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Ramping up the glitz and glamour from last year’s launch shindig, The Hollywood Reporter Japan turned on the style once more for its Trailblazer Award Gala Party, held Wednesday night at The Peninsula Hotel in Tokyo’s Ginza district.

Held during the Tokyo International Film Festival, this year’s THR Japan gala event was an even hotter ticket than in 2023, with a veritable who’s who of Japan’s film industry, as well as sprinkling of sports legends and local celebs, who all graced the red carpet to join the celebrations to honor Shogun star Tadanobu Asano, the first Japanese recipient of THR’s Trailblazer Award.

The Trailblazer Award is given to artists whose work and careers illuminate stories and characters who have been traditionally marginalized in Hollywood. Since his debut on Japanese television as a 16-year-old, Asano’s career has taken him from Hirokazu Koreeda’s Maborosi to...

“Your Lovely Smile” is a rather weird film. Despite being Lim Kah-wai's work, the style essentially follows Hirobumi Watanabe's low-budget, self-starring, self-deprecating, ironic and realistic approach to cinema, with the former's hand mostly showing in the fact that the movie is in color and follows a road-film path, although the last part also appears occasionally in the latter's titles.

on Terracotta by clicking on the image below

Watanabe actually stars as himself here, playing a filmmaker who, despite having won a number of awards from festivals in Japan, finds himself once more facing the harsh realities of independent filmmaking, which seem to have grown even worse after the pandemic. As the story begins, he is stranded in his hometown doing odd jobs to make a living and pass the time essentially, occasionally meeting people from the industry with similar troubles. Eventually an opportunity for a new movie appears,...

On the occasion of his presence in the International Jury at Fica Vesoul, Shogen talks to Panos Kotzathanasis about his role in December and why he considers it the best of his career, the way he picks his roles, working on so many movies, actors and directors who stood out for him Okinawa International Film Festival, the state of the Japanese movie industry and his upcoming projects.

Honorary Golden Cyclo (offered by the Agglomeration Community and the city of Vesoul): to Zero Chou director (Taiwan) et à Tu Du-chih, sound engineer (Taiwan).

Cyclo D'Or (offered by the Regional Council of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté), International Jury: President: Mohsen Makhmalbaf, director (Iran), members: Zero Chou, director (Taiwan), Fatemeh Motamed-Arya, actress (Iran), Shogen, actor (Japon).

The Snow Leopard de Pema Tseden (Chine-Tibet) –Through the mysterious relationship between the monk and the snow leopard, the traditional worldview of the Tibetan people is revealed – a realm of spiritual emotion that is challenging to express. The director skillfully captures this enchanting world with great precision, making it a remarkable and profoundly moving achievement.

Film interprets the conflicts of the human world through a spiritual lens, this work is a truly rare gem!

Grand Jury Award:

Film Review: Scream (2023) by Kenzhebek Shaikakov

Scream by Kenzhebek Shaikakov (Kazakhstan). The film has magical realism style that truly commendable,...

The late Pema Tseden’s “Snow Leopard” (China) won the top prize, the Golden Cyclo, at the Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema on Tuesday.

The film, which previously won awards at the Tokyo and Hainan festivals, also won Vesoul’s National Institute of Oriental Languages ​​and Civilizations (Inalco) jury prize and actor Tseten Tashi scored a jury special mention. Pema Tseden (aka Wanmacaidan) died in May last year, age 53.

The grand jury award went to Kenzhebek Shaikakov’s “Scream” (Kazakhstan), which also won the Netpac award and the Mark Haaz award. “Scream” actors Orynbek Shaimaganbetov and Arnur Akram were accorded a jury prize special mention. The film shared the Mark Haaz award with Rajesh Jala’s “The Spark” (India), which also had a special mention at the film critics’ award.

“Solids by The Seashore” by Patiparn Boontarig (Thailand) won the jury prize and also the Inalco favorite award.

Acclaimed Iranian director Mohsen Makhmalbaf will serve as jury president at the 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema (Viffac), which runs from February 6-13.

Held in France, this year’s edition will spotlight Taiwanese cinema and Malayalam-language films from India. A total of 92 films from 29 countries will be screened.

Makhmalbaf’s works include A Moment of Innocence (1996), which won a special mention at the Locarno Film Festival, as well as Kandahar (2001), which won the Ecumenical Jury prize at the Cannes Film Festival.

Other jury members at Viffac this year include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at the Berlinale in 2007, Iranian actress Fatemed Motamed-Arya and Japanese actor Shogen.

There are 17 films across the fiction and documentary competitions, which come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. There are two world premieres, five international premieres, six European premieres and four French premieres.

Taiwan and India in the spotlight at the 30th Vesoul Iff of Asian Cinema

The 30th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema will feature 92 films, including 52 never-before-seen films from 29 countries, under the banner of commitment!

Mohsen Makhmalbaf, Iranian director with 60 international awards to his credit, is President of the Jury. Other members include Taiwanese director Zero Chou, winner of the Golden Bear at Berlin 2007, Fatemed Motamed-Arya, the most awarded Iranian actress in the history of Iranian cinema, and Japanese actor Shogen, cinema ambassador at the Sea-Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival.

The 17 films in the fiction and documentary competitions come from China, Korea, India, Iran, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Bangladesh, Nepal and Taiwan. Four are French premieres, six European premieres, five international premieres and two world premieres.

Feature Film Competition :

China: All Ears by Liu Jiayin – China (Tibet): The Snow Leopard by Pema Tseden – Korea: Work to...

Blackbird Lands In Osaka

The Osaka Asian Film Festival has added eight more titles to its line-up, including the award-winning Georgian drama “Blackbird Blackbird Blackberry,” which will play in competition.

Elene Naveriani’s “Blackbird,” about a middle-aged woman’s relationship decision, has had wide festival play in Europe and earned multiple prizes for lead actor Eka Chavleishvili.

Other additions are Cambodian directing duo Inrasothythep Neth and Sokyou Chea’s “Tenement”; the world premiere of Hong Kong director Ricky Ko’s “Out of the Shadow”; “Supposed,” by Thanakorn Pongsuwan and “Death Whisperer,” by Taweewat Wantha, which expand the festival’s selection of Thai films to eight; and “The Winter of 1905,” a 1981 film by Hong Kong director Yu Wei-Cheng, which joins the Taiwan: Movies on the Move 2024 special section.

Other revival inclusions are: the 4K restored director’s cut of Patrick Tam’s 1982 Hong Kong movie “Nomad” and “240 Hours in One Day,...

Okinawa Festival Prizes

Taiwanese feature “The Mimicry” was named best picture at the first edition of the Cinema at Sea – Okinawa Pan-Pacific International Film Festival. The festival ran Nov. 23-29 in Okinawa, Japan.

The fantasy-drama film is adapted from a short story by Kao Yi-Feng and directed by Chung Yu Lin. “The film employs a magical yet realistic style, vividly portraying apartment stories by utilizing anthropomorphic techniques that mirror the protagonist’s observations,” said a jury headed by Iran’s Amir Naderi.

The festival’s biggest winner was “Abang Adik,” directed by Malaysia’s Jin Ong, which collected three prizes. It won the audience award, the jury award, and the best leading performance award, which went to actor Wu Kang-Ran. (Wu won the same prize last weekend at the Golden Horse Film Awards.)

The American documentary “One With the Whale,” directed by Jim Wickens and Pete Chelkowski, also received a jury award.

No, this is not yet another review of Daniel Kwan & Daniel Scheinert's sci-fi action adventure from last year, and the movie's title stops after the second word. To further clear any form of confusion regardingits content, there is no action or sci-fi, although there is allegedly some kind of adventure involved in it. Or so we are told.

“Everything, Everywhere” is screening at Tallinn Black Nights

A young Japanese filmmaker Jay (Shogen) disappears somewhere on the territory of former Yugoslavia during the Covid-19 pandemic while searching inspiration for his new film. His former collaborator Eva (Adela Sou) travels to the region to trace him down. Why (we are given a glimpse into the past in which they didn't seem to harmonise after a while) and by which logic is the thing made of mystery.

“Everything, Everywhere” is the final chapter of Kim Kah Wai's Balkan trilogy which started in 2017 with “No Where,...

The American Film Market kicks off Oct. 31 and runs through Nov. 5 in its new headquarters at the Le Meridien Delfina in Santa Monica. Industry screenings are set at theaters throughout the city and AFM’s conference series, the AFM Sessions, will take place at the Hilton Santa Monica Hotel. More than 245 companies and organizations are exhibiting at this year’s AFM, with national pavilions from China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Thailand and the U.K. In all, buyers from more than 65 countries are registered at the film market.

Here are some of the buzziest titles at AFM 2023:

Alphas

Director: Liam O’Donnell

Producers: Pierre Morel, Renee Tab, Christopher Tuffin, Matthew Chausse, Drew Bailey

Key cast: Martin Henderson

Story is set in a quiet surfing community where killer whales are enlisted to fend off great white sharks after a series of attacks. When the alpha great white shark proves too powerful to stop,...

Film currently in post. Well Go USA to distribute in US.

In the run-up to AFM Red Sea Media has come on board to handle international sales on the samurai action thriller Lone led by Japanese rising star Shogen from Brillante Ma Mendoza’s Busan selection Gensan Punch.

Josh Waller (Raze), a co-founder of Spectrevision with Elijah Wood and Daniel Noah, directed from his screenplay about a Japanese samurai and assassin who loses his family and finds himself stranded on an island where he gets kidnapped by a tribe of cannibals.

The warrior soon escapes and enacts revenge on his captors and their leader.

Titles include Kah Wai Lim’s Japanese feature ‘Everything, Everywhere’.

Eight features will have world premieres in the Rebels With A Cause strand of Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival (Poff), including new films from Kah Wai Lim and Matias Rojas Valencia.

The competitive section includes 11 features, with two further films playing out of competition.

Scroll down for the full Rebels With A Cause selection

Japanese director Lim presents Everything, Everywhere, a semi-improvised road movie set in the Balkans where Lim typically films, in which Japanese star Shogen plays a fictionalized version of the director.

Lim’s previous films include 2022 comedy-drama...

In recent times, films from Okinawa have been put in the spotlight. In their search for new aspects of Japanese cinema, Western scholars and festival programmers discover the works of Yuji Nakae and other local directors to display a culture, which is in tune with nature and in strict contrast to the concrete jungle of the metropolis. Tsukasa Kishimoto is part of this new Okinawa cinema. Although, he is no rookie anymore. “Happy Sandwich” is his 10th movie and carries on the tradition of a local-based storyline.

Happy Sandwich is screening at Kimolos International Film Festival

Set in the northern part of Okinawa, known as Yanbaru, Manna, the chef of a BBQ restaurant is given the task of creating a special sandwich as an offering to the gods. To fulfill the request of the priest, he travels around the island and meets with several people involved in the food sector,...

It has been 50 years since the island of Okinawa was placed back under Japanese administration. And it is almost 70 years since Central Park Avenue in the city of Koza was bestowed its famous name. Koza's story is closely intertwined with the US military, which shapes the life of the islanders. Here the cultures, American nonchalance and cosmopolitanism intersect with the Japanese way of life and ancient Okinawan customs. A unique blend of East and West in the world. The Rise and Fall of Park Avenue and the 10 Rooms focuses on this cultural melting point. Four perspectives on the mysterious city of Koza, four very different stories, shaped by the people who go about their daily lives on this street, with their small and large worries. (Source: Japan Film Fest Hamburg 2023)

Directed by Tsukasa Kishimoto (Okinawan Blue), this movie premiered last year in Okinawa and will screen at the Japan Film...

Tsukasa Kishimoto's “The Rise and Fall of Park Avenue and the 10 Rooms” is fairly standard for an ensemble piece in that it offers a variety of genres across its short stories, centred around a fashionable location. However, working with a limited budget means that this lacks what most films of this type aim for: style and glamour. So, does it have enough substance?

The Rise and Fall of Park Avenue and the 10 Rooms is screening at Japan FilmFest Hamburg

Set around Koza Gate Street, Okinawa, the story revolves around a boutique hotel, where locals come and go at the bar, or even rent a room: A hard-luck musician has his dreams realized and crushed in an instant; a singer returns home from Tokyo for a school reunion; a gambling addict plays without limits; and two corrupt police get in too deep. The hotel has ten rooms, though we will...

“Your Lovely Smile” is a rather weird film. Despite the fact that is Lim Kah-wai's work, the style essentially follows Hirobumi Watanabe's low-budget, self-starring, self-deprecating, ironic and realistic approach to cinema, with the former's hand mostly showing in the fact that the movie is in color and follows a road-film path, although the last part also appears occasionally in the latter's titles.

“Your Lovely Smile” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

Watanabe actually stars as himself here, playing a filmmaker who, despite having won a number of awards from festivals in Japan, finds himself once more facing the harsh realities of independent filmmaking, which seem to have grown even worse after the pandemic. As the story begins, he is stranded in his hometown doing odd jobs to make a living and pass the time essentially, occasionally meeting people from the industry with similar troubles. Eventually an...

Third feature by Anshul Chauhan, “December” is easy to say that is his most accomplished work yet.

“December” is screening at Udine Far East Film Festival

Seven years ago, a high school student was killed by a classmate, with the perpetrator, Kana, ending up in prison after a trial that convicted her as an adult and not as a juvenile, despite her age. The parents of the deceased were devastated, ending up divorcing, with the husband, Katsu, abandoning his work as an author and becoming an alcoholic, and the wife, Sumiko, eventually ending up marrying a man she met in a support group about people who have lost their children. As the story begins, an ambitious lawyer who is even planning on suing the state for the unfairness of the trial, convinces Kana to appeal for a reduced sentence. An aggravated Katsu revisits Sumiko after years, and convinces her to attend the trial,...

“Your Lovely Smile” is a rather weird film. Despite the fact that is Lim Kah-wai’s work, the style essentially follows Hirobumi Watanabe’s low-budget, self-starring, self-deprecating, ironic and realistic approach to cinema, with the former’s hand mostly showing in the fact that the movie is in color and follows a road-film path, although the last part also appears occasionally in the latter’s titles.

Watanabe actually stars as himself here, playing a filmmaker who, despite having won a number of awards from festivals in Japan, finds himself once more facing the harsh realities of independent filmmaking, which seem to have grown even worse after the pandemic. As the story begins, he is stranded in his hometown doing odd jobs to make a living and pass the time essentially, occasionally meeting people from the industry with similar troubles. Eventually an opportunity for a new movie appears,...

Acclaimed and controversial Filipino director Brillante Mendoza has set “Chameleon,” the fact-based tale of a transgender woman who joins the Japanese underworld, as his next movie to direct.

“Chameleon” is inspired by the true story of a Filipino transgender woman, Marie, who is drawn into the Yakuza gangster life after befriending Ai, the rebellious daughter of a powerful Yakuza boss. Set against the pulsating background of the 1990s nightlife in Sapporo, Hokkaido, the film charts the almost impossible decisions Marie faced and her tumultuous journey to discovering family, love and ultimately her true identity.

The film is now in pre-production ahead of a February 2023 start of production in Sapporo. Delivery is anticipated in time for the fall festival season.

While auditioning for the lead character is ongoing, a confirmed Japanese cast include Okuda Eiji, Ihara Tsuyoshi, Takeda Rina, and Shogen.

“Chameleon” is being produced by Yamashita Takahiro of Japan’s Yaman Films,...

Third feature by Anshul Chauhan, “December” is easy to say that is his most accomplished work yet.

December is screening at Busan International Film Festival

Seven years ago, a high school student was killed by a classmate, with the perpetrator, Kana, ending up in prison after a trial that convicted her as an adult and not as a juvenile, despite her age. The parents of the deceased were devastated, ending up divorcing, with the husband, Katsu, abandoning his work as an author and becoming an alcoholic, and the wife, Sumiko, eventually ending up marrying a man she met in a support group about people who have lost their children. As the story begins, an ambitious lawyer who is even planning on suing the state for the unfairness of the trial, convinces Kana to appeal for a reduced sentence. An aggravated Katsu revisits Sumiko after years, and convinces her to attend the trial,...

“Avatar” producer Jon Landau, Charles Rivkin, chairman of the Motion Picture Association, and the MPA’s Asia regional chief Belinda Lui, were on hand Wednesday in South Korea to tread the red carpet at the Busan International Film Festival.

It has been a struggle for Asian film festivals and rights markets to return to normal as conservative governments and reticent populations warily and belatedly embraced reduced quarantine periods, the end of mandatory mask-wearing and social distancing. But Wednesday night’s hosts were at pains to stress that this year’s 27th Biff is operating at full capacity.

“I can’t tell you how emotional I am tonight,” said Lee Yong-kwan co-founder of the festival and now its chairman.

The Busan festival is Asia’s biggest and most significant talent and film discovery event. But in 2020 it was downsized and held virtually. Last year’s event operated largely behind a cordon...

The reality of the yakuza in Japan has changed significantly during the last decades, with their lives having nothing to do with what Kinji Fukasaku portrayed in the 70s. A number of the latest productions focus on this change and the current lives of the members of the “underworld”, with movies like the recent “Under the Open Sky” being one of the most prominent examples. Oudai Kojima also implements this approach, focusing, though, on the criminal practices of the current yakuza, through a rather dark approach.

Joint is screening at Camera Japan

After having served 2 years in prison, former yakuza Takeshi Ishigami spent two miserable years working on a construction site, building up funds before he returned to Tokyo with the help of Yasu, his best friend. He is determined to go straight and in order to do that, he decides to invest in a big data startup company. To raise the funds,...

Anshul Chauhan is back with ”December”, his third feature, which will have its world premiere at the Busan International Film Festival this year.

Synopsis

Seven years ago, a high school student was killed by a friend. The parents of the dead girl are now divorced, and the father drowns his anger and sorrow in alcohol. Then one day, the daughter’s murderer files a suit to have her sentence reduced. The father convinces his ex-wife that their daughter’s murderer should not be freed, and the two confront the murderer in court. “December” is a story about a family that falls apart after the death of a daughter, and then, in times of crisis, comes back together. As the parents confront the murderer and hear her out, the film shows us these same characters moving toward forgiveness and redemption.

“December” stars Shogen, Megumi, Ryo Matsuura, Shingo Fujimori, Toru Kizu, Takuzo Shimizu,...

Mayu earned an Mfa from the Graduate Film Program at New York University. In 2006, her first fiction feature film, “The Summer of Stickleback” was premiered in the competition section at the Busan International Film Festival, and it was theatrically released in Japan. In 2012, Mayu directed the documentary feature film, “Lonely Swallows–Living as the Children of Migrant Workers” which follows Japanese-Brazilian kids struggling to survive in Japan and Brazil. The film won the Grand Prix in Documentary Features at the Brazilian Film Festival. In 2015, Mayu directed another documentary feature film, “Alone in Fukushima.” The film follows a man who stays in the nuclear zone with animals in Fukushima. The film was screened at the documentary section at Montreal World Film Festival, and it was theatrically released in Japan. Her writing credit includes “Tokyo Trial” which was nominated for the 45th Emmy Award in Best TV Movie/Mini-Series. Her latest work...

The concept of “bullying the bully” has been one that has been repeatedly explored in Japanese cinema with films like “Confessions” and “Liverleaf” being the first that come to mind. Mayu Nakamura, however, takes it to a whole new level, as this time, we have a story of ‘scamming the scammer’, which goes much further than one could have imagined.

“Intimate Stranger” is screening at Helsinki Cine Aasia

Yuji is a young phone-scam artist, who, under the instructions of Kenichi, is tricking old ladies out of their money, pretending to be their grandson, sick with Covid and in need of hospital fees, who are to be picked up by a friend. Of course, the friend is Yuji himself. During one of his “endeavors”, he stumbles upon Megumi, a middle-aged woman who is in search of her missing teenage son. Yuji claims that he has information about him, and gradually strips...

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...

Photo: ‘Gensan Punch’ Boxing and the Art of Overcoming Adversity A bit of a tangent, but for all of HBO Max’s virtues (and there are many), it’s not well-equipped for original programming that’s also subtitled. I watched Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s ‘Drive My Car’ a few weeks ago on HBO Max, and not only were the subtitles not turned on by default, but the subtitles themselves were — suboptimal. The movie itself was great, but the experience was hampered slightly, and the same can be said for ‘Gensan Punch’, a Filipino production. I’m not familiar with Brillante Mendoza, director of ‘Gensan Punch’, but apparently he’s one of the more prominent Filipino directors to hit the international circuit, being the first to win Best Director at the Cannes Film Festival. As such, Mendoza’s talent is not without precedent, and indeed, the strongest aspect of ‘Gensan Punch’ is its direction,...

Sexual Drive Movie Review Film Movement Reviewed for Shockya.com & BigAppleReviews.net, linked from Rotten Tomatoes by Harvey Karten Director: Kôta Yoshida Screenwriter: Kôta Yoshida Cast: Manami Hashimoto, Ryô Ikeda, Mukau Nakamura, Honami Satô, Tateto Serizawa, Shogen, Rina Takeda Screened at: Critics’ link, NYC, 3/25/22 Opens: April 22, 2022 No film will ever match the conflating […]

The post Sexual Drive Movie Review appeared first on Shockya.com.

If Ryûsuke Hamaguchi satiated your appetite for Japanese triptychs with the best film of last year, and you are now seeking more to devour, look no further. Kôta Yoshida’s Fantasia Fest favorite Sexual Drive, which offers a compact, 70-minute compendium of three stories involving food and sex, will now be arriving digitally on April 22 via Film Movement. Ahead of the debut, we’re delighted to premiere the exclusive trailer.

Led by Manami Hashimoto, Ryô Ikeda, Mukau Nakamura, Honami Satô, Tateto Serizawa, Shogen, and Rina Takeda, Sexual Drive is an unconventional triptych––equal parts thriller, sex comedy, and gastronomy––following the seemingly unconnected lives of three people around Japan and their appetites, both culinary and carnal. In the first story, designer Enatsu worries about his sexless marriage. Next, office worker Akane is recovering from driving-induced panic attacks. In the final third, elite advertising agent Ikeyama wants to end a relationship with his lover.

Following a recipe that looks much more like “Alpha: The Right to Kill” than “Mindanao”, Brillante Mendoza got inspiration from the biography of Naozumi Tsuchiyama, a Japanese boxer with a prosthetic leg who went to the Philippines to train in Gensan, a famous boxing quarter which has spawned worldwide stars such as the legendary Manny Pacquiao.

Gensan Punch is streaming on HBO Asia

The story starts with the aforementioned Nao failing to get a permit to become a professional boxer, since the Japanese Boxing Committee considers his prosthetic leg a safety hazard. Frustrated but resolved, Nao decides to leave for General Santos City in the Philippines, in order to train in the Gensan Punch gym and acquire the permit from a country that seems to be a bit more lenient towards his situation. While the gym looks like a dystopian setting, and the communication is somewhat difficult from the beginning,...

Okinawa-born actor Shogen used to be told that he didn’t look Japanese enough for the Japanese film industry. Now he is not only one of the most in-demand rising stars, he is also the instigator, co-producer and star of triumph over-adversity movie “Gensan Punch” which has just premiered at the Busan and Tokyo film festivals and has been picked up for HBO.

Directed by Brillante Mendoza the fact-based tale sees Tsuchiyama Naozumi, a Okinawan man with a prosthetic leg, relocate to The Philippines to become a professional boxer, after being repeatedly blocked in his home country.

Shogen’s recent work has taken him all over Asia, giving him credits on Eric Khoo’s “Ramen Shop,” the “Death Note” TV series and Chinese blockbuster “Detective Chinatown 3.”

Training for the film landed Shogen in the Gensan Quarter gyms of General Santos City used by Philippines boxing superstar and presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao.

Prolific Filipino filmmaker Brillante Ma Mendoza steps into the boxing ring with the heartfelt if rather thin drama “Gensan Punch.” Inspired by the true story of Naozumi Tsuchiyama, an amputee who was denied a license to box professionally in Japan and traveled to the Philippines in pursuit of his dreams, “Gensan” lands solid punches for the rights of disabled athletes and excels with its depiction of rigorous training and fierce combat. But we learn very little about the fighter’s life when he’s not wearing gloves. Following its world premiere at Busan, where it shared the Kim Ji-seok Award with Aparna Sen’s “The Rapist”, and its November screening in Tokyo, “Gensan Punch” will launch online as an HBO Asia Original.

With his chiseled features and steely gaze, handsome model-turned-action star Shogen (“Street Fighter: Assassin’s Fist”) certainly looks the part as Nao, a boxer from Okinawa who has been...

Korean director Im Kwon-taek received the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award from Bong Joon Ho.

In South Korea, the 26th Busan International Film Festival (Bff) opened tonight with a star-studded red carpet and veteran Korean director Im Kwon-taek receiving the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award.

Song Joong Ki, perhaps best known for his starring role in Netflix series Vincenzo, and Park So Dam, known for hers as ‘Jessica’ in Parasite, hosted the ceremony. They announced that director Bong Joon Ho was on hand to present Im with the Asian Filmmaker of the Year award “on behalf of all...

“Gensan Punch,” the upcoming film by celebrated Filipino director Brillante Mendoza, has been set as an HBO Asia Original movie. It will become available on regional streaming service HBO Go in the next few months.

Ahead of that, the film will have its world premiere next month at the Busan International Film Festival, and follow that with an out-of-competition gala selection at November’s Tokyo International Film Festival. In Busan, it appears in the Window on Asian Cinema” section and is also one of seven Asian films nominated for the festival’s Kim Jiseok Award.

The Japan and Philippines coproduction film is a fact-based story about a Japanese man with a prosthetic leg who seeks to become a professional boxer. He did his training in the so-called Gensan Quarter of General Santos City, which has long been known for producing athletes, including former champion boxer and current presidential candidate Manny Pacquiao.

The 26th Busan International Film Festival (Biff), which will be held from October 6 (Wed) to October 15 (Fri), has selected 7 nominees for the Kim Jiseok Award.

The Kim Jiseok Award is celebrating its 4th year at the 26th Biff, and was established in respectful memory of the late program director Kim Jiseok in 2017. The award will be given to the most attractive films that reflect the contemporary standing of Asian cinema in accordance with the late Kim’s intent. Among the films in the A Window on Asian Cinema section, seven candidates are selected to compete for the award. Two award recipients will be chosen by jurors and be given a cash prize of 10,000 Usd each.

The Kim Jiseok Award marks its 4th anniversary this year

New films directed by renowned cineastes such as Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Brillante Mendoza, Ogigami Naoko, Aparna Sen, and many more are coming to Busan!

This...

Born in Kobe, Japan, Oudai Kojima lived in New York City for 10 years before returning to Japan. After studying architecture at Tokyo University, he changed direction to filmmaking. He served as an assistant director to Tomokazu Yamada before going freelance and starting to direct full time. While directing numerous music videos, commercials and short films, he started work on his first feature film, Joint, in 2019. The film premiered at the 2021 Osaka Asian Film Festival and is scheduled for release in Japan in autumn 2021.

Kim Chang-bak is a S. Korean actor who was castein the film, but eventually also became part of the production, working as executive producer, in his first effort in the role.

On the occasion of “Joint” screening at New York Asian Film Festival, we speak with them about shooting a film about modern yakuza, crime, Korean immigrants, Shogen, Ikken Yamamoto and Kim Jin-cheol, the production in general,...

Boxing has always been a very cinematic sport, with the its overall rules and the head-to-head mentality providing material for both captivating scripts and impressive visuals. Asian cinema has also been dealing with the concept, even if sporadically, but recently, there has been a surge of titles revolving around boxing, as we are still waiting for Brillante Mendoza’s “Gensan Punch”, which the protagonist, Shogen, having described the shooting as a once in a lifetime experience.

Among these titles, we picked 15 we think are among the most captivating to watch, as always with a focus on diversity in country of origin, filmmaker and style, although Japan has taken the lion’s share of entries in this list. The list is in chronological order.

1. Knockout

Violent, funny, dramatic and quirky are few of the contradictory words that can describe both “Knockout” and Hidekazu Akai, who plays the protagonist here, Eiji. As...

The reality of the yakuza in Japan has changed significantly during the last decades, with their lives having nothing to do with what Kinji Fukasaku portrayed in the 70s. A number of the latest productions focus on this change and the current lives of the members of the “underworld”, with movies like the recent “Under the Open Sky” being one of the most prominent examples. Oudai Kojima also implements this approach, focusing, though, on the criminal practices of the current yakuza, through a rather dark approach.

Joint is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

After having served 2 years in prison, former yakuza Takeshi Ishigami spent two miserable years working on a construction site, building up funds before he returned to Tokyo with the help of Yasu, his best friend. He is determined to go straight and in order to do that, he decides to invest in a big data startup company.

Filmmaker Yoshida Kota was educated at Waseda University and studied filmmaking at Enbu Seminar. His short film “Coming With My Brother!” (2006) received the Jury Special Award at Yubari International Fantastic Film Festival. Domestically and internationally, Yoshida continued to gain recognition. In 2010, he received the Special Mention Nippon Visions Award at Nippon Connection for “Yuriko’s Aroma”, and “Come As You Are” (2011) was nominated for the International Feature Competition at Raindance Film Festival. His short film “Kyojima 3rd St., Sumida City” screened at IFFR in 2012. “Love Disease” (2018) was awarded Best Actor at Asian Film Festival Roma.

Shogen modeled in Europe while backpacking around the world after graduating from college. He returned to Japan in 2004 and started his career as an actor. The debut film was “Bloody Snake under the Sun (2005)” which described the life in Okinawa in the postwar period. Shogen starred as a sanshin player and the film itself was...

Netherlands- and China-based sales agency Fortissimo Films has picked up worldwide rights to “Sexual Drive,” which has its world premiere on Thursday at the International Film Festival Rotterdam. Directed by Yoshida Kota, the film is a triptych about sex, aphrodisiac foods and secret desires.

The story tracks three people; a designer in a sexless marriage, a stricken office worker preparing to reenter the workplace, and an ad executive who wants to break off his existing relationship. In each segment a shabby man appears and reveals a challenging secret that may reinvigorate their love lives.

The film also borders on the food porn genre with the plentiful use of sensual close-ups of the characters eating and relishing their favorite dishes: Natto, Mapo and Ramen. Fortissimo pitches “Sexual Drive” as: “an erotic film with no explicit sex scenes and an amusing film about the best things in life.”

The cast is headed by Hashimoto Manami,...

The concept of food porn reaches a whole other level in Yoshida Kota’s triptych, since this time, the second part of the term is as explicit as the first, even without being graphic.

Sexual Drive is screening at International Film Festival Rotterdam

In the first part titled “Natto”, a traditional fermented soy bean dish, Kurita, a man with a movement disability visits designer Enatsu in his house, and the two have coffee in the most civilized manner. However, Kurita eventually starts describing an affair he has been having with Enatsu’s wife, Dr Megumi, after having a heart attack and recuperating in the hospital she works for. When Kurita discovers a ball of natto in the garbage, his narration takes a whole other direction, becoming quite perverse, as he describes in intimate detail his endeavors with Megumi, connecting the whole thing with the particular food in the most direct fashion.

Instead of simply writing our wishes to all our readers, for 2021 we decided to ask our friends to do so.

Mattie Do, Joko Anwar, Taku Tsuboi, Indrasis Acharya, Leena Alam, Takeshi Kushida, Bront Palarae, Torico, Isabel Sandoval, Ryo Katayama, Anthony Chen, Roya Sadat, Kazutaka Watanabe, Akio Fujimoto, Min Siu Goh, Scott C. Hillyard, Gerald Chew, Amy Cheng, Ronny Sen, Kenichi Ugana, Mostofa Sarwar Farooki, Park Jung Bum, Kim Min-jae, Shogen, Atsushi Funahashi, Jero Yun, Shuna Iijima and Khavn responded to our call. Check out their wishes...

“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...

Japan-Philippines co-production tells the true story of disabled Japan boxer Naozumi Tsuchiyama.

UK-based Sc Films International has picked up international rights to Japan-Philippines co-production Gensan Punch, directed by award-winning Filipino filmmaker Brillante Mendoza.

Scheduled to wrap next month, the English-language film tells the true story of Japanese athlete Naozumi Tsuchiyama, who became a professional boxer despite having an artificial leg. The film follows him Japan to the Philippines, where he rose to fame in the ‘Gensan’ quarter, which has spawned boxing stars such as Manny Pacquiao.

Japanese actor Shogen plays the boxer, with Ronnie Lazaro, Beauty Gonzales and Kaho Minami rounding out the cast.

Found footage is the last trend that emerged from the J-horror genre, a category that (let’s face it) has been almost dead for a decade now. Occasionally though, some interesting productions do emerge. Let us see if “The Room” is one of them.

The minimal story takes place between a small apartment and a hotel room. Yumi has just moved in the first one, which belongs to her boyfriend, Taka, while he is away on a business trip in New York, where he stays in a hotel. The two of them communicate through Skype, in a course of four days. While everything starts in very cheerful fashion, gradually things become worse. Yumi starts seeing something that seems like a ghost in the house, which terrifies her, while Taka does not seem to believe her. As her psychological situation deteriorates, Taka becomes more tired with her, although...

Everyone is imperfect, but not alone.

Support and supported.

Even a dream breaks, he gets up again with others.

What is the value of life? Family, companion, pride, love. And your goal?

Winning more than 500 awards including the world’s three famous international film festivals in the world, and serving as the Chairman of Juries for the Competition Division of the Tokyo International Film Festival in 2018, Brillante Mendoza (Center Stage Productions), the Asia’s leading director has announced that his newest film

would be shot in General Santos City in Phillipines, Okinawa and Fukuoka in Japan. Based on the story of a Japanese boxer with an artificial leg “Naozumi Tsuchiyama” for the first time using Lead Japanese actor “Shogen” in his film. Shooting in mid January 2020 at General Santos City in Phillipines. Scheduled for completion in June. The working title is “Gensan Punch”

Director Brillante Mendoza and actor Shogen

Story...

Shogen modeled in Paris, Milan and London while backpacking in the world after graduating from college. He returned to Japan in 2004 and started his career as an actor. The debut film was “Bloody Snake under the Sun (2005)” which described the life in Okinawa in the postwar period. Shogen played the leading part as a sanshin player and the film itself was nominated for the Competition at the 20th Tokyo International Film Festival. The encounter with “method acting” in Us in 2008 impressed him very much. He flew back to New York for further lessons and was trained by Susan Baston (the private coach of Nicole Kidman) and Roberta Wallch. In 2010, CNN chose Shogen for “The Tokyo Hot List : 20 People to watch 2010” due to his outstanding roles in the cinema clip “Seven Samurai” as well as in the advertisement of Jt “Seven Stars”. He is now actively taking part in various...

I have to admit that romantic films are not exactly my cup of tea. Occasionally though, a film arises that manages to be easy to watch and entertaining enough to prove that the category can also have some merit. Let us see if “Stay” belongs to this category.

Ryuu works hard at a little fish shop in Tokyo, trying to get his life back on track after a career in business ended in shambles due to drug addiction. Getting over his past, however, does not prove so easy and Ryuu is eventually fired due to customer’s complaints and on the same day stumbles upon his ex-dealer and his ex-girlfriend, ending up with a free “sample” in his pocket. The same night, he decides to go to an underground night club he used to frequent, where he ends up having sex in the bathroom with Hope, a girl he had never met before.

Among the plethora of Japanese family dramas, it is always a pleasure to discover the ones that truly stand out. “Okinawan Blue” manages to do that by functioning as a “love letter” to Okinawa and particularly the picturesque island Zamami, where the whole of the film takes place. This sense is enhanced even more by the fact that most of the staff are actually Okinawans.

Okinawan Blue is screening at Japan Film Fest Hamburg

The film tells three different stories, which are connected through the Full Moon guesthouse, its elderly owner Hana Hanashiro, and her do-it-all son, Yuhi. In the first story, a young couple consisting of a French photographer and an American-Japanese woman arrive to the island, with the former becoming increasingly annoyed by the lack of accommodation in the inn and the fact that the locals do not understand English or any other non-Japanese language for that matter.