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Family dramas in the Japanese movie industry are a dime a dozen; however, it is still the genre in the country the majority of great films come from, and it is easy to say that, “The Harbor Lights”, Mojiri Adachi’s theatrical debut, following a rather successful career on TV, is one of those films.

The Harbor Lights is screening at Tokyo International Film Festival

Akari is a third-generation Korean resident in Japan born in Kobe, the year of the Great Hanshin Earthquake. He is suffering from intense depression, which she mostly drowns in food, and the fact that her always embittered father is taking a divorce from her mother is not helping. In the meantime, her older sister wants to marry and has decided it would be better for her if she and the whole family take Japanese citizenship, something that makes the tension with the father even more intense.

In his feature fiction debut “Happyend“, Neo Sora lets teenagers played by Hayato Kurihara, Hidaka Yukito, Ayumu Nakajima, Makiko Watanabe and Shiro Sano clash over their political beliefs in a story set up in a near future where politics and products get advertised in the sky, and surveillance becomes a constituent part of highschoolers’ reality.

We took the opportunity to speak with the Japanese director during his short stay in Vienna, where he attended both screenings of the movie at the Viennale. Neo Sora spoke to us about the genesis of “Happyend” and why he considers it to be the first movie in his career. We also spoke about monster earthquakes, what kind of other danger they bring along, and why speaking up about racism and environmental catastrophes should happen today rather than tomorrow.

Since its world premiere in Venice, “Happyend” has been on quite an international journey.

Yeah, it...

Neo Sora’s narrative debut “Happyend,” a dystopian portrait of rebellious youth fighting for a better future that first bowed in Venice’s Horizons section, has sold to multiple territories for Magnify, the international sales arm of Magnolia Pictures.

In addition to Metrograph Pictures, which grabbed North American rights last month and will be releasing theatrically in 2025, Magnify has secured deals in France (Eurozoom), South Korea (Jinjin), Taiwan (Hooray), Hong Kong (Edko), China (Wiseup), Indonesia (Falcon), Turkey (Filmarti), Ex-Yugoslavia (Five Star), Cee (HBO), with many other territories under negotiation. Giraffe Pictures will be releasing in Singapore and Bitters End is releasing theatrically in Japan on Oct. 4.

Following Venice, the film had its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival (Centerpiece) and its Asian premiere in the Pingyao International Film Festival, where it won the Jury Award. The film recently screened at the New York Film Festival and next...

"If we're going to die, let's have fun." NYFF has revealed the first look teaser for a Japanese film arriving soon called Happyend, the first feature film directed by filmmaker Neo Sora, best known for his many Ryuichi Sakamoto docs. Happyend is premiering at the 2024 Venice Film Festival this weekend, before it goes on to play at both TIFF and NYFF later this fall, with an October release in Japan. Set in near-future Tokyo, the threat of a catastrophic earthquake looms. Two friends prank their principal before graduation, leading to school surveillance installation, which eventually leads to a rift between the high schooler boys. Happyend "amplifies the sociopolitical dynamics already present in Japan today." It's another fascinating surveillance thriller, with commentary on contemporary society, much like the other one Stranger Eyes also premiering in Venice. With Hayato Kurihara, Yukito Hidaka, Yuta Hayashi, Shina Peng, Arazi, Kilala Inori, Pushim, and Makiko Watanabe.

Magnify has acquired global and U.S. sales rights to Neo Sora’s near-futuristic film “Happyend” ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The movie will play in the Horizons section and is being handled by Magnify outside of Japan and Singapore.

Set in a near-future Tokyo, “Happyend” revolves around two rabble-rousing best friends who are about to graduate high school while threats of a catastrophic earthquake looms. One night, they pull a prank on their principal, which leads to a surveillance system being installed in their school. Stuck between the oppressive security system and a darkening national political situation, the two respond in contrasting ways.

The movie marks Neo Sora’s fictionh feature debut. His previous credits include “Ryuichi Sakamoto/Opus” which premiered at Venice and was picked by Janus for North America, and short films, such as “The Chicken” which premiered in Locarno, among others.

“Tokyo Vice” creator and executive producer J.T. Rogers had a two-season story mapped out from the beginning, so much so that he had to make sure that the first season of the Max drama seeded the details and Easter eggs that wouldn’t pay off or become important until the second season.

“The pressure for me at least was having an idea going on for a few years now and really champing at the bit to get to the places we wanted,” Rogers tells Gold Derby (watch the exclusive video interview above). “Hikari, our wonderful director on Episode 4 in Season 1, said, ‘I don’t think we have time to get that shot of the watch.’ I said, ‘You need it because 11 hours from now on television, there’s going to be a reference to it.’ So there are so many things we set up narratively, and to have the luxury...

Although the second season does not have the element of surprise, as first seasons usually do, it is easy to say that the creators of “Tokyo Vice Season 2” did an excellent job this time also, by focusing even more to the series' best aspect, its characters.

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Jake's miraculous rise in the echelons of Meicho newspaper continues, with his relationship with both his superior, Maruyama, and his colleagues, Tin Tin and Trendy, being on its highest level. Maruyama listens to him and trusts him, as do the other two actually, frequently following his advice even. Even Baku, his racist, nationalistic boss seems to have warmed up to him, at least professionally, occasionally approving even his most daring suggestions. At the same time, the reappearance of Tozawa throws a shadow over everyone, including Jake, who has started a relationship with his former mistress,...

[This story contains major spoilers from the finale of season two of Tokyo Vice, “Endgame.”]

Shinzo Tozawa (Ayumi Tanida) had dreams of becoming the one supreme oyabun (leader) of the yakuza crime syndicate in Japan.

In the season two finale of Tokyo Vice (now streaming on Max), those dreams ended with his violent demise — by his own hands.

Initially, it appeared in the series — which is filled with twists and turns of the bloody yakuza subculture in Japan, as it’s covered by American journalist Jake Adelstein, played by Ansel Elgort, who co-stars alongside Ken Watanabe — that Tozawa played a winning hand by murdering rival clan leaders, and threatening to kill police officers and reporters (and their families) who appeared to hurt his climb to absolute power in Tokyo and beyond.

But in all the yakuza leader’s ruthlessness, Tozawa made one major misstep. He showed blatant disrespect and dishonor toward his wife, Kazuko Tozawa (Makiko Watanabe), who fell in love with...

[Editor’s Note: The following review contains spoilers for “Tokyo Vice” Season 2, Episode 10, “Endgame.”]

In “Tokyo Vice,” honor is a double-edged katana. On one end sits Ozaki (Bokuzō Masana), the Meicho Shimbun newspaper executive who confesses to Emi (Rinko Kikuchi) that he was the one who destroyed the Yoshino videotape — although “confesses” is too generous a word. Ozaki solves her season-long mystery without batting an eye, before mansplaining his action as if Emi is an idiot. He had to destroy the tape. If the Meicho ran a story about a government official’s involvement in the murder of a hostess, then the paper would be frozen out of government business for years. “And how would that serve our readers?” he asks. So now that Emi has brought him further evidence against prime-minister-in-waiting Jotaro Shigematsu (Hajime Inoue), proving his ties to Yakuza leader Shinzo Tozama (Ayumi Tanida), the dignified thing to do is turn over her documents to the proper parties,...

Spoiler Alert: This interview contains spoilers for the Season 2 finale of “Tokyo Vice,” now streaming on Max.

Season 2 of “Tokyo Vice,” the neo-noir crime drama set in Tokyo, Japan, and loosely based on a memoir written by journalist Jake Adelstein, has come to a close in an explosive finale that both sent off the series’ main, two-season running antagonist — and laid the foundation for what could potentially come from the Max thriller if a third season were to be greenlit.

The show stars Ansel Elgort and Ken Watanabe, and tells the story of a Japanese-fluent American writer (Elgort) who works his way into covering crime for one of Tokyo’s most prominent newspapers. In the process, he forges an unlikely bond with a dogged local police detective, Hiroto Katagiri (Watanabe), with the duo sharing information and working together to untangle sordid yakuza activities.

Before diving into the specifics of the finale,...

The Skip City International D-Cinema Festival 2024 will celebrate its 21st edition from July 13th (Sat) to 21st (Sun), 2024 for 9 days at Skip City, which is an integrated institution for digital cinema production.

(See: https://www.skipcity-dcf.jp/en/)

Submission period: January 31st, 2024 (Wed) – March 1st, 2024 (Fri)

Skip City International D-Cinema Festival remains committed to discovering and nurturing new talent, with the aim of helping these filmmakers seize new business opportunities that have arisen in the changing landscape of the film industry. Now calling for works (60 min. or longer) that have been shot digitally and must be the director's 1st, 2nd, or 3rd feature film from all over the world for the International Competition section.

Call for entries for the International Competition!!

Entry Deadline: Must be received by March 1st, 2024 (Fri)

Submit via FilmFreeway

https://filmfreeway.com/Skipcityinternationald-CinemaFESTIVAL (Online registration / Free)

All nominated films in competition categories are eligible for the Festival Organizers awards.

Nearly a decade after its debut in competition at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, where it premiered alongside the likes of Goodbye to Language, Winter Sleep, Clouds of Sils Maria, Maps to the Stars, and Two Days, One Night, Naomi Kawase’s drama Still the Water is getting a North American home courtesy of Film Movement. Ahead of a March 3 digital release, we’re exclusively debuting the new trailer for the film starring Nijirô Murakami, Junko Abe, Miyuki Matsuda, Tetta Sugimoto, and Makiko Watanabe.

On the subtropical Japanese island of Amami, traditions about nature remain eternal. Following a typhoon and during the full-moon night of traditional dances in August, 16-year-old Kaito (Nijirô Murakami) discovers a dead body floating in the sea. His girlfriend, Kyoko (Junko Abe), will attempt to help him understand this mysterious discovery. Together, Kaito and Kyoko will learn to become adults by experiencing the interwoven cycles of life,...

We are happy to announce that the Skip City International D-Cinema Festival 2023 will celebrate its 20th anniversary edition from July 15th (Sat) to 23th (Sun), 2023 for 9 days at Skip City, which is an integrated institution for digital cinema production

(See: https://www.skipcity-dcf.jp/en/)

Submission period: January 25th, 2023 (Wed) – March 1st, 2023 (Wed)

We remain committed to discovering and nurturing new talent, with the aim of helping these filmmakers seize new business opportunities that have arisen in the changing landscape of the film industry. Now we call for works (60 min. or longer) that have been shot digitally and must be the director’s 1st, 2nd, or 3rd feature film from all over the world for the International Competition section.

Call for entries for the International Competition!!

Entry Deadline: Must be received by March 1st, 2023 (Wed)

Submit via FilmFreeway

https://filmfreeway.com/Skipcityinternationald-CinemaFESTIVAL (Online registration / Free)

Our International Competition welcomes you!

While cinephiles mostly associate Kazuo Hara with documentaries such as “The Emperor’s Naked Army Marches On”, the director has also made a feature film in 2005, together with his long-term partner producer and screenwriter Sachiko Kobayashi. However, “The Many Faces of Chika”, which follows the story of a woman through four stages in her life, contains similar qualities, especially a sharp eye for human relationships and flaws, along with a critical view on Japan’s society and politics. Given the background of the tumultuous 1960s, with a specific allusion to the student protests, “The Many Faces of Chika” tells a story of a women’s journey into uncertainty and her many facets, which mirror the social and political changes of the times.

The Many Faces of Chika is screening at Japan Society

In her youth, Chika (Takami Yoshimoto) was a talented gymnast who even participated in the Tokyo Olympics, but...

After shooting two movies while travelling in Europe, Lim Kah-wai returns to Osaka, where he graduated in 1998 majoring in Electrical engineering, to shoot a film that still functions quite a lot like a tour guide, although this time, in the original “underbelly” of the city, as seen, for the most part, from the perspective of a number of “dark tourists”. “Come and Go” had its World Premiere in Tokyo.

The protagonists of “Come and Go” are many and differ radically. There is a young man from Vietnam who works as part of a technical training program, which, in his case, looks much like modern slavery, since he is not allowed to quit until his 3-years-contract expires. There is a Nepalese man who used to work in an Indian restaurant and now dreams of opening a restaurant specializing in his country’s food. He is learning Japanese in a school for...

“Come And Go”, the latest film from Japan-based Malaysian director Lim Kah Wai, is set for a world premiere at the 33rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), which will take place from 31 October – 9 November. The film will be presented in Tokyo Premiere 2020, vying for the audience award. “Come And Go” is the eighth film of Lim and his most ambitious so far. With an epic running time of 158 minutes, the drama crosscuts eight stories with 14 principal characters as they struggle to find solace in contemporary Osaka. Some characters cross paths in the sometimes interlinked stories, while other characters remain unconnected, but they all share the same dream for a better future.The pan-Asian ensemble cast come from nine countries and speak seven different languages in the film.

They include:

Taiwan – Lee Kang-sheng (Tsai Ming-liang’s “Days”) as a porn addict | Vietnam – Lien Binh Phat (“Song Lang”) as a migrant worker...

The 3/11 catastrophe is a reoccurring topic in recent Japanese cinema. After a slow start, the industry seems to be confident enough to tackle the trauma. It almost took nine years for a big production company to release the premier Fukushima-themed blockbuster, “Fukushima 50” by Setsuro Wakamatsu. In the same year Nobuhiru Suwa, film director and President of the Tokyo Zokei University, presents “Voices in the Wind”. For the first time in 18 years, Suwa returns to his home country to tell a devastating and haunting roadtrip drama about 17-year-old Haru, who lost her parents in the tsunami and travels to the place that once was her home.

Voices in the Wind is screening at Camera Japan

In the northern coast town of Otsuchi, there is a white telephone booth to which over 30.000 people from all over Japan have come to speak to the “loved ones” that were lost in the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake.

The Japanese film “37 Seconds” is deceptively delicate and quietly tough. Not unlike its protagonist. We first glimpse Yuma as she rides a crowded commuter train in Tokyo. From the camera’s angle, you might think she’s a kid. Her face is tentative, youthful. She’s shorter than the people around her because she’s in a wheelchair. She has cerebral palsy — as does Mae Kayama, the actress who portrays her — and she has been the sole concern of her mother since her father left, shortly after her birth.

Writer-director Hikari’s first feature won two prizes in the Panorama section of the Berlin Film Festival last February, followed by an international festival run. Americans can find it on Netflix. Well-paced, artfully shot and edited, “37 Seconds” mixes anime and illustration with live-action to tell the story of the 23-year-old aspiring artist seeking liberation. Yuma ghost writes friend Sayaka’s manga comics.

Casey Affleck-directed drama Light Of My Life, starring Affleck, Elisabeth Moss and newcomer Anna Pniowsky, will get its world premiere at the Berlin Film Festival in the Panorama section. The dystopian drama, about a father and his young daughter who are trapped in the woods, is one of a raft of additions to the Panorama lineup. Scroll down for the lineup in full.

A total of 45 films from 38 countries, including 34 world premieres, will screen in the section. Panorama’s opening film will be Flatland by Jenna Bass, in which a bride and her pregnant friend make a liberating getaway across South Africa.

Among the strand’s highlights are Affleck’s first narrative feature as director, which is produced by The Imitation Game outfit Black Bear Pictures; Jayro Bustamante’s Ixcanul follow-up Tremblores (Tremors), about a father who tries to break free from his past after breaking the silence about...

22 films in the Panorama programme so far, with nine directorial debuts.

The first 22 titles from the 2019 Berlin Film Festival (Feb 7-17) Panorama programme have been revealed.

Scroll down for the full line-up

The European premiere of UK director Joanna Hogg’s The Souvenir, starring Tilda Swinton, her daughter Honor Swinton-Byrne and Tom Burke, and the world premiere of Seamus Murphy’s Pj Harvey documentary A Dog Called Money are among the titles confirmed today.

The line-up also includes the directing debuts of actors Jonah Hill (Mid90s) and Alexander Gorchilin (Acid), and Rob Garver’s documentary What She Said: The Art of Pauline Kael,...

The Berlin Film Festival has revealed a large selection of movies for its Panorama strand. Section head Paz Lázaro and co-curator and programme manager Michael Stütz have revealed 22 titles, 14 of which will be world premieres.

Among highlights are Jonah Hill’s directorial debut Mid90s; Jamie Bell starrer Skin, about the USA’s neo-Nazi scene; Tilda Swinton drama The Souvenir; and What She Said: The Art Of Pauline Kael, about the legendary film critic.

Panorama Films:

37 Seconds – Japan

by Hikari (Mitsuyo Miyazaki)

with Mei Kayama, Misuzu Kanno, Makiko Watanabe, Shunsuke Daitō, Yuka Itaya

World premiere – Debut film

Director Hikari, aka Mitsuyo Miyazaki, tells the story of Yuma, a young Japanese woman who suffers from cerebral palsy. Torn between her obligations towards her family and her dream to become a manga artist, Yuma struggles to lead a self-determined life.

Dafne – Italy

by Federico Bondi

with Carolina Raspanti, Antonio Piovanelli,...

Jonah Hill’s directorial debut, “mid90s,” about a 13-year-old skateboarder’s coming of age, and a documentary on influential film critic Pauline Kael are among the works that will screen in the Panorama section of the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.

Films starring Tilda Swinton and Jamie Bell and titles from countries including Israel, Brazil and Japan were also announced in the first batch of 22 Panorama selections unveiled by the Berlinale on Tuesday. Nine of the films are debut works, and 14 will have their world premiere in the German capital. The section is curated by Paz Lázaro and co-curator and program manager Michael Stütz.

“mid90s” follows teenage Stevie as he joins up with four skateboarding punks who take him under their wing. Variety described Hill’s debut film as “a slice of street life made up of skittery moments that achieve a bone-deep reality. And because you believe what you’re seeing,...

Best director goes to Icelandic filmmaker Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurosson for Under The Tree.

Nancy, directed by Us filmmaker Christina Choe, was awarded the Grand Prize in the International Competition of this year’s Skip City International D-Cinema Festival (July 13-22) in Japan.

The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance film festival, stars Andrea Riseborough as a woman who claims to be the long-lost daughter of a couple seeking the child they lost in a shopping mall in the 1980s.

Best director went to Icelandic filmmaker Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurosson for Under The Tree, about a man forced to move...

Keep up with the always-hopping film festival world with our weekly Film Festival Roundup column. Check out last week’s Roundup right here.

Lineup Announcements

– The 28th annual Palm Springs International Film Festival (Psiff) has announced that the festival’s opening night will be the World Premiere screening of “The Sense of an Ending,” directed by Ritesh Batra on Thursday, January 5. The festival will close with “The Comedian,” directed by Taylor Hackford on Sunday, January 15. The Festival will screen 190 films from 72 countries, including 58 premieres (9 World, 5 International, 20 North American and 24 U.S.) from January 2 – 16, 2017.

The complete line-up including a focus on cinema from Poland, Premieres, New Voices/New Visions competition, Modern Masters, True Stories, After Dark and more were also announced, in addition to the Awards Buzz program released last week.

Highlights include “The Beautiful Fantastic,” “Julie and the Shoe Factory,” “Bad Influence,” “The Day Will Come,” “Tommy’s Honour,” “When We Rise,...

The inaugural International Film Festival and Awards Macau closed on Tuesday night with a star-studded awards gala, in which Argentinean thriller The Winter, from director Emiliano Torres, was awarded the top prize. The jury, comprising of Jury President Shekhar Kapur as well as Jung Woo-Sung, Stanley Kwan, Makiko Watanabe and Giovanna Fulvi warded the runner-up Jury Prize to Adam Smith's British crime drama Trespass Against Us, which also collected the Best Actress prize for Lindsey Marshal. Best Director went to Portuguese filmmaker Marco Martins for Saint George, while his leading man Nuno Lopes was named Best Actor. Best New Performer went to Jennifer Yu for Tracy Choi's Sisterhood, which also collected the ‘Eye of the Audience’ Macao Audience Choice Award. Amy Jump and Ben Wheatley won...

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

Emiliano Torres’ The Winter [pictured] was named best film at the first edition of the International Film Festival and Awards Macao (Iffam).

Emiliano Torres’ The Winter [pictured] was named best film at the first edition of the International Film Festival and Awards Macao (Iffam), while Saint George (Sao Jorge) won best director for Marco Martins and best actor for Nuno Lopes.

British film Trespass Against Us also received two awards, best actress for Lyndsey Marshal and a jury prize.

Jennifer Yu won best newcomer for Macanese director Tracy Choi’s debut feature Sisterhood, which also received the Macao Audience Choice Award.

Best screenplay went to UK director Ben Wheatley and Amy Jump for Free Fire, while Brazilian drama Elon Doesn’t Believe In Death received the best technical contribution award for its original music and sound design.

The new festival was co-organised by the Macao Government Tourism Office (Mgto) and Macau Films & Television Productions and Culture Association (Mftpa).

“First...

Director Wang talks to ScreenDaily about working with Takeshi Kitano.

Us-based director Wayne Wang, known for films such as The Joy Luck Club, Smoke and Maid In Manhattan, wrapped his shoot with iconic Japanese actor Beat Takeshi, a.k.a. Takeshi Kitano, for suspense mystery While The Women Are Sleeping in Tokyo on Saturday (July 11).

Kitano, the award-winning actor/director of films such as Zatoichi, Beyond Outrage and Hana-bi, uses the name Beat Takeshi when he works as an actor or performer.

Based on Javier Marias’ short story of the same title published in The New Yorker, While The Women Are Sleeping debuted in early form at Busan’s 2013 Asian Project Market.

Shot mostly in Izu, the film is about Sahara (Kitano), a mysterious older man who is at a resort with his young girlfriend. It is told from the point of view of Kenji, a writer who is also visiting the resort for a week with...

Welcome back to Cannes Check, In Contention's annual preview of the films in Competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, which kicks off on May 14. Taking on different selections every day, we'll be examining what they're about, who's involved and what their chances are of snagging an award from Jane Campion's jury. Next up, the first of two female directors in the lineup: Naomi Kawase's "Still the Water." The director: Naomi Kawase (Japanese, 44 years old). It's possible for certain filmmakers to become prominent, celebrated figures within the festival circuit without making much of a dent in the real world, even in the art-house sphere. Naomi Kawase is a good example. Favored by selectors and juries alike, even her most generously awarded films have secured minimal international distribution -- making her at once a familiar and unfamiliar presence in the lineup. Born and raised in Japan's rural Nara district,...

Still the Water

Director: Naomi Kawase

Writer: Naomi Kawase

Producers: Commes des Cinemas, Kumie Inc., Arte France Cinema & Eddie Saeta.

U.S. Distributor: Rights Available

Cast: Makiko Watanabe, Hideo Sakaki, Tetta Sugimoto, Miyuki Matsuda

In the midst of a creative spike, Kawase who is already in prep and finance mode for An – sweet red bean paste (presented at Rotterdam’s Cinemart last month) will once again make a filmic case for the intimate rapport between our natural backdrop and person to person relationships. Look for Still the Water to be coated with plenty of green, ocean blues and blood line reds – as the basis for the project came about when the filmmaker learned of her grandmother’s backtory.

Gist: Taking place during the full-moon night of traditional dances in August and set on the Japanese island of Amami-Oshima, the drama centers on a 14-year-old boy who finds a dead body floating in the sea.

Other winners include Harmony Lessons and Ilo Ilo.

Directors Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross’ In Bloom was awarded the grand prize and $6,830 (Y700,000) at the closing awards of the 14th edition of Tokyo Filmex, which ran Nov 23 to Dec 1.

The Georgia-Germany-France co-production is set in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi during the early years of the dissolved Soviet Union as two teenaged girls struggle against a backdrop of familial and political strife.

Chairperson of the jury Mohsen Makhmalbaf praised In Bloom for “its talent to portray two strong girls and the energetic recreation of reality in cinema.”

The award adds to previous accolades won in Berlin, Hong Kong, AFI Fest and Montreal among other festivals.

The special jury prize and $2,930 (Y300,000) was presented to Kazakhstan writer-director Emir Baigazin for his debut feature Harmony Lessons.

The tough juvenile drama previously won prizes at Berlin, Tribeca and Warsaw. Baigazin is seen as a leading light in the Kazakh new wave...

Other winners include Harmony Lessons and Ilo Ilo.

Directors Nana Ekvtimishvili and Simon Gross’ In Bloom was awarded the grand prize and $6,830 (Y700,000) at the closing awards of the 14th edition of Tokyo Filmex, which ran Nov 23 to Dec 1.

The Georgia-Germany-France co-production is set in the Georgian capital of Tbilisi during the early years of the dissolved Soviet Union as two teenaged girls struggle against a backdrop of familial and political strife.

Chairperson of the jury Mohsen Makhmalbaf praised In Bloom for “its talent to portray two strong girls and the energetic recreation of reality in cinema.”

The award adds to previous accolades won in Berlin, Hong Kong, AFI Fest and Montreal among other festivals.

The special jury prize and $2,930 (Y300,000) was presented to Kazakhstan writer-director Emir Baigazin for his debut feature Harmony Lessons.

The tough juvenile drama previously won prizes at Berlin, Tribeca and Warsaw. Baigazin is seen as a leading light in the Kazakh new wave...

The controversial Chinese film Mystery has taken top prize at the Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong. The thriller, which ran into trouble with the censors in its home country for both its violent content and its criticism of capitalism, also saw the Best Newcomer award go to its star Qi Xi. Meanwhile, both lead acting awards were won by Filipinos - Eddie Garcia for Bwakaw and Nora Aunor for Thy Womb.

This was the seventh annual ceremony with films selected from different areas of Asia, and it was the first not to be dominated by South Korea, which didn't win a single prize. Best Director went to Japan's Takeshi Kitano for yakuza drama Outrage Beyond and Japan also won in the Best Supporting actress categoty, with Makiko Watanabe commended for her work in Capturing Dad. Nawazuddin Siddiqui took the Best Supporting Actor gong home to India for Talaash: The Answer.

The announcement of the Asian Movie Awards has just been released with some big films and actors going against against each other to win the big awards. Some of these include Drug War (Louis Koo), Outrage Beyond, actors such as Choi Min-sik and Tony Leung Ka-fai, to Directors such as Takeshi Kitano and Lou Ye.

I do have a few favorites in this list and i feel best movie could go to Drug War and best actor should fall to Choi Min-sik (just brilliant in every movie).

Here is the list of nominations below, feel free to write your favorites in the comment box at the bottom of the page.

Best Film

“Drug War” (Mainland China)

“Gangs of Wasseypur, Part 1 & 2″ (India)

“Mystery” (Mainland China)

“Outrage Beyond” (Japan)

“Pieta” (South Korea)

Best Director

Anurag Kashyap, “Gangs of Wasseypur, Part 1 & 2″ (India)

Abbas Kiarostami, “Like Someone in Love” (Japan/France/Iran)

Kim Ki-duk,...

Four Indian films have been nominated for the 7th Asian Film Awards with Anurag Kashyap’s Gangs of Wasseypur leading the pack with four nominations: Best Film, Anurag Kashyap for Best Director, Wasiq Khan for Best Production Designer and Rajeev Ravi for Best Cinematographer.

In other nominations, Nawazuddin Siddiqui will compete for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Talaash, Anand Gandhi contends for Best Screenwriter for his debut film Ship of Theseus and Pritam Chakraborty vies for Best Composer Award for his melodies in Barfi!.

Andy Lau, a noted actor of Hong Kong will head the judging panel. A total of 30 films from nine countries will compete under 14 categories at the award function to be held on 18th March, 3013. The annual event is organised by the Hong Kong International Film Festival Society.

Full List of Nominations:

Best Film

Drug War (Mainland China)

Gangs of Wasseypur, Part 1 & 2 (India)

Mystery (Mainland...

I usually don’t go for Japanese tearjerkers; the melodrama just doesn’t agree with me, kind of like soft cheese. However, director Masahiro Kobayashi’s post-2011 earthquake drama “Women on the Edge” has struck a chord with me. The description I found for the flick described it as a “love-hate drama of three sisters who come back home after the quake”, and, I’m assuming, their ensuing emotional collapse. There’s a quirkiness to the trailer that I didn’t anticipate, though, to be fair, I can’t really tell if this supposed quirk is just my inability to properly process Japanese melodrama. If I’ve misinterpreted the embedded trailer, by all means, let me know. After all, there’s nothing worse than looking like a giant asshole. “Women on the Edge” stars Miho Fujima, Yuko Nakamura, and Makiko Watanabe. The film is scheduled to hit select theaters in Japan on July 28th,...

One might wonder that whether we need yet another film about a blow up sex doll, especially one coming from the long time Hirokazu Kore-Eda's cinematographer Yutaka Yamasaki. Not that Kore-Eda's approach in Air Doll was in any way sensationalistic, but Yamasaki's Torso is neither an over the top titillating sex comedy nor a whimsical fantasy about an inanimate semen receptacle coming to life. It's rather a quiet character study deeply rooted in realism. Hiroko (Makiko Watanabe) is a thirty something office worker and by all account, a cold fish. She seems quite satisfied with her single woman status. Her interactions with people including her younger half-sister Mina (Love Exposure's Sakura Ando) are curt and distant. She declines invitations to the night outings by the...

The recently-launched official website for Torso has been updated with a 2-minute trailer. The film was directed Yutaka Yamazaka, longtime cinematographer for Hirokazu Kore-eda, and premiered at the Hong Kong International Film Festival on March 25, 2009.

Makiko Watanabe stars as an ordinary woman named Hiroko who works for a clothing company. She lives a pretty mundane private life, save the fact that her lover is an armless, legless inflatable male torso. When her half sister Mina (Sakura Ando) moves in with her unexpectedly, Hiroko’s secret world begins to crumble around her.

“Torso” is distributed by Transformer and will get late show screenings at Shibuya EuroSpace from July 10, 2010.

Director: Shion Sono Writer(s): Shion Sono Starring: Takahiro Nishijima, Hikari Mitsushima, Sakura Ando, Makiko Watanabe, Atsuro Watabe Clocking in just shy of four hours, Love Exposure spends an obscene quantity of time building the back-story of the film’s protagonist, Yu (Takahiro Nishijima)…and gratuitously focusing on panty shots…but I’ll get back to that later. Yu’s mother dies while he is just a child. Before she dies, Yu’s mother gives him a statue of the Virgin Mary. Yu’s father becomes a Catholic priest, but then his fancy is tickled by another woman. Overburdened by the guilt of his own actions, Yu’s father forces Yu to confess on a daily basis. Yu’s dilemma is that he is a good person with little or nothing to confess. At first he makes up sins, but his father sees right through him; so Yu is...