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Japanese master filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu is set to receive the Career Achievement Award at the 60th Chicago International Film Festival, it was announced today. Featuring a retrospective program of six selected films, the acclaimed writer-director will receive the award on Friday, October 18, at a tribute screening of Nobody Knows, presented in 35mm, and participate in a conversation exploring his storied career. The 60th Chicago International Film Festival runs October 16 – 27, 2024 at venues across the city. The Kore-eda Hirokazu Tribute and Retrospective is co-presented in partnership with the Japan Foundation New York. Additional support is provided by Ana.

In addition to Nobody Knows, which screened at the 2004 Festival, the 60th Chicago International Film Festival retrospective program features films that were showcased in past editions, including 2013’s Like Father, Like Son; the 2016 film After The Storm; 2018’s Shoplifters; and Broker in 2022. 1998’s After Life marks that title’s Chicago International Film Festival debut.

Romanian director Raisa Razmerita’s Electing Miss Santa pitched in the Docu Rough Cut Boutique strand of CineLink, the industry platform of the Sarajevo Film Festival, was one of the stand-out projects of this year’s event, according to international attendees.

The film follows Elena, a struggling farmer in a Moldovan village who decides to run for mayor.

“I can’t remember the last time a marketplace presented such a compelling protagonist as Elena Santa,” said Polly Haythornthwaite, digital coordinator at the UK’s Java Films. “The film’s unique perspective comes not just from its focus on a rural village in Moldova,...

On Saturday 13 July 2024, BBC One broadcasts Casualty!

After the Storm Season 38 Episode 33 Episode Summary

In this episode of “Casualty” titled “After the Storm,” airing on BBC One, the aftermath of a devastating storm sets the stage for intense personal challenges among the hospital staff. Cam grapples with haunting memories from his past, leaving him vulnerable in unexpected ways. Meanwhile, Jacob faces renewed worry over his son, reigniting parental concerns amidst the chaos of the emergency room.

Nicole finds herself confronted with an unimaginable dilemma, testing her resolve and moral compass in the face of overwhelming circumstances. As the storm’s impact unfolds, viewers can expect a dramatic exploration of resilience, emotional turmoil, and ethical dilemmas within the high-pressure environment of the hospital. Tune in to BBC One for this compelling episode of “Casualty,” where the characters navigate personal crises against the backdrop of a community in crisis.

What Time is...

When memory slips away, what do we know to be real anymore?

That’s the question asked by “Great Absence,” a new film that sees legendary Japanese actor Tatsuya Fuji return to the big screen in a father-son drama about life, death, mortality, and morality. Filmmaker Kei Chika-ura writes and directs the feature which centers on a rekindled family amid an Alzheimers diagnosis and a suicide.

The official synopsis reads: Distanced from his father Yohji (Tatsuya Fuji) for twenty years, actor Takashi (Mirai Moriyama) is brought back home by a jarring police call. Yohji has disconnected from reality due to dementia, and his second wife Naomi (Hideko Hara) is missing. Asked where she is, the old man replies that she committed suicide. While trying to find out about the stepmother, Takashi traces the past of Yohji he has never been able to accept. And since Yohji abandoned his family 20 years ago for Naomi,...

Mubi has unveiled next month’s streaming lineup, featuring recent releases such as Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, Tynan DeLong’s Dad & Step-Dad, and Rachel Lambert’s Sometimes I Think About Dying. Additional highlights include Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Passion, Abbas Kiarostami’s Certified Copy, Alex Thompson’s Saint Frances (ahead of the release of Ghostlight), as well as a spotlight on the Ross Brothers following Mubi’s streaming release of Gasoline Rainbow at the end of this month.

“Everybody’s raising this Rashomon thing, but I feel that it’s fundamentally different from Rashomon, because in Rashomon, each character, when they go back through the story again, they actually end up being a different character within the film, within the story, whatever specific story it is,” Hirokazu Kore-eda told us last fall regarding Monster. “Whereas with this, the people don’t change, but the monster who appears, appears in different places.

It was truly a shocking day when fans found out that X-Men ‘97 showrunner Beau DeMayo was fired from the show a few days before the series premiere. No concrete explanation was given, and he also remained silent about the issue for a long time.

Disney+’s X-Men ’97

As many would assume that DeMayo’s termination from the project would spell failure and doom, it’s definitely the least of his worries as he’s got a stellar roster of critically acclaimed shows.

Beau DeMayo And Marvel Studios Shockingly Severed Ties Before X-Men ’97 Premiere

What happened between Marvel Studios and Beau DeMayo was still a mystery to everyone but rumors started circulating the moment the news was out in the world.

Suggestedx-Men ’97 Set to Feature Major MCU Avenger in Cameo Role as Fans Revisit His Arc in the Original X-Men Animated Series

Famous scooper Jeff Sneider claimed on...

The Cannes Film Festival has named the eight members of its main Competition jury who will join previously announced president Greta Gerwig in deciding the Palme d’Or and other key prizes at 77th edition running from May 14 to 25.

They are Turkish screenwriter and photographer Ebru Ceylan, U.S. actress Lily Gladstone, French actress Eva Green, Lebanese director and screenwriter Nadine Labaki, Spanish director and screenwriter J.A. Bayona, Italian actor Pierfrancisco Favino, Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda and French actor and producer Omar Sy.

The wife and long-time collaborator of Nuri Bilge Ceylan, screenwriter and photographer Ceylan co-wrote 2014 Palme d’Or winner Winter Sleep and also took co-writing credits on Cannes selected films Three Monkeys (Best Director Prize 2008), Once upon a time in Anatolia (Grand Prix 2011), The Wild Pear Tree (2018) and About Dry Grasses (2023).

Ceylan also appeared as an actress and took art director credits on her husband’s early films...

Billy Ray Cyrus and wife Firerose recently dropped their latest, all-new single called After The Storm. This is the couple’s fourth single together, and it’s sure to be just as successful as its predecessors, if not more.

Husband And Wife Duets Are A Staple Of Country Music

Nothing pulls at the heartstrings of country music fans quite like a collaborative effort between a husband and wife to record a hit song. Husband and wife duets in country music go together like a horse and a saddle. It’s also a great way for these duos to generate a lot of buzz.

Most recently, Blake Shelton and his wife, Gwen Stefani, put out their new single, Purple Irises. The song was a quick hit, as it caught fire as soon as it dropped. This time around, Billy Ray Cyrus just put out a new single with his wife, Firerose.

The belief that the dead live on in our memories is often the only comfort anyone can think to offer the bereaved, or those in the process of losing a loved one. But for Takashi (Mirai Moriyama), the introspective adult son at the heart of Kei Chika-ura’s quietly tectonic heartbreaker, that comfort is unavailable on multiple levels. Not only has he been long estranged from his father, Yohji (a shattering San Sebastian Best Performance-winning Tatsuya Fuji), but Yohji’s own precipitous descent into the fog of dementia means that whatever Takashi can now learn of him, at this late stage, is jumbled and fragmentary and possibly false. How can we adequately remember someone who cannot remember himself?

Like so much of “Great Absence,” that question is posed as a kind of mystery, made all the eerier by the ordinariness of the clues that tease its solution — an uncanceled meal delivery,...

A sold-out show at the Hollywood Bowl merits no less than a special guest — or two. During Kali Uchis’ show at the storied Los Angeles venue, the singer surprised fans with special appearances from Omar Apollo and Tyler, the Creator during her career-spanning set.

After opening her show with “Muñekita” and her Tyler, the Creator collab “See You Again” by herself, Uchis welcomed frequent collaborator (and gay bestie) Apollo for his verse on Red Moon in Venus‘ “Worth the Wait.” The Mexican singer received a lap dance from Uchis’ backup dancers during the performance.

Tatsuya Fuji, Mirai Moriyama star.

Gaga Corporation has acquired international sales rights excluding Japan on Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Platform entry Great Absence ahead of its European premiere in San Sebastian later this month.

Tatsuya Fuji and dance artist Mirai Moriyama star in the recent TIFF world premiere, which marks director Kei Chika-ura’s second feature after Complicity premiered at 2018 TIFF.

Great Absence is inspired by Chika-ura’s own experiences and centres on Takashi, a man who has been estranged from his father Yohji for 20 years and returns home with his wife after receiving a call from the police...

The Other Black Girl is a mystery drama series created by Zakiya Dalila Harris and Rashida Jones. The Hulu series is based on a 2021 novel of the same name by Zakiya Dalila Harris a workplace drama and it follows an African-American editorial assistant working in a NYC publishing firm which is largely populated by white people. When another black co-worker arrives she gets excited but is her new colleague a friend or a foe?

The Other Black Girl – Episode Guide (When are the Episodes Coming Out?)

The Other Black consists of ten episodes in total and all of them came out on the same day on Hulu. You can check out the episode titles and release dates for the episodes below:

Credit – Hulu Episode 1 “They Say I’m Different” – September 13 Episode 2 “After the Storm” – September 13 Episode 3 “I Know a Place” – September 13 Episode 4 “What About Your Friends” – September 13 Episode 5 “Don’t...

Zakiya Dalila Harris’ novel “The Other Black Girl” has hit the small screen in ten episodes filled with songs that support the story’s underlying message of compromising identity and Blackness in a majority-white workplace. Developed by Harris and Rashida Jones, who contributed the intro montage, to Episode 7 set to Anita Baker’s “Sweet Love,” the series crosses multiple genres from comedy to thriller and provides social commentary on how minority Poc employees compromise and navigate the social system of corporate America.

Set to Sza, TLC, Busta Rhymes, H.E.R., Janelle Monae and more, many scenes in the show become even stronger with the songs in the background. Co-showrunners Gus Hickey and Jordan Reddout left the ending open for a potential second season. The suspense and humor go hand in hand with the soundtrack for “The Other Black Girl.”

Here are all the songs in “The Other Black Girl”:

Episode...

Great Absence, the second feature film from Japanese director Kei Chika-ura, is receiving its world premiere in Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform section.

Inspired by Kei’s real-life experiences, the film tells the story of an actor living in Tokyo who is forced to travel home when the police call to say his father is suffering from dementia and has lost touch with reality. Making matters worse, his father’s second wife appears to be missing.

The actor makes the trip home with his own wife, full of conflicted emotions over a man who left the family when he was still a child, and starts an exploration into the mysteries of his father’s life. Along the way, the film touches on themes including time and memory, familial obligation and the role that women play in male-dominated Japanese society.

Veteran actor Tatsuya Fuji (In The Realm Of The Senses) plays the father,...

Kali Uchis has dropped an upbeat new single, “Muñekita.” The Spanish-language track features guest vocals from Dominican rapper El Alfa and Jt, from hip-hop duo City Girls.

“I love bringing artists together that you’d least expect,” Uchis explained in a statement. “El Alfa is a Latino legend and Jt is someone I’ve admired forever. Both of them are known for their summer hits and high energy, so I’m incredibly excited to bring them together for a fun, sexy song like this.”

In March, Uchis released her third LP,...

Kali Uchis’ Red Moon in Venus era is not over yet. On Tuesday, the Colombian-American singer announced six new dates for her 2023 tour later this fall.

Uchis will start her new run of dates in San Diego before making her way to Oakland, Las Vegas, Sacramento, and Los Angeles’ storied Hollywood Bowl. Dominican musician Tokischa will join her on the road for all six dates, while Buscabulla will also perform on her Los Angeles date.

The shows include dates on the west coast that were not allowed on her previous...

Cannes Film Festival head honcho Thierry Frémaux often likes to speak of the “Cannes family,” meaning the extended stable of international auteurs whom the festival helped discover, nurtured and has made regulars on the famed red-carpet steps of the Palais des Festivals. Today’s standard-bearer for Japan’s great tradition of humanist filmmaking in Cannes is undoubtedly Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose features have been included in the festival’s official selection seven times, a record for his home country. Incidentally, the leitmotif of Kore-eda’s work is also family — families broken, families in turmoil and families found. His most celebrated films at Cannes have all centered on the theme, albeit in various and inventive ways.

Like Father, Like Son, winner of the 2013 Cannes jury prize, told the story of two boys mistakenly switched at birth, the discovery of which — years later — confronts the parents with the agonizing decision of whether to...

Editor’s note: This review was originally published at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival. Well Go USA releases the film in theaters on Wednesday, November 22.

Scary as it sounds, “monster” can be such a strangely comforting word. Not only does classifying someone as inhuman absolve us from acknowledging the most difficult aspects of our shared humanity, it also reaffirms the smallness and simplicity of an infinitely complex universe that continues to expand no matter how much we might want to wrap our arms around it. “Monster” is a period at the end of a sentence; it’s the permission we give ourselves to demonize whatever we don’t understand.

And, for all of those reasons, it’s also a very unexpected title for a new feature by the great Hirokazu Kore-eda, whose achingly humanistic stories of families lost and found have never had any use for such a stiflingly judgmental term.

Lesley Land Scholarship Launches

The UK’s National Film and Television School has launched a scholarship in memory of the late publicist Lesley Land, who passed away unexpected last year aged 41. The Lesley Land Scholarship, in association with Land’s parents and Channel 4, will support an annual scholarship to study the Nfts’s Marketing, Distribution, Sales and Exhibition Ma course. Land’s parents, agent Anita and Brook Land, will fund it. Land, considered one of UK television’s smartest and wittiest publicists, passed away in December 2022. She had roles at Sky, The Outside Organisation, Taylor Herring and Planet Hollywood, and had a long spell at Channel 4 promoting shows such as Gogglebox. At last night’s BAFTA TV Awards, Land was featured in the ‘In Memoriam’ segment, which recognizes influential figures in the British entertainment industry who have passed away. Applications for the scholarship are now open, with the recipient...

A pink moon shone bright over three archways flanked by stairs bathed in colored light. From stage-right, old Hollywood feathers covered the woman of the hour, carried onstage by her dancers á la Cleopatra. A dancer came out, announcing the arrival of “La divina Kali Uchis.”

Kali Uchis at Radio City Music Hall 5/5/23

The feathers parted, and the spotlight turned to Uchis, a monochrome red vision in a long-sleeved top paired with thigh-high heeled boots and a short skirt. Greeted by a shrieking crowd, she boldly kicked the night off with “telepatía.

The lineup for the 76th installment of the Cannes Film Festival has finally been announced. Nineteen films will be competing to take home the prestigious Palme d’Or, including a record six films helmed by women. The festival will be taking place in the French Riviera from May 16 to May 27. This year’s jury will be headed by Ruben Östlund, who won his second Palme d’Or last year for “Triangle of Sadness.”

Knowing a filmmaker’s previous track record at Cannes can sometimes help give an idea as to who might be in the best position to claim the Palme. For instance, five of this year’s entries come from directors who have previously won the Palme. Another five are from auteurs who have had previous films win a prize in the main competition other than the Palme. Another five are from directors having their first film screen in the main competition.

Kali Uchis brought her lush R&b sounds to Coachella during a Main Stage show that included surprise appearances from Omar Apollo, Tyler, the Creator, and more.

Appearing from behind a flurry of feathers, she opened the performance with “Telepatía,” which she sang atop a Greek column-flanked stage, recalling the dreamy aesthetic of her latest album Red Moon In Venus. The set included a bevy of guests.

Tyler, the Creator appeared first. Although there were technical difficulties with his mic, he continued to rap and dance with Uchis to “See You Again,...

This Thanksgiving, it's not just turkeys that'll be getting carved up. Horror director Eli Roth is set to follow in the footsteps of "Machete Kills" filmmaker Robert Rodriguez and "Hobo With A Shotgun" director Jason Eisener, turning the fake movie trailer he made for Rodriguez's 2007 film "Grindhouse" into a real, feature-length movie. "Thanksgiving" is now set to strut its way to theaters in time for the colonialist feast day.

While Roth has yet to drop a trailer or first footage from the movie, fans of the filmmaker probably have a good idea of what to expect from the feature-length expansion of a delightfully nasty short that left audiences laughing (and flinching) back when Rodriguez's "Grindhouse" made its debut. It's too soon to tell how much "Thanksgiving" will borrow from its source material, but as the first fiction feature co-written, directed, and produced by the "Hostel" filmmaker since 2015's Keanu Reeves-led erotic thriller,...

‘Decision To Leave’ won three and Hirokazu Kore-eda named best director.

The Asian Film Awards (Afa) celebrated its comeback edition in Hong Kong tonight (March 12) and named Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s Drive My Car best film.

The Japanese film, which premiered at Cannes in 2021 and won best international feature at last year’s Oscars, won a further two awards at the AFAs: best editing for Azusa Yamazaki and best original music by Eiko Ishibashi.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Park Chan-wook’s Decision To Leave went into the night as the favourite, with a leading 10 nominations for the South Korean film,...

The actor is known for roles in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Still Walking’ and ‘After the Storm’ among others.

Japanese actor Hiroshi Abe is to be honoured with the Excellence in Asian Cinema Award at the 16th Asian Film Awards in Hong Kong next month.

The actor is known internationally for roles in Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Still Walking and After The Storm, and Hideki Takeuchi’s Thermæ Romæ, for which he won his first Japan Academy Film Prize in 2013.

Abe will accept the award at the awards ceremony, which is set to be held in Hong Kong on March 12. The nominations were announced last month.

If you purchase an independently reviewed product or service through a link on our website, Rolling Stone may receive an affiliate commission.

Kali Uchis will dive deep into the meaning of love and “divine femininity” on her forthcoming album, inspired by the astrology behind a blood moon. On Monday, the Colombian songstress announced her album Red Moon in Venus, which she says “represents all levels of love.” She also revealed that she’ll head on tour in late April.

“Love is the message,” Uchis said in a statement. “Red Moon in Venus is a timeless,...

A previous Palme d’Or winner (Shoplifters), Broker becomes Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s eighth trip to Cannes – this follows Distance (2001), Nobody Knows (2004), Air Doll (2009), Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), After the Storm (2016). It stars Song Kang-ho, Bae Doona, Gang Dong-won, and Lee Ji-eun.

Another tale about family – this latest (first Korean language film for the filmmaker) once again reconfigures the essence of what family represents.

Another film just underneath the 3 point average, with nineteen of our jurors voting – we got an average of 2.9.

Click on the grid below for a larger version and latest updates!…...

The Osaka Asian Film Festival (Oaff) 2022 announced its program outline on January 31, 2022.

Event Outline

The Oaff aims to facilitate human resources development and exchange, to invigorate the Osaka economy, and to increase the city’s appeal, through providing opportunities to watch excellent Asian films, supporting filmmaking in Osaka and attracting filmmakers from Asian countries and regions to Osaka. Promoting Osaka worldwide as a gateway city for Asian films, and engaging with many people from the fields of culture, art, education, tourism and business, from Osaka and all of Asia, Oaff works as an open platform to contribute to the development of Osaka and cinema.

Marking its 17th edition this year and under programming director Teruoka Sozo, Oaff will again select high-quality Asian films. The Competition section, which receives increased recognition every year, will again select films previously unreleased in Japan. The Indie Forum section, special programs and other sections will...

Hey, The Resident fans. It's that time again. We are back on here to give you some new spoiler, 411 intel on what is going down when the next, new episode 11 of The Resident's current season 4 finally makes its way to the air next Tuesday night, April 27, 2021. The terrific Fox folks gave us quite a few, new spoiler teasers to work with for this new episode 11. So, we're going to dive straight into them right now. Let's do it. To start, there is an official title for episode 11. It's called, "After The Storm." It sounds like episode 11 will feature some very intense, dramatic, suspenseful and possible emotional scenes as a tornado is headed right for Chastain! Conrad and Nick treat an injured Emt. Devon and Leela get trapped! Bell enlists The Raptor and Dr. Wong onto an intense medical case. A new resident is assigned to Cain and more.

When 24-year-old instrumentalist Yasmin Williams plays guitar, she conjures new possibilities and stories from the instrument. Performing in a distinctive, inventive finger-style, and using only a looping pedal, Williams creates textured, harmonious soundscapes almost entirely by herself on each of her two solo instrumental albums: 2018’s Unwind, and her brand-new collection, Urban Driftwood.

The final song of Williams’ latest record is “After the Storm,” a gorgeous, haunting, nearly six-minute original that serves as both sermon and summary of what’s come before. Arriving on the album after a 40-minute song...

Before establishing himself as one of Japan’s most internationally renowned directors, Hirokazu Koreeda was – and still is – a documentary maker. A year after making his feature film debut (1995’s “Maboroshi no hikari), “Without Memory” was his last documentary before dedicating his energies to feature films.

The documentary follows the life of unfortunate Sekine Hiroshi, who, following an operation, due to Japanese insurance complications, was mistakenly not given the necessary vitamins required while in recovery in a botched cost-cutting measure. When he awakes, Hiroshi can only recall his life up to the point of the surgery; everything beyond that is simply forgotten within minutes.

Filmed over a number of years, the documentary follows his relationship with his family: his wife and full-time confidant Miwa and his two sons and the discussions they have about what his experience is like not being able to recall anything that has just happened to him.

Kore-eda Hirokazu is one of contemporary’s cinema’s canniest explorers of what lies beneath the nuclear family. Last year’s “Shoplifters” won the Cannes Palme d’Or in 2018 and was Japan’s submission to the Oscars; while it received a nomination, the film, of course, stood no chance in the shadow of “Roma.” The achingly sad, lovely “Shoplifters” shined a light on a family bound not by blood, but by the need to survive, and for human connection in the chaotic world of Tokyo’s lower class. Now, Kore-eda returns to his fabled territory of complex family dynamics, but this time with a cinephile’s dream of a triple-threat cast: Juliette Binoche, Catherine Deneuve, and Ethan Hawke. Watch the first U.S. trailer from IFC Films below.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Fabienne (Catherine Deneuve) is a star of French cinema. She reigns amongst men who love and admire her.

Filmmaker Kore-eda Hirokazu once predicted that his Palme d’Or-winning “Shoplifters” would come to represent a major turning point in his career — the end of one phase, and the beginning of another. As it turns out, “The Truth” is inevitably a bit more complicated.

The first movie the Japanese writer-director has made since winning the film world’s most prestigious award is also the first that he’s ever shot in another tongue or country, and that fact alone is enough to make Kore-eda’s latest feel like an outlier in any number of obvious ways; a foreign organ transplanted into an otherwise cohesive body of work. On the other hand, this wise and diaphanous little drama finds Kore-eda once again exploring his usual obsessions, as the man behind the likes of “Still Walking” and “After the Storm” offers yet another insightful look at the underlying fabric of a modern family.

The Japanese film producer / writer / director Kei Chakaura tackles the topics of immigration, integration, sense of family and food in his feature debut “Complicity”. The film premiered last year in the Discovery competition of Toronto, was shown in Busan and won the audience award at Tokyo FILMeX before its European premiere at the Culinary Cinema sidebar of this year’s Berlinale.

“Complicity” is screening at Helsinki Cine Aasia 2019

Immigrating to Japan sounds like a better idea than it actually is. The economy is basically stagnating for a very long period of time and the immigration and integration policies are quite strict. Most of the people from the neighbouring countries interested in living and working there stand no chance to obtain a visa so, if they want to, they have to explore some illegal options like using a fake identity.

One of those people is a Chinese citizen Cheng-liang (Lu Yulai...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Combat Obscura (Miles Lagoze)

One of the very best documentaries we saw on the festival circuit last year was Combat Obscura, which premiered at last year’s True/False Film Festival. The film comes from Miles Lagoze, who took footage he shot as a Marine combat camera operator in Afghanistan, as well as videos taken by his comrades, and edited it all into a brisk, intense hour of war vignettes. Dan Schindel said in his review, “Combat Obscura sinks deeper into darkness as it progresses, as the utter pointlessness and futility of America’s presence in Afghanistan overwhelms the troops. While we are initially invited to empathize with the Marines,...

Once considered as a Japanese industry outsider, Hirokazu Kore-eda has thoroughly conquered that insider bastion, the Japan Academy Prizes, scooping eight trophies for his dark family drama “Shoplifters” at the 42nd annual award ceremony on March 1. Among them were best picture and best director honors – with the latter Kore-eda’s second in a row.

Administered by the Japan Academy Film Prize Association, the Japan Academy Prizes have been called Japan’s Oscars, but they have struggled to attain a similar clout and prestige. One reason is the perception that they are mostly parceled out by the local majors for the local majors. Celebrated auteur Takeshi Kitano told an audience at the 2014 Tokyo International Film Festival that “Toho, Toei, Shochiku and sometimes Nikkatsu…pass (the awards) around.”

“Shoplifters” was released in Japan by Gaga, not considered a major distributor of Japanese films but still a potent industry force with a long...

Hirose Nanako was born 1987 in Kanagawa, Japan. After graduating from Musashino Art University, Hirose joined the Kore-eda Hirokazu’s production company Bun-buku in 2011. She worked in Kore-eda’s TV drama Going Home (2012), long features Like Father, Like Son (2013), Our Little Sister (2015), After The Storm (2016), and Miwa Nishikawa’s The Long Excuse (2016). His Lost Name marks her feature film debut.

On the occasion of His Lost Name screening at the 25th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinemas, we speak with her about Koreeda, Yuya Yagira, Kaoru Kobayashi, her film, hypocrisy, patriarchy, Japanese cinema and many other topics. and also crashed the graduation moment. This, and the weeks that followed the earthquake and the consequences led me to not wanting to do any work, I was in a really strange “in-between” place. After the events, there was some kind of solidarity sentiment going on in Japan but I really felt that...

With a seemingly endless amount of streaming options — not only the titles at our disposal, but services themselves — we’re highlighting the noteworthy titles that have recently hit platforms. Check out this week’s selections below and an archive of past round-ups here.

Creed II (Steven Caple Jr.)

There’s no better way to recognize what a filmmaker brings to the table than a sequel without him/her. This isn’t to say Ryan Coogler wasn’t involved in the making of Creed II—he is a producer on the project after all. No, it’s simply to point out how different Creed was to the Rocky films that came before it. Yes, it was pretty much a redux of the original installment that put Sylvester Stallone on Hollywood’s map as both a leading actor and screenwriter, but it relived those beats with a depth of character and emotion...

The Japanese film producer / writer / director Kei Chakaura tackles the topics of immigration, integration, sense of family and food in his feature debut “Complicity”. The film premiered last year in the Discovery competition of Toronto, was shown in Busan and won the audience award at Tokyo FILMeX before its European premiere at the Culinary Cinema sidebar of this year’s Berlinale.

Immigrating to Japan sounds like a better idea than it actually is. The economy is basically stagnating for a very long period of time and the immigration and integration policies are quite strict. Most of the people from the neighbouring countries interested in living and working there stand no chance to obtain a visa so, if they want to, they have to explore some illegal options like using a fake identity.

Complicity is screening at Berlin Film Festival

One of those people is a Chinese citizen Cheng-liang (Lu Yulai...

Delicate business is being transacted in this soft-spoken, cinematic treasure from Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Japanese master behind films like Nobody Knows, Like Father, Like Son and After the Storm. Still, Shoplifters made a big noise at the Cannes Film Festival in May, going home with the Palme d’Or — and you only need to watch this quietly devastating gem to see why. Set in a residential, non-touristy part of Tokyo, his latest focuses on a family crowded together in a ramshackle house. They seem like any other affectionate, dysfunctional clan,...

When Cate Blanchett handed Kore-eda Hirokazu the Palme d’Or at Cannes in May, the “Shoplifters” director froze in place for a moment, as though paralyzed by the weight of the world’s most prestigious film award. Kore-eda had good reason to be shell-shocked. Despite emerging as the most feted Japanese filmmaker of his generation, being anointed as “Ozu’s heir” more times than he could count, and even winning the Cannes Jury Prize in 2013, Kore-eda still never thought this day would come.

The last time a film of his had been invited to screen at the festival (2016’s achingly wounded “After the Storm”), it had been relegated to the Un Certain Regard sidebar, a demotion that often anticipates a director’s irrelevance. And while Kore-eda had weathered that demotion before, his next feature — a grim murder-mystery that found him veering away from the kind of gentle family dramas that...

by Murtada Elfadl

Kore-eda with his Palme d'Or for Shoplifters. Is an Oscar nomination next?

In Shoplifters Hirokazu Kore-eda tells us a story about how families unite with bonds of love and real connection rather than accidents of birth. Perhaps the best way to describe it is “humanist” as it puts connection, kindness and love at the forefront. According to the press notes, the director was inspired to write the story after learning about incidents of pension fraud in Japan - where families illegally received the pensions of parents who had already died years ago - and the severe criticism the perpetrators got.

I am wondering why people get so angry over such minor infractions even though there are many lawbreakers out there committing far more serious crimes without condemnation.

Shoplifters traces the relationships of a makeshift family that survives through petty crime, shoplifting and the grandmother's pension. Kore-eda, who wrote,...

South Korea’s Cj Entertainment has picked up international sales rights to ambitious Malaysian drama “The Garden of Evening Mists.” The film’s cast mixes high profile Asian and Western stars.

The picture is an adaptation of a novel of the same title by Tan Twan Eng, which was nominated for the Man Booker Prize in 2012. It tells a tale of cultural complexity shortly after World War II in British-controlled Malaya. The story features a female law graduate who seeks a quiet life in the idyllic Cameron Highlands, but finds love and a common interest in gardening in the arms of a mysterious Japanese man.

Production is by Astro Shaw, part of the Astro part of pay-tv giant, and HBO, with financial support from the National Film Development Corporation of Malaysia (Finas). Shooting wrapped in August, and delivery is set for 2019.

“Garden” is directed by Taiwan’s Tom Lin and...

If you’re unfamiliar with the work of filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda, then you really must seek out his films. The writer-director is perhaps best known for his films such as “Nobody Knows,” “Like Father, Like Son,” and “After the Storm.” However, his most recent wprk, the incredible “Shoplifters,” won the Palme d’Or at this year’s Cannes Film Festival and might be his best yet.

Continue reading ‘Shoplifters’ Exclusive Clip: Familial Labels Are Questioned In Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Palme d’Or-Winning Film at The Playlist.

Cj sells North America rights to Neon; the Korean company has also boarded The Garden Of Evening Mists for international sales.

South Korea’s Cj Entertainment has locked multiple pre-sales deals on Okja director Bong Joon Ho’s latest project Parasite and has picked up international sales rights on Starry Starry Night director Tom Lin’s The Garden Of Evening Mists, adapted from the Man Booker Prize-nominated novel of the same title.

Parasite is Bong’s return to Korean-language filmmaking after Okja and Snowpiercer, and stars Song Kang Ho in his fourth collaboration with the director. The film has sold...

The Third Murder, the latest film from acclaimed filmmaker Kore-eda (Our Little Sister, After The Storm), hits Blu-ray and DVD on November 13. The thriller centers on Shigemori (Masaharu Fukuyama), a high powered attorney who is defending a murder-robbery suspect named MIsumi (Kōji Yakusho). Initially hesitant at taking the job since Misumi has given a full [...]

The post Kore-eda Thriller ‘The Third Murder’ Lands Blu-Ray Release In November appeared first on Hollywood Outbreak.

Following its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival earlier this year – as well as subsequent screenings at a handful of other festivals including Sydney, Telluride, and most recently New York, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s masterful Shoplifters now has a domestic trailer and theatrical release date, courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.

In the past, Kore-eda has found success at Cannes with the premieres of Like Father Like Son, Our Little Sister, and After the Storm. This year was no different as Shoplifters went on to win the coveted Palme d’Or. Playing into familiar narrative themes, Kore-eda tells the story of a barren family with an unconventional skillset: shoplifting. After another one of their nightly outings of petty crime, father-of-the-family Osamu and his son decide to take in a young girl that they find all alone in the streets. Eventually, their lifestyle catches up with them, and what once used to bring them together,...

"Sometimes, it's better to choose your own family." Magnolia Pictures has released the official Us trailer for the Palme d'Or winning film Shoplifters, the latest film from beloved Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-eda. Shoplifters is about a family of small-time crooks, but the story is really about what happens when they take in a young girl they find living on the street one day. The film's cast includes Lily Franky, Sakura Ando, Kirin Kiki , Kengo Kora, Sosuke Ikematsu, Chizuru Ikewaki, Yuki Yamada, Yoko Moriguchi, and Akira Emoto. This mostly understated, beautiful Japanese drama won big at Cannes, but also won the hearts of cinephiles, earning effusive reviews from some of the toughest critics out there. If you're looking to discover some of the finest filmmaking this year, this should for sure be at the top of your list. It's a must watch film from Japan. Here's the official Us ...

Updated: Filmmaker Brett Ratner and his alleged sexual assault victim Melanie Kohler have ended their legal battle nearly a year after it first made waves in Hollywood. Deadline reports that each party has announced an end to their legal dispute and Ratner and Kohler have voiced “their mutual desire to ‘move on.'” Ratner was the subject of an allegation made by Kohler last fall, just days before The Los Angeles Times published its own story, which included accounts of alleged sexual harassment and abused by six different women.

In November of last year, Ratner was accused of harassment by six women in an extensive Times article. Actresses who came forward with allegations against the “Rush Hour” director included Olivia Munn, who claims Ratner masturbated in front of her while she was delivering food to his trailer on the set of the film “After the Storm,” and Natasha Henstridge, who...

On the September 24, 2018 episode of /Film Daily, /Film editor-in-chief Peter Sciretta is joined by /Film weekend editor Brad Oman, and writers Hoai-Tran Bui and Chris Evangelista to talk what they’ve been up to at the Water Cooler. You can subscribe to /Film Daily on iTunes, Google Play, Overcast, Spotify and all the popular […]

The post Water Cooler: Knotts Scary Farm, Maniac, Aquaman, After the Storm, One Cut of the Dead, iPhone/Apple Watch, Better Call Saul appeared first on /Film.