum in world-wide box offices. At the same time, a new generation of filmmakers is on the rise – their films already gain visibility and receive awards at international festivals.

The program of...

Oahunov Nov 8-18, 2018

Kauainov Nov 15-18, 2018

Big Island & Maui Nov 29 -Dec 2, 2018

The 38th Hawaii International Film Festival is about to start and to continue the festival’s proud tradition of showcasing content and creatives from the Pacific, Asia and North America.

The festival this year features over 180 films, talks and events from 37 countries, with 47 Us, International and World Premieres across 32 sections. 2018 continues the tradition of programming a selection of critically-acclaimed and highly-anticipated films from Asia and around the world, while also giving a platform from emerging creative talents from across the Hawaii-Pacific region.

Outstanding films are accompanied by stars and filmmakers from around the world, connecting East and West through a dedication to discussion, diversity and creativity.

We have picked the Asian titles in the Programme and they are a lot!

Let’s have a look:

Shadow – Opening Night Film

China 2018 – Director: Zhang Yimou

50 First Kisses

Spotlight On Japan – Japan...

Japanese director Naruse Kiyoto pokes hole in screen with prop sword while re-enacting scene from Night Of The Dead Geisha.

This year’s Bucheon International Film Festival (Bifan) presented its top prize, the Best of Bucheon Award, to Coralie Fargeat’s France-uk co-production Revenge. The award comes with a cash prize of $17,620 (KW20m).

Bifan (July 12-22) held its awards and closing ceremony on Friday night (July 20) followed by two more days of encore screenings.

“The Bucheon Choice: Features international jury comprised actress Barbara Crampton, director Byun Young-joo, scriptwriter Takahashi Hiroshi, Edinburgh film festival artistic director Mark Adams, and actor Kim Kang-woo.

The Japanese films in this year’s edition of the New York Asian Film Festival are typically eclectic and mostly accomplished, ranging from fresh takes on period films, dark and often disturbing depictions of high school life, to bold takes on genre films. In this fest dispatch, I consider a few notable selections. ----- "Art is an explosion." This is the faux-profound and mockingly pretentious mantra repeated in voiceover by Akira Suei (Tasuku Emoto), the subject of Nyaff opener Dynamite Graffiti,(top), Masanori Tominaga's lengthy biopic of Suei, the notorious porn-mag publisher whose publications - with such innocuous titles as Weekend Super, New Self, and Photo Age - were ubiquitous...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The program of the 18th Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection in Frankfurt am Main is complete! From May 29 to June 3, 2018 the audience can discover more than 100 new short and feature films at the biggest festival for Japanese film worldwide – from blockbusters and anime to independent and documentary films. Almost all of the films will be presented as German, European- international, or world premieres. A diverse supporting program provides about 50 exciting cultural activities apart from the cinema. Numerous Japanese filmmakers, musicians, and artists will be our guests at the festival. As the guest of honor, renowned actress Shinobu Terajima will receive the Nippon Honor Award 2018. The events will take place at the festival centers at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and Theater Willy Praml in der Naxoshalle as well as four additional locations in Frankfurt am Main.

Nippon Cinema

Once more, many stars of the Japanese film scene will be expected to present...