The quality of Asian short films have been increasing exponentially during the last few years, with the necessity to cut down on production size due to Covid actually giving a number of directors the opportunity to shine in the format. Shorts Shorts Film Festival and Asia highlights the fact with an impressive selection for their 20th anniversary, with one of the dominant trends of this year having Japanese actors directing their own films, with Kengo Kora and Hiroshi Tamaki being two among a number. Our coverage of the festival includes a number of reviews and interviews, beginning with one with the director of Ssff & Asia, which sheds a very thorough light to a number of details regarding how the whole thing works.
Click on the titles for the full articles.
1. Amp Video Interviews: Shoko Takegasa
2. Short Film Review: Courier (2023) by Kengo Kora
To begin with, the thing the viewer will...
Click on the titles for the full articles.
1. Amp Video Interviews: Shoko Takegasa
2. Short Film Review: Courier (2023) by Kengo Kora
To begin with, the thing the viewer will...
- 6/27/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Following a series of TV dramas and features, Momoko Fukuda returned to the short format, adapting the homonymous, feminist novel by Kanako Nishi.
You Are Lit is screening at Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia
The 25 minute short begins with two young women, Nashida and Hamanaka, dancing wildly in the street, repeatedly showing their unshaved armpits to the crowd that surrounds them, watching them dance and cheering. The story then takes a step backwards, some time before, with the two soaking in a public bathhouse, while commenting on the patriarchy that dominates Japan, by stating facts as female representation among the political body. After going to a comedy show where one of the male members of the group is mocked for his appearance, and after witnessing a girl in a company of four in a restaurant being criticized first for never having a boyfriend and then for stating she had a girlfriend once,...
You Are Lit is screening at Short Shorts Film Festival and Asia
The 25 minute short begins with two young women, Nashida and Hamanaka, dancing wildly in the street, repeatedly showing their unshaved armpits to the crowd that surrounds them, watching them dance and cheering. The story then takes a step backwards, some time before, with the two soaking in a public bathhouse, while commenting on the patriarchy that dominates Japan, by stating facts as female representation among the political body. After going to a comedy show where one of the male members of the group is mocked for his appearance, and after witnessing a girl in a company of four in a restaurant being criticized first for never having a boyfriend and then for stating she had a girlfriend once,...
- 6/25/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
Asian Pop-Up Cinema: Season 14 will present 28 films in downtown Chicago and the north suburbs, with select films available for online streaming. The joint virtual and in-person festival opens March 13 and runs through April 10.
The diverse lineup celebrates the best of Asian cinema from South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Taiwan. Programming highlights include work from female filmmakers and an in-person special guest appearance from Sunday LEAGUEdirector Yi Sung-il.
Season 14 opens with the Midwest Premiere of Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness (AMC Niles 12) from director Im Sang-soo. Korean stars Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) and Park Hae-il (War of the Arrows) lead this crime comedy as two terminally ill men on one last, unexpected journey of their lives. The international premiere of sports comedy Sunday League will follow, a heartwarming story of a former rising soccer star who reluctantly coaches a ragtag team of amateur players. Writer/director Yi is...
The diverse lineup celebrates the best of Asian cinema from South Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, the Philippines and Taiwan. Programming highlights include work from female filmmakers and an in-person special guest appearance from Sunday LEAGUEdirector Yi Sung-il.
Season 14 opens with the Midwest Premiere of Heaven: To The Land Of Happiness (AMC Niles 12) from director Im Sang-soo. Korean stars Choi Min-sik (Oldboy) and Park Hae-il (War of the Arrows) lead this crime comedy as two terminally ill men on one last, unexpected journey of their lives. The international premiere of sports comedy Sunday League will follow, a heartwarming story of a former rising soccer star who reluctantly coaches a ragtag team of amateur players. Writer/director Yi is...
- 3/4/2022
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Apart from a director, Momoko Fukuda is also a very successful novelist, having won the Subaru Literally Prize. In “My Name is Yours”, she combines these two capacities, adapting two of her novellas in a film that tells the story of five, rather complicated highschool students.
My Name is Yours is screening at Camera Japan
Yukari, who almost everyone calls En, is a smart and humorous young girl, who is also at the top of her class. However, her favorite time is the one she spends with childhood friend Kotoko, an eccentric girl whose tendencies of fighting with (and being chased by) teachers, having a series of boyfriends, and not studying at all, lean towards delinquency. The two of them spend a lot of time in an abandoned school basement smoking, where one day, they stumble upon Narihira, a classmate who is crying, with Kotoko immediately falling madly in love with him.
My Name is Yours is screening at Camera Japan
Yukari, who almost everyone calls En, is a smart and humorous young girl, who is also at the top of her class. However, her favorite time is the one she spends with childhood friend Kotoko, an eccentric girl whose tendencies of fighting with (and being chased by) teachers, having a series of boyfriends, and not studying at all, lean towards delinquency. The two of them spend a lot of time in an abandoned school basement smoking, where one day, they stumble upon Narihira, a classmate who is crying, with Kotoko immediately falling madly in love with him.
- 9/23/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The Lgbtq+ voices get louder in Asian cinemas too. Generally, outside specific genres like sex comedies or erotic pictures, sex is rarely approached as a serious issue, unless you really look for it. Here are 5 films of 2019 that have broken the taboo and even taboo within the taboo and have discussed sex, sexual identity or orientation openly. Of course, we still swim in the not-exactly-mainstream waters, but the below listed five films hit several jackpots with bravado. And they are fabulous alternatives for the Valentine Days flick. Well, except for “Kalel, 15”, perhaps. But with the person queer in a fitting way…
The films are alphabetically ordered.
1. Born Beautiful (2019) by Perci Intalan
“Born Beautiful” is a sequel, or rather spin-off, of fabulous “Die Beautiful” (2016) by Jun Robles Lana. Now, the spotlight lights on Trisha’s (Paolo Ballesteros) Bff Barbs (Martin del Rosario) and her identity crises. Bearing the traces of Lana’s writing,...
The films are alphabetically ordered.
1. Born Beautiful (2019) by Perci Intalan
“Born Beautiful” is a sequel, or rather spin-off, of fabulous “Die Beautiful” (2016) by Jun Robles Lana. Now, the spotlight lights on Trisha’s (Paolo Ballesteros) Bff Barbs (Martin del Rosario) and her identity crises. Bearing the traces of Lana’s writing,...
- 3/2/2020
- by Anomalilly
- AsianMoviePulse
“My Father, the Bride” by Momoko Fukuda has its roots in the 2016 short film “Dad’s Wedding”. It shows its Lgbtq hues proudly at the 14th Camera Japan (25-29 September 2019 – Rotterdam/3-6 October 2019 – Amsterdam). Is there a reason to be proud? Let`s have a look.
“My Father, the Bride” is screening at Camera Japan 2019
It has been three years since Tohka’s (Honoka Matsumoto) mother passed away. Now, she is returning home, to a small island, to attend the memorial service. To her shock, not only she learns her father (Itsuji Itao) is about to remarry, but also that he is remarrying to a man. Moreover, being the local school director, he wears her mother’s dress to….everywhere. Somehow, virtually no one, not even her younger brother Midori (Sho Kasamatsu) finds it strange.
“My Father, the Bride” presents its narrative as a feel-good family film. It even presents...
“My Father, the Bride” is screening at Camera Japan 2019
It has been three years since Tohka’s (Honoka Matsumoto) mother passed away. Now, she is returning home, to a small island, to attend the memorial service. To her shock, not only she learns her father (Itsuji Itao) is about to remarry, but also that he is remarrying to a man. Moreover, being the local school director, he wears her mother’s dress to….everywhere. Somehow, virtually no one, not even her younger brother Midori (Sho Kasamatsu) finds it strange.
“My Father, the Bride” presents its narrative as a feel-good family film. It even presents...
- 9/30/2019
- by Anomalilly
- AsianMoviePulse
The third edition of the Japannual Film Festival takes place from 1st to 6th of October in Vienna. This year, the festival celebrates the 150th anniversary of Austrian-Japanese diplomatic relations with an excellent selection of films, showing the highlights of the bygone year. Besides the modern cinema, Japannual features two movies of the infamous director Koji Wakamatsu accompanied by the short films of video artist Yuri Muraoka.
The opening film “Blue Hour” (2019), a multi-layered comedy about a sudden family visit, is the first feature by female director Yuko Hakota and was already celebrated at the Nippon Connection Festival for its portrayal of strong female characters.
Strong female characters can also be seen in Kosai Sekine’s “Love at Least” (2018) and Momoko Fukuda’s “My Father, My Bride” (2019). Both directors will be present at the festival and so it the actress Shuri, who gives an intriguing performance of a mentally ill...
The opening film “Blue Hour” (2019), a multi-layered comedy about a sudden family visit, is the first feature by female director Yuko Hakota and was already celebrated at the Nippon Connection Festival for its portrayal of strong female characters.
Strong female characters can also be seen in Kosai Sekine’s “Love at Least” (2018) and Momoko Fukuda’s “My Father, My Bride” (2019). Both directors will be present at the festival and so it the actress Shuri, who gives an intriguing performance of a mentally ill...
- 9/28/2019
- by Alexander Knoth
- AsianMoviePulse
With a final wave of programming, the 2019 edition of the Fantasia International Film Festival has now released its full lineup, featuring over 130 incredible features from across the globe.
Fantasia International Film Festival
Montreal, Quebec – July 11 to August 1
In addition, the festival is also very proud to announce a record number of repertory titles, its esteemed 2019 jury, a horror film location bus tour through Montreal, and exciting, one-of-a-kind live events with producer Edward R. Pressman, “First Blood” director Ted Kotcheff, and iconic horror host Joe Bob Briggs.
Japanese horror icon ”Sadako” will open fantasia 2019!
Sadako
Twenty years ago, Fantasia celebrated the North American Premiere of Hideo Nakata’s “Ringu” and its sequel, which led to Dreamworks acquiring the franchise and is largely seen as having been the birth of J-Horror in the West. This Summer, the festival is proud to open its 23rd edition with the series’ latest sequel, “Sadako” (North...
Fantasia International Film Festival
Montreal, Quebec – July 11 to August 1
In addition, the festival is also very proud to announce a record number of repertory titles, its esteemed 2019 jury, a horror film location bus tour through Montreal, and exciting, one-of-a-kind live events with producer Edward R. Pressman, “First Blood” director Ted Kotcheff, and iconic horror host Joe Bob Briggs.
Japanese horror icon ”Sadako” will open fantasia 2019!
Sadako
Twenty years ago, Fantasia celebrated the North American Premiere of Hideo Nakata’s “Ringu” and its sequel, which led to Dreamworks acquiring the franchise and is largely seen as having been the birth of J-Horror in the West. This Summer, the festival is proud to open its 23rd edition with the series’ latest sequel, “Sadako” (North...
- 6/28/2019
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
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