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Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Apr 4, 2022

'Moonlight Shadow' director Edmund Yeo praises the Japanese work ethic and the dedication of producers

Though filmmaking is not a particularly popular career path in Malaysia, Edmund Yeo still managed to follow his dream of being a director.
CULTURE / Film
Feb 11, 2022

Oscars nod launches director Ryusuke Hamaguchi into the global spotlight

Ryusuke Hamaguchi landed four major Oscar nominations this week, a phenomenal achievement for a filmmaker who is still really just hitting his stride.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 25, 2021

Director Kentaro brings an auteur’s touch to a soulful road movie

The 'Under the Turquoise Sky' director mixes realism, fantasy and comedy in his visually stirring feature debut about a Japanese man who goes on a journey of self-discovery in Mongolia.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 24, 2019

Ang Lee: The filmmaker decades ahead of his time

Filmmaker Ang Lee has dedicated himself to filming in high-resolution and 3D, techniques that most cinemas are not yet equipped to handle
Japan Times
CULTURE
Oct 20, 2018

Japonismes 2018 seeks to break down cultural stereotypes

A stupendous full autumn moon, bright orange and fat, flashes intermittently between the nondescript high-rise flats and offices on the drive to Charles de Gaulle Airport. It's an apt and beautiful reminder of one of the events that we, a group of Tokyo-based editors and writers, were invited to see...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 18, 2018

Your guide to our Japanese film picks at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival

The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) offers fans a rare chance to see dozens of new and classic Japanese films with English subtitles on the big screen. Among my own picks for the event's 31st edition:
Japan Times
COMMUNITY / Our Lives / WHY DID YOU LEAVE JAPAN?
Apr 8, 2017

Shinsuke Fujimoto makes his mark in the Korean film industry

Shinsuke Fujimoto is a rarity in the booming South Korean film industry. Despite having no connections in the local movie scene, the Ishikawa Prefecture native flew to Seoul straight after graduating college and has managed to make a living working on various film sets for over a decade.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Mar 1, 2017

Binge on the best of the Italian neorealists

Even a casual film buff knows that "Bicycle Thieves," the 1948 black-and-white film by Vittorio De Sica, is regarded as one of The Great Films of All Time. It's the best-known film by far of Italian cinema's postwar neorealist movement, but those who wish to delve deeper into that rich vein can binge...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 20, 2017

'Your Name.' to be released with English subtitles

Makoto Shinkai's animated film "Your Name." continues to win over audiences in Asia, and now has its sights set on dominating North America, too.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 9, 2016

Japanese films dive deep at TIFF, but surface without major awards

The Japanese films at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival were a varied lot, from the multiplex fare in the Special Screenings and Japan Now sections to the indies in the Japanese Cinema Splash, Competition and Asian Future sections.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Art
Jun 28, 2016

Admiring the tarnished silver screen

Old chewing gum, cheap carpet sticky from spilled drinks, sagging seats pitted with cigarette burns: Satoshi Chuma's photographs of old cinemas on show at the National Film Center are fantastically evocative of the decline and fall of celluloid.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Dec 23, 2015

Top 10 films of 2015: Like finding a needle in a haystack

Finding alternatives in 2015 to big-budget blockbusters and beard-stroking festival films wasn't easyIt has been a lean year. All too often, it felt like you had seen the movies of 2015 before — each new release seemed to be the shadow of a shadow of an original idea. You could see it popcorn flicks...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 7, 2015

Asia's most important film festival reasserts its independence

Celebrating its 20th year, the 2015 edition of the Busan International Film Festival, held in South Korea's southern port city from Oct. 1 to 10, has a lot to brag about, as it has definitely become the most important film festival in Asia in terms of the quality of its programming, the size and reach...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 8, 2014

iNumber Number: 'Reeks of blood, mud and sweat'

"iNumber Number" is the final film in the World Extreme Cinema (WEC) event at the Human Trust Cinema Shibuya, in Tokyo, and suffice to say, it takes the "hit me on a gut level" statement to a new dimension. WEC was designed to showcase raw talent from the world's indie scene — prepare to be shocked....
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jul 2, 2014

Babylon still trembles at Jamaica's cult classic

Flashback: It's midnight at the Orson Welles Cinema, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1980. Perry Henzell's breakthrough Jamaican film "The Harder They Come" has been playing here every weekend for nearly a decade now, but tonight it's still a full house. As the lights go down, the audience sparks up, and within...
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 31, 2013

Bollywood bigwigs hope Japan fans are in it for keeps

In the 1990s, one of the most popular foreign movie stars in Japan was an Indian actor named Rajinikanth, who appeared in films made for India's Tamil-speaking southern region.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Sep 28, 2012

Food-themed festival serves up tasty films to chew on

Cinephile foodies, rejoice: The Tokyo Gohan Film Festival kicks off Oct. 6 and runs through Oct. 21. Now in its third year — and with a spinoff event in Osaka held Oct. 6-14 — it's a showcase of films all related to food. Not just one, lonesome movie such as "Dinner Rush" (though that's included...
EDITORIALS
Sep 5, 2012

Cinemas going digital

Japan's cinema world is now undergoing its greatest transformation since the introduction of "talkie" and color films. It has been learned recently that 10 major cinema complex firms, which cover some 70 percent of the roughly 3,300 movie screens in Japan, are expected to complete the introduction of...
Daihachi Yoshida receives the Tokyo Grand Prix award for his film, “Teki Cometh,” at the closing ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival on Nov. 6.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 8, 2024

Festival glory for a dark Japanese comedy

With sold-out screenings, international stars and an increase in guests, this year's Tokyo International Film Festival revived its rep as a global cinematic gathering.
Filmmaker David Lynch at his Hollywood Hills home in Los Angeles in 2002. The painter turned avant-garde film artist, whose fame, influence and distinctively skewed worldview extended far beyond the movie screen, died on Thursday at 78.
CULTURE / Film
Jan 17, 2025

David Lynch, maker of florid and unnerving films, dies at 78

A painter turned artist whose films included “Eraserhead,” “Blue Velvet” and “Mulholland Drive,” Lynch also brought his visionary view to the small screen with “Twin Peaks.”
Masao Adachi’s “Escape” is a fictionalized biopic about fugitive Satoshi Kirishima, played by Rairu Sugita (left) and Kanji Furutachi (right).
CULTURE / Film
Mar 13, 2025

‘Escape’: Masao Adachi’s fugitive biopic salutes a kindred spirit

The 85-year-old director keeps his revolutionary fire burning with a respectful portrait of a wanted terrorist who spent nearly half a century on the run.
Two teenagers stand in front of a poster for "Jumbo" at a cinema in Bekasi, West Java.
CULTURE / Film
May 8, 2025

'Jumbo': the animated Indonesian film smashing records

A hit at home, Indonesian cinema watchers are hoping the family-friendly movie will appeal to neighboring countries and markets farther abroad.
The cast and crew of Indian drama film "All We Imagine As Light" pose with their award for best film at the 18th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong on March 16.
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2025

Women fight for the spotlight in India's macho movie industry

Women filmmakers in India are reshaping cinema with authentic, female-led stories, challenging outdated stereotypes and finding box office success.
Director Jafar Panahi, Palme d'Or award winner for the film "Un simple accident" ("It Was Just an Accident"), poses  during a photocall after the closing ceremony of the 78th Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 25, 2025

Iranian filmmaker Panahi urges 'freedom' as he wins top prize at Cannes

The dissident filmmaker's "Un Simple Accident" tells the tale of five Iranians confronted with a man they believed tortured them in jail.
Activists, filmmakers and survivors attend a symposium in Tokyo marking 60 years since the discovery of Niigata Minamata disease.
CULTURE / Film
Jun 11, 2025

Film symposium marks 60 years since Niigata Minamata disease outbreak

The disease caused by mercury poisoning was documented in such films as “Fighting Pollution” and “Minamata Mandala.”
Asuna Yanagi (right, with Misa Tsugawa) plays a high-school student who gets hooked on classic cinema in “Rainy Blue,” a coming-of-age tale that she also wrote, edited and directed.
CULTURE / Film
Jul 24, 2025

‘Rainy Blue’: Behind-the-scenes drama tarnishes an intriguing debut

Made while she was still a teen, Asuna Yanagi’s coming-of-age tale blurs the lines between life, fiction and cinephile obsession.
The previous award ceremony
ESG CONSORTIUM
Aug 25, 2025

Yamagata film festival to gather documentaries from around world

This year’s YIDFF International Competition received 1,318 entries from 129 countries. Fifteen of them will be screened during the festival, competing for five awards.
Park Chan-wook (center) attended the Busan International Film Festival opening ceremony with “No Other Choice" cast members on Wednesday.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 19, 2025

Park Chan-wook’s sharp satire ‘No Other Choice’ opens Busan festival

The director's socially charged murder-comedy made its Asian premiere at the film festival on Wednesday.
Director Junji Sakamoto (left) walked the Tokyo International Film Festival red carpet with Sayuri Yoshinaga (center) and Non (right), who both play mountaineer Junko Tabei, the first woman to summit Mount Everest, in the biopic "Climbing for Life."
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Oct 28, 2025

Tokyo Film Festival opens with global stars and a spotlight on Asian storytelling

From Juliette Binoche’s directorial debut to Paul Schrader’s Mishima biopic, this year’s festival celebrates cross-cultural creativity.
Pen-ek Ratanaruang's "Morte Cucina," starring Bella Boonsang, is a food film par excellence.
CULTURE / Film
Nov 6, 2025

Asian auteurs stole the show at this year's TIFF

Zhang Lu and Pen-ek Ratanaruang delivered standout entries at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.

Longform

Once smoky, male-dominated spaces, today's net cafes, like Kaikatsu Club, are working to make their operations more attractive to women customers.
The second life of Japan's net cafes