Tag - film-festival

 
 

FILM FESTIVAL

Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 21, 2015
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia searches for that 1-in-5,000 movie
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia director Seigo Tono has been with the event since its second edition in 2000, when it was called the American Short Shorts Film Festival and showed only U.S. films. Since then it has evolved into what Tono describes as "a global event, featuring cutting-edge shorts from around the world."
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
May 13, 2015
Sign of the times as yakuza classic gets kudos at Cannes
In the early 2000s, when I was writing a book about yakuza movies, veterans of the genre's 1960s and '70s heyday I met had a fierce pride in their work but no illusions about its low ranking in the film-world hierarchy. In particular, the Toei studio's films about sword-swinging or gun-toting gangsters had long been conspicuous by their absence from festival circuit lineups and the awards season prize lists.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film / Wide Angle
Apr 22, 2015
The Zushi Beach Film Festival resists the ban on loud music and tattoos
Zushi Beach — a popular getaway for people seeking to escape Tokyo's stifling summer heat — may have banned "loud" music, tattoos and barbecues, but hey, at least it still has a film festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Mar 18, 2015
Is Asian cinema caught in a festival feeding frenzy?
On March 5, tickets went on sale for Joe Hisaishi's concert at a 1,200-seat theater in Udine, Italy — and they were sold out in less than a week. In Japan, where Hisaishi is well known as a composer for his soundtracks to films by Hayao Miyazaki, Takeshi Kitano and many others, this rush for tickets would be expected. But for a town in Italy's northeast with a population of 100,000 it's completely out of the ordinary.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Feb 5, 2015
Film festival gives a lesson on the world of night school
The world of night school in Japan is so detached from mainstream society that many people are clueless as to the role it plays.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Jan 15, 2015
Documentary festival delivers an encore to Tokyo audiences
Last November, Japan Times film critic Kaori Shoji predicted that the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival's (YIDFF) program of screenings would slant toward sociopolitical analysis, focusing on substance over style. Audiences must have welcomed this weighty exposition of the documentary format, as the success of December's lineup — dubbed the "Documentary Dream Show" — has prompted an encore, with selected repeat screenings taking place at K's Cinema in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward over the course of the month.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 26, 2014
Documentaries at the margins of modern life
There is no film festival in Japan quite like the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF).
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 19, 2014
Filmex brings art and brutality to Tokyo cinemas
Now in its 15th edition, Tokyo Filmex is Japan's leading art-over-commerce festival, offering a lineup packed with films screened earlier this year at major festivals around the world, while disdaining the glitz and glamour of the recently ended Tokyo International Film Festival. The Filmex guest list, though, typically includes well-known names from world cinema.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 13, 2014
Film fest fans can get a fix at any number of events this month
The Tokyo International Film Festival may be finished, but movie buffs still have a lot of choices for festivals this month.
Japan Times
JAPAN / Media
Oct 17, 2014
BIFF 2014 plays down unavoidable controversies
The biggest event of the year for South Korea's film industry is the opening night of the Busan International Film Festival (BIFF), which marked its 19th year Oct. 2 to 11. Whether or not they have films screening at the festival, almost all the major Korean movie stars show up and strut the red carpet to the screams of fans lucky enough to get tickets. But there was one notable absence this year.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 2, 2014
Film festival hopes to present refugees as more than just victims
From Syria to Afghanistan to South Sudan, conflict this year has pushed the number of people seeking refuge around the world to numbers not seen since World War II.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Entertainment news
Sep 2, 2014
Sayuri Yoshinaga's film wins prize at Montreal festival
The movie "Fushigi Na Misaki No Monogatari" ("Cape Nostalgia") starring veteran actress Sayuri Yoshinaga has won the Special Grand Prix at the Montreal World Film Festival.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 29, 2014
Short-film festival offers flicks for free
Short films are today both everywhere but nowhere, even for many who consider themselves film fans.
CULTURE / Entertainment news
May 23, 2014
Director Hirayanagi bags student award at Cannes
Atsuko Hirayanagi's graduation film from the Singapore branch of a New York school was selected for second prize in the Cinefondation student film division of the 2014 Cannes Film Festival on Thursday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
May 9, 2014
Asia's myriad film genres celebrated at Udine festival
Why go to a film festival that specializes in the sort of popular Asian genres — from Hong Kong actioners to South Korean comedies — that the other "better" sort of festivals have traditionally sniffed at?
Japan Times
Events / Events In Tokyo
Mar 20, 2014
Film festival highlights the ongoing plight of Tohoku
Arts Chiyoda 3331 in Tokyo is currently hosting a 3/11 Movie Festival featuring documentaries that focus on the aftermath of the March 11, 2011, quake as well as talks by some of those involved in the recovery efforts in the Tohoku region.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Feb 16, 2014
Haru Kuroki scoops best actress award at 64th Berlin film festival
Haru Kuroki takes the Silver Bear at the 64th Berlin International Film Festival for her part in Yoji Yamada's “The Little House.”
JAPAN
Feb 13, 2014
Director pulls Airin film, alleges Osaka censorship
Film director Shingo Ota has pulled his movie about the Airin day-laborer district in the city of Osaka from next month's Osaka Asian Film Festival after the city requested that he edit some scenes depicting the poverty-stricken area, sources said Wednesday.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Nov 7, 2013
Money, censorship and the future of Asian cinema
Flitting around Roppongi Hills during the week of the Tokyo International Film Festival, you get to meet and chat with any number of interesting people, but one of the better conversations I had was sitting down for coffee with Jacob Wong, curator of the Hong Kong International Film Festival, held each year in late March and early April.
Japan Times
CULTURE / Film
Oct 12, 2013
Busan is still Asia's film-fest gem, but its sparkle is fading
During the Q&A session after the screening of his new film "Stray Dogs" at the 18th Busan International Film Festival, which ran Oct. 3-12, Taiwanese director Tsai Ming-liang mentioned that not only was his previous film not distributed in South Korea, it wasn't even shown at BIFF. Tsai was one of the pioneering Asian film artists of the 1990s, and his gregarious personality used to be a fixture at the festival. He wasn't being critical of BIFF for ignoring him, just acknowledging how different the situation is now.

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