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Chicago – On Friday, October 18th, the 60th Chicago International Film Festival (Ciff) paid tribute to one of Japan’s master directors, Kore-eda Hirokazu. The filmmaker achieved international acclaim for films like “After Life” (1998), “Distance” (2001), “Nobody Knows” (2004), “Like Father, Like Son” (2013) and in 2018, Kore-eda won Cannes’ highest award, the Palme d’Or, with his film “Shoplifters.”

The Exclusive Portraits were captured by photographer Joe Arce of HollywoodChicago.com at the event that took place at the Gene Siskel Film Center. The 2024 Ciff runs through October 27th.

60th Ciff Honoree “A Tribute to Kore-da Hirozaku”

Photo credit: Joe Arce of Starstruck Foto for HollywoodChicago.com

Born in 1962 in Tokyo, JKore-eda Hirokazu graduated from Waseda University and joined TV Man Union, where he directed several prize-winning documentary programs. In 1995, he made his feature directorial debut with “Maborosi,” which became a festival favorite, winning the 52nd Venice International Film Festival’s Golden Osella...

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.

Leading Japanese TV producer Morii Akira and South Korea’s J.Q. Lee are joining forces to create an action-driven series built around a protagonist with special powers.

The pair are both currently riding high, developing or producing additional seasons for their recent hit shows. Morii is currently working on a third season of Netflix original, dystopian series “Alice in Borderland.” Lee is working on Season 2 of Korean hit “All of Us Are Dead.”

The untitled new series is pitched as “an action-packed spectacular drama, featuring a protagonist with unique abilities never before seen in movies or Japanese comics [and] promising an unprecedented viewing experience,” the pair said.

A long-form story arc is being completed before being fleshed out into episodic storylines. Shooting, production schedules and cast details will be announced in the future.

“We cannot disclose specific details at this time, but I can say that this project will feature an ingenious and unheard-of storyline.

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...

Since the beginning of his career, Hirokazu Koreeda became recognized for his films representing the family cinema genre—intrinsically linked with the favorite of Western critics among Japanese filmmakers: Yasujiro Ozu. This was already the case with Koreeda's 1995 debut film, “Maboroshi no hikari”, a visual meditation on loss and the passing of time, told through the eyes of a single mother who has just lost her beloved husband. Since the early 1960s and the death of Yasujiro Ozu, Western critics seemed to be engaged in an excruciating quest to find a new ancestor to Ozu's poetics of cinema—and finally, there was one; Koreeda became the new Ozu.

The similarity is there—a contemplative approach towards the mundane which translates to something more transcendental; a patient gaze onto the bonds of the family set against the backdrop of a modernizing world and changing traditions; or a talent to put...

The family/social drama has always been a staple within the Japanese film industry with directors such as Yasujiro Ozu or Kenji Mozoguchi having shaped it during the course of their career. At the same time, while delving into family issues, these directors have taken a lesson from early works within the cinematic landscape of their culture as well as Italien Neo-realism, adding “a slice of life” to their works. In the last couple of years perhaps no other director has influenced (and to certain extent perfected) this formula than Hirokazu Koreeda. His debut feature “Maborosi” already showed the family as a mirror image of a society caught in between tradition and progress, family values and individualism. With his fourth feature “Nobody Knows”, inspired by a true case, Koreeda would not only reach international fame, but also manifest his take on the aforementioned formula which many have copied (or tried to) over the years.

Japanese writer won the screenplay award at Cannes for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s ‘Monster’.

Japan’s Yuji Sakamoto, who won the best screenplay award at Cannes for writing Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Monster, has signed a deal is to develop projects at Netflix over the next five years.

Sakamoto had previously collaborated with the streaming giant as the writer and producer of In Love and Deep Water, a romantic mystery feature starring Ryo Yoshizawa and Aoi Miyazaki, which is set for release later this year.

Kaata Sakamoto, vice president of content at Netflix Japan, said: “Yuji Sakamoto continues to create a variety of masterpieces,...

Exclusive: Netflix has signed a five-year deal with Japanese screenwriter Yuji Sakamoto, winner of the Best Screenplay award at this year’s Cannes Film Festival for Hirokazu Kore-eda’s competition title Monster.

Sakamoto has already scripted his first Netflix project, previously announced romantic murder mystery film In Love And Deep Water, set to be released later this year.

Netflix is now entering into a broader collaboration with Sakamoto through which he will develop a range of titles to premiere exclusively on the streamer’s platform worldwide.

Directed by Taki Yusuke, In Love And Deep Water takes place on board a luxury cruise ship where a devoted ship butler encounters a female passenger, who claims their respective partners are on the verge of cheating on them. Ryo Yoshizawa (Gintama franchise) and Aoi Miyazaki head the cast.

Monster marked the first time that Korea-eda has directed a film...

“Maborosi” is based on the novel “Maboroshi no Hikari” “by Teru Miyamoto. The title of the book and movie adaptation translates to “phantom light.” Writing the screenplay is Yoshihisa Ogita. Hirokazu Koreeda's first fictional feature would be a critical and financial success. It would be a major hit at the 1995 Venice Film Festival, winning a Golden Osella Award for Best Cinematography. Many viewers have described the feature as having the calm stillness of a Yasujiro Ozu picture with the emotional tone of a work by Mikio Naruse.

on Amazon by clicking on the image below

The story begins in Osaka. Yumiko is a happy young woman who embraces life and dearly loves her husband, Ikuo, and child, Yuichi. She is frequently troubled by dreams regarding the passing of her grandmother. Despite this, she finds happiness in her new life. Unfortunately, tragedy strikes when her husband dies...

Few stories are as gratifying as the narrative jigsaw. How to fool the viewer into believing one thing without lying about what happened? It’s difficult enough to execute on the page, but much more can be hidden in writing. With film it’s a matter of obscuring the context of what we both see and hear, which requires some trickery. Like any sound cinematic tool, it can be misused and abused (see: the MCU), but with tasteful restraint it can be the backbone of a masterclass in mystery. See: Monster.

Writer, editor, and director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s 17th feature––his fourth in five years, the third of those to debut in competition at Cannes, with Shoplifters taking the Palme d’Or in 2018––is exactly that: a masterclass in mystery. Or, perhaps, context. What starts as a relatively clear story about sinister pyros, “pig-brained” kids, and abusive teachers transforms, through labyrinthine story mechanics,...

In the throes of Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s latest narrative Cannes competition film Monster are two boys learning about their feelings for one another.

“There haven’t been many Japanese films that address these topics,” acknowledged the 2018 Shoplifters Palme d’Or winner, speaking at a Thursday press conference for the film, about the LGBTQ themes among the young boys in Monster.

“When I discovered the screenplay, I thought to myself, this story should not be viewed from that angle. It’s an inner struggle,” he added.

Monster follows Saori (Ando Sakura), a take-no-prisoners widowed mother bringing up her son Minato (Kurokawa Soya), who is weathering tough times in his elementary school. Mom learns that son’s odd behavior may have to do with his teacher, who Minato says hit him. The pic is told from several different points of view, including that of the teacher, Hori (Nagayama Eita), Minato, and the friend he adores,...

Japanese filmmaker Hirokazu Kore-Eda’s seventh go-round in Cannes competition, Monster, received a six-minute standing ovation Wednesday in the Grand Theatre Lumiere. He won the Palme d’Or back in 2018 for Shoplifters. Can he do it again?

Kore-Eda spoke in Japanese: “Thank you. Some people couldn’t be here. Can’t wait to go back to Japan and show them the film…tell them about this absolutely wonderful premiere. It will stay in my heart.”

It’s the filmmaker’s ninth movie overall at the fest (counting two that appeared in Un Certain Regard). Monster is his first movie since his 1995 debut feature Maborosi that the director has not had a screenplay credit on.

Monster follows Saori (Ando Sakura), a take-no-prisoners widowed mother, who is now bringing up her son Minato (Kurokawa Soya) who is weathering tough times in his elementary school. Mom learns that son’s odd behavior may...

Japan’s most prolific and successful contemporary filmmaker, Hirokazu Kore-Eda, is back in a favorite place, Cannes, for the unveiling of his latest effort, a return to his Japanese storytelling roots and a good one at that. For his seventh film in the main Cannes competition and his ninth overall (counting two that appeared in Un Certain Regard), Monster represents the first movie since his 1995 debut feature Maborosi that the director has not had a screenplay credit on — this film being written by Sakamoto Yuji — but clearly with its humanist family-centered themes is right in this master craftsman’s wheelhouse.

After last year’s lighter Cannes entry Broker, which was his first Korean film, Monster is more in line with his touching 2013 Jury Prize winner Like Father, Like Son and his 2018 Palme d’Or winner Shoplifters, which also earned him a foreign-language Oscar nomination. In fact, he is teaming...

Hirokazu Kore-Eda is back in Cannes Competition after winning the Palme d’Or for Shoplifters in 2018 and last year presenting Korean-language Broker, which won best actor for Song Kang-ho. His new title, Monster, reteams him with Shoplifters actress Sakura Ando and is the last film to be scored by Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto, who died in March at 71 following a battle with cancer.

Scripted by Yuji Sakamoto (We Made a Beautiful Bouquet), Monster revolves around a single mother (Ando) who suspects there is something wrong at her son’s school when he starts behaving strangely. She storms into the school and accuses a teacher of bullying her son, only to have the teacher claim the boy is bullying another pupil, an eccentric child who appears to be having problems at home.

The cast also includes Eita Nagayama (Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai) as the teacher and veteran actress Yuko Tanaka...

The Japanese auteur won the Palme d’Or with ’Shoplifters’ in 2018.

Gaga Corporation and Goodfellas have jointly pre-sold Cannes Competition title Monster, directed by Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters), to territories across Europe, Asia and the Middle East ahead of its premiere.

The film sold to Italy (Bim), Spain (Vertigo), France (Le Pacte), Germany (Wild Bunch Germany), South Korea (MediaCastle), Hong Kong (Edko Films), Taiwan (MovieCloud), Singapore and Vietnam (Clover Films), Thailand (Sahamongkolfilm International), Indonesia (Falcon), India (Impact Films), Benelux (September Film), Switzerland (Cineworx), Greece (Spentzos), Portugal (Midas), Scandinavia (Triart), Bulgaria (Beta Film), Yugoslavia (McF), Hungary (Cirko), Baltic...

Upcoming feature is tipped for Cannes selection.

Japan’s Gaga Corporation has teamed with Paris-based Wild Bunch International to handle sales of Monster, the upcoming film by Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda.

Wbi will handle worldwide sales excluding Asia, which will be handled by Gaga.

A promo will be shown to buyers at the upcoming European Film Market (EFM), which runs February 16-22 alongside the Berlinale. Gaga and Wbi began collaborating on Kore-eda’s titles in 2011 with I Wish, which played Toronto and San Sebastian film festivals.

As previously announced, Monster will be released in Japan on June 2, suggesting a possible return to Cannes for Kore-eda,...

Broker is a frustrating film. To refer to any film as such can often be a compliment, as it could translate to thought-provoking, yet Hirokazu Kore-eda’s newest feature disappointingly delivers nothing on the expectations the Cannes-winning director himself has set up for his oeuvre. Saying it’s a waste of time is a cheap formulation and might even be too strong, but I doubt Broker offers anything else on the theme of unconventional families that Kore-eda’s previous films have not. If anything, Broker feels like a hurried report of all that has interested the Japanese director before about unlikely familial bonds and the notion that blood is not thicker than water.

I say that with a heavy heart, as I’ve often admired the director, particularly with early films like Maborosi or After Life, but I’ve also been very critical of him when his feel-good cinema borders a tame and inoffensive,...

The cinema of Hirokazu Koreeda is profoundly wonderful. His masterful storytelling and his elegant direction make for some unforgettable viewing experiences. Koreeda understands the complexions of human beings and brings them to the forefront in the scenarios he establishes in his movies. It would be hard to decide what is the director’s finest project. However, one thing is certain: his delicate feature “After Life” is a masterpiece.

Following the success of his film “Maborosi,” Hirokazu Koreeda proceeded with his next project. When constructing the concept for his next feature, the director took to his childhood memories of his grandfather, who gradually lost his memory during illness. These events would show the artist how important memory is to an individual’s identity. In conjunction with this, he would interview hundreds of people to prepare for this uniquely artistic work. Upon release, “After Life” would become a big hit and boost Koreeda’s popularity internationally.

K-pop superstars Aespa are gearing up for their big comeback with a new label deal, new single and a new album due out this summer.

Fresh off their surprise set at Coachella last month, the four-piece girl group are dropping their second mini album on July 8. Titled Girls, the EP is led by the breezy lead single, “Life’s Too Short,” which Aespa first previewed at Coachella. The English-language track will officially be released June 24. A second track, “Illusion,” is available now to preview ahead of the new mini album release.

Next month’s Mubi lineup for the U.S. has been unveiled, with a major highlight being their recent release Lingui, The Sacred Bonds and more films from director Mahamat-Saleh Haroun (read our recent chat with him). Matías Piñeiro’s Isabella and Kazik Radwanski’s Anne at 13,000 Ft., two of last year’s highlights, will also arrive.

Two recent Cannes premieres, the Adèle Exarchopoulos-led Zero Fucks Given and Peter Tscherkassky’s Train Again will also finally come to the U.S. courtesy of Mubi. In terms of older highlights, Kathryn Bigelow’s Near Dark, Hong Sang-soo’s The Power of the Kangwon Province, Jafar Panahi’s Crimson Gold, Jean Renoir’s Grand Illusion, and more will arrive.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

March 1 | The Willmar 8 | Lee Grant | Down and Out in America: Lee Grant’s Documentaries

March 2 | Train Again | Peter Tscherkassky | Brief Encounters

March...

Leading Japanese distributor Gaga has acquired international sales rights for three early documentaries by Cannes Palme d’Or winner Kore-eda Hirokazu. All three titles are available for theatrical rights only.

After joining the TV Man Union production company in 1987, Kore-eda worked as an assistant director on its signature documentary programming, winning promotion to director in 1991. The three films Gaga is handling were directed by Kore-eda in 1991-92 for the Fuji TV documentary program “Nonfix,” including his directorial debut, “However.”

This documentary, which critiques Japan’s social welfare system with a focus on an elite bureaucrat who commits suicide after coming under fire for refusing to compensate Minamata Disease victims, won Kore-eda a Galaxy prize – Japan’s equivalent of the Emmys.

He followed up with “Lessons from a Calf,” a 1991 documentary about kids who take care of a cow as

part of their elementary school curriculum. The film, another award winner,...

About the Film

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.

Synopsis

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.

Watch For Free...

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.

1st Gangneung International Film Festival, Festival Report by Jean-Marc Thérouanne Gangneung, a Town of Culture, Sports, and Tourism

The 1st edition of the Gangneung International Film Festival (Giff) took place 8 – 14 November 2019, in Gangneung, South Korea. The town itself spreads in the area of the size of Paris with only 220 000 inhabitants.

Gangneung is a seaside town at the Japanese Sea, in the Gangwon Province, and boasts with long beautiful beaches covered in white sand, bordered by pine woods of Jeongdongjin. It is an economic centre of the mountain region of Yeongdong (highest peak 1 563m).

Not far from the seaside, there is a large lake, creating a narrow strip of land with hotels welcoming summer beachgoers and festival-goers of the many cultural events or sports of this dynamic city.

Gangneung Iff, a Film Festival Dedicated to Literary Adaptations

Gangneung is the hometown of literati, such as:

writer Sin Saimdang (1504-1551), neo-Confucianism philosopher...

Hirokazu Kore-eda received the Asian Film Maker of the Year award at the Busan International Film Festival on Thursday – one of the most prestigious prizes in the region.

But he has previously said that he felt like “something of an outsider” in the Japanese film industry.

Instead of serving an apprenticeship as an Ad for established directors – the standard route into the industry for decades – Kore-eda got his start working on TV programs and shooting TV documentaries as a staffer for the TV Man Union production company. His first fiction film as a director was “Maborosi,” which premiered at the 1995 Venice Film Festival.

This quick jump to a major film festival invitation – a holy grail many of his directing contemporaries and seniors seek but never find – made him an immediate stand-out, but did nothing to ease his outside status.

His subsequent successes did that. While becoming a regular at Cannes and winning prizes there,...

Early in the morning, late in the summer, the first ferryboat docked outside the Casino Palace shortly before 8 am, ejecting a crowd of critics onto the Lido and out toward the first screening of the year. Capping off weeks of excitement for yet another auteur-studded lineup, as well as endless controversies over its chronic lack of female representation, the 76th Venice Film Festival kicked off on August 28. And the Lido—that long strip of land separating the Venice lagoon from the Adriatic—braced for the return of a platoon of cinephiles that will keep flocking to its shores until the feast’s end on September 7. Now at its eighth edition under the aegis of Artistic Director Alberto Barbera, the festival has long turned into a fertile ground for awards season hopefuls. To be sure, this is nothing new: the late summer/early fall slot makes Venice an ideal launchpad for Oscar contenders,...

The Venice Film Festival has set Hirokazu Kore-eda’s The Truth (La Verite) as its opening night screening. This is the first film the Palme d’Or-winning Shoplifters director has made abroad and boasts a powerhouse cast led by Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche and Ethan Hawke.

The Truth will screen in competition and world premiere on August 28. The story centers on Fabienne (Deneuve), a star of French cinema who reigns amongst men who love and admire her. When she publishes her memoirs, her daughter Lumir (Binoche) returns from New York to Paris with her husband (Hawke) and young child. The reunion between mother and daughter will quickly turn to confrontation: truths will be told, accounts settled, loves and resentments confessed.

Festival Director Alberto Barbera says, “The encounter between the universe of Japan’s most important filmmaker today and two beloved actresses like Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche, brought to life...

As part of a program starting on 26 April 2019 the British Film Institute will present four films by Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda. The program named “Of Flesh and Blood” will include “Still Walking“, “After Life”, “Nobody Knows” and “Maborosi”. If you need information about the screenings, you can visit the BFI page.

Apart from these screenings all four films will also be released on Blu-ray as a boxset including a newly recorded interview with Kore-eda and many other extras yet to be announced. According to amazon.co.uk the set will be released on 15 July 2019.

The Truth

Fresh off his 2018 Palme d’Or winning Shoplifters (review), prolific Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda continues his perennial output with his latest project, The Truth, which is headlined by Catherine Deneuve and Juliette Binoche in what will serve as his French language debut. Ever since graduating from documentary to narrative filmmaking with 1995’s Maborosi, Koreeda has been a major international favorite, competing in Cannes five times and twice in Venice.…...

Beloved Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda recently turned his attentions and talents to the more pulpy courtroom drama “The Third Murder,” but he’s back in traditional form — that is, family-focused features that seesaw between comedy and drama with ease — with his Palme d’Or-winning “Shoplifters.” The film, starring Kore-eda regulars Lily Franky and Kiki Kirin, debuted at the French film festival in May, where it went on to pick up the fest’s highest honor and kicked off what could shape up to be a stellar awards season.

The proof is already in the pudding: After its Cannes premiere, the film become Kore-eda’s biggest box office hit in Japan, taking in around $40 million. In China, the film became the biggest Japanese live-action film the country has ever played, earning over $14 million at the box office. Earlier this season, Japan picked the film as its official contender for this year’s best foreign-language film race.

Writer-director Hirokazu Kore-eda was previously announced as a 2018 Donostia award recipient.

Actor, director and producer Danny DeVito will receive the Donostia award at the 66th San Sebastian Film Festival (September 21-29).

DeVito will receive his award on Saturday September 22 in the Kursaal. The following day he will present a screening of 2018 animation Smallfoot, of which he is part of a voice cast that includes Channing Tatum, James Corden and Zendaya.

With acting credits including One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest, Terms Of Endearment and Twins, DeVito is also known for his recurring roles in TV series Taxi and It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia.

Japanese film “Shoplifters” been described as a surprise winner of the Cannes Film Festival’s Palme d’Or. That may have more to do with the director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s steady output and six previous appearances in Cannes, rather than any slight against his latest humanist drama, which is both familiar and inventive.

Cannes jury president Cate Blanchett called it a difficult decision, but the right choice for Palme d’Or. “We were completely bowled over by ‘Shoplifters.’ How intermeshed the performances were with the directorial vision,” Blanchett said.

“In a long career of incredible peaks, Hirokazu Kore-eda has delivered one of his best works. ‘Shoplifters’ is an incredible story that deals with familial bonds in a way I’ve never seen before,” said Eamon Bowles, president of Magnolia Films, which grabbed North American rights to the film a day before the closing ceremony.

And the film scored highly with reviewers.

When Roger was asked to start a film festival by Kim Rotzoll, the dean of the College of Communications at the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign, we had no idea it would exist 20 years later. The idea was to do a one-time festival as a follow up to the successful Cyberfest, the birthday party for Hal 9000, the computer in Stanley Kubrick’s “2001: A Space Odyssey,” who says in the movie that he was born in Urbana, Illinois. Roger had something in common with Hal 9000, he too was born in Urbana. And so Roger agreed to undertake the task. Besides, Roger was a proponent of the civilizing effect that watching movies communally could have. He said that movies are a giant machine that generates empathy, letting us know about the different hopes, aspirations, dreams, and fears of others and helps us to identify with the people who are sharing this journey with us.

The Third MurderDear Danny and Fern,By the time you read this I will have already arrived back home, four days before Tiff's end. Attempting to cram everything into a shortened schedule was a struggle for me, but I’m very satisfied with what I’ve seen and those few people that I’ve met. I wish I could've stayed longer, and I hope to be back soon! As a newcomer, I found Tiff to be a welcoming space that merges the many fruits of Toronto-tourism, cinephile gatherings, and late night city walks. And many, many movies! Possibly too many, but better more than less! There were a few rough patches but they were more tied to my inexperience (forgetting to charge my phone, forgetting to check my schedule, forgetting to eat, forgetting to sleep…) than anything. The sheer magnitude of the event made even the easiest tasks feel like...

Early last week, white British actor Ed Skrein joined the cast of Neil Marshall’s upcoming “Hellboy” reboot, a casting choice that was immediately derided for its whitewashing of Skrein’s character, a Japanese-American Marine named Ben Daimio (whose family tree includes no less than a famous Japanese spy and war criminal, who also appears in the John Arcudi and Mike Mignola comic book series). In short order, Skrein did something wholly remarkable: he dropped out of the project after learning about Daimio’s heritage.

Read More:‘Hellboy’ Whitewashing: Ed Skrein Steps Down From Playing Japanese-American Comic Character

In an official statement, the actor made it clear that he believed the choice was what was “right,” noting that portraying the part in “a culturally accurate way” was clearly important for audiences (Skrein also pointed to his own “mixed heritage” family in the statement, which you can read here). In a...

Dailies is a round-up of essential film writing, news bits, videos, and other highlights from across the Internet. If you’d like to submit a piece for consideration, get in touch with us in the comments below or on Twitter at @TheFilmStage.

The Criterion Collection has unveiled its July 2016 line-up (click covers for more details):

Speaking of Criterion, Joachim Trier visits the closet:

The New Yorker‘s Richard Brody on when the Maysles filmed the Beatles:

The birthplace of the modern American documentary is Wisconsin, where Robert Drew brought a crew in early 1960 to film the campaigns of John F. Kennedy and Hubert Humphrey in that state’s Democratic Presidential primary. Albert Maysles was the cinematographer of its most iconic sequence, a long hand-held tracking shot following Kennedy from backstage to a lectern. There, Maysles caught Kennedy in the magic moment—the transformation from private to public, from casual manner to stage manner.

Organisers at the 51st New York Film Festival have programmed a series of landmark films by international talent.

New York Film Festival: Opening Act will include such worlds as James Gray’s Little Odessa, Hirokazu Kore-eda’s Maborosi, Joel Coen’s Miller’s Crossing [pictured] and Tsai Ming-liang’s The River.

The series is set to run from Sept 20-16 in the week leading up to the opening night world premiere of Captain Phillips.

The festival is scheduled to run from Sept 28-Oct 14.

Forget all those phoney Oscar-bait films – this complex, delicate drama about two young boys living through their parents' split is the real deal, and deeply satisfying

• Watch Peter on this week's Guardian Film Show

One of the year's best films has arrived quietly, unnoticed by the awards-season cheerleaders, but with its delicacy and complexity, it puts the Oscar-bait to shame. Hirokazu Koreeda's I Wish has taken two years to come to the UK. It has been more than worth the wait. Like his earlier movie Still Walking, this is a deeply considered Japanese family drama in the tradition of Ozu, with echoes of Edward Yang and Tsai Ming-liang – moving, sometimes heartbreakingly sad, often mysterious. The film is about the powerful imperative of family unity, but also about the inevitability, and even desirability, of families finally disintegrating and allowing everyone involved a painful kind of freedom.

The original title is Kiseki,...

The programme for the 55th BFI London Film Festival in partnership with American Express launched today by Artistic Director Sandra Hebron, celebrates the imagination and excellence of international filmmaking from both established and emerging talent. Over 16 days the Festival will screen a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres . There will also be screenings of 110 live action and animated shorts. Many of the films will be presented by their directors, cast members and crew, some of whom will also take part in career interviews, masterclasses, and other special events. The 55th BFI London Film Festival will run from 12-27 October.

Special Screenings

Opening the festival is Fernando Meirelles’ 360, written by Peter Morgan, and starring Sir Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz. Weisz is also the star of Terence Davies’ closing night film, The Deep Blue Sea, alongside a cast which includes Simon Russell Beale and Tom Hiddleston.

From the 12th to the 27th of October the 55th BFI London Film Festival brings its annual box of delights to the capital. Earlier today the full programme was announced, and it look like being another fine year.

We already know that Fernando Meirelles’ latest 360 will open proceedings on the 12th and fifteen days later Terence Davies’ The Deep Blue Sea will bring the festival to a close but there are many more great films to come and see in London this October.

There was a familiar feeling creeping across the audience this morning that a lot of the films had, like last year, already played elsewhere but this is only a small consideration when you consider the scope of the festival’s remit. To bring a vital, fresh and horizon-expanding series of features, shorts and documentaries is no easy task, and while the more well known films have played...

Artistic director Sandra Hebron has announced the line-up for the 55th BFI London Film Festival this morning where they will screen “a total of 204 fiction and documentary features, including 13 World Premieres, 18 International Premieres and 22 European Premieres” plus “110 live action and animated shorts”.

We are already knew Fernando Meirelles’ adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s erotic drama play 360 written by Peter Morgan and starring Anthony Hopkins, Jude Law and Rachel Weisz would open the festival and that The Deep Blue Sea, which incidentally is another adaptation of a play (Terence Rattigan’s) and also stars Rachel Weisz, will close it. Of Time and City’s Terrence Davies directed that movie which also stars Tom Hiddleston and Simon Russell Beale.

Now we know the in-between stuff from the Gala & Special Screenings and there’s a wide selection of extremely interesting films;

George Clooney is bringing his political thriller The Ides of March that...

Gather round, boys and girls, while I tell you about the inflat able sex doll that came to life and got a job in a video store. Actually, I'll let Japanese director Hirokazu Kore-eda tell the story in "Air Doll" (2009), one of the entries in the 10th edition of Film Comment Selects. Opening Friday, it's a showcase for movies old and new selected by the gang at Film Comment magazine. "Air Doll" -- in which Korean actress Bae Du-na sweetly plays the sex toy that develops a soul -- is a change of pace for Kore-eda,...

Tina Mabry's "Mississippi Damned," an independent American production, won the Gold Hugo as the best film in the 2009 Chicago International Film Festival, and added Gold Plaques for best supporting actress (Jossie Thacker) and best screenplay (Mabry). It tells the harrowing story of three black children growing up in rural Mississippi in circumstances of violence and addiction. The film's trailer and an interview with Mabry are linked at the bottom.

Kylee Russell in "Mississippi Damned"

The win came over a crowed field of competitors from all over the world, many of them with much larger budgets. The other big winner at the Pump Room of the Ambassador East awards ceremony Saturday evening was by veteran master Marco Bellocchio of Italy, who won the Silver Hugo as best director for "Vincere," the story of Mussolini's younger brother. Giovanna Mezzogiorno and Filippo Timi won Silver Hugos as best actress and actor,...

A connoisseur of longing and remembrance who brings great sensitivity to each of his reflective fables, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda should be better known in the States, as his films extend the tradition of world-class artists like Naruse and Ozu. Enthralled with the operation of memory and the impact of grief on the lives of everyday people, Kore-eda has created a body of work that’s as rich with feeling as it is modest in tone. In Maborosi (1995), Kore-eda told the story of a quietly devastated young widow struggling to move on after her husband commits suicide. He then departed from this film’s elegant compositions and moody, color-saturated production design to draw on the observational techniques he’d developed earlier in his career as...

A connoisseur of longing and remembrance who brings great sensitivity to each of his reflective fables, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda should be better known in the States, as his films extend the tradition of world-class artists like Naruse and Ozu. Enthralled with the operation of memory and the impact of grief on the lives of everyday people, Kore-eda has created a body of work that’s as rich with feeling as it is modest in tone. In Maborosi (1995), Kore-eda told the story of a quietly devastated young widow struggling to move on after her husband commits suicide. He then departed from this film’s elegant compositions and moody, color-saturated production design to draw on the observational techniques he’d developed earlier in his career as...

Tff 2009 director Bradley Rust Gray (The Exploding Girl, Salt) and his wife, filmmaker So Yong Kim (Treeless Mountain, In Between Days), talk with one of their idols, Hirokazu Kore-eda (Maborosi, After Life, Nobody Knows) about the Japanese director's new film Still Walking (Tff 2009), opening this Friday at IFC Center and premiering on demand today. So Yong and I first had the honor of meeting one of our favorite directors, Hirokazu Kore-eda, in Toronto about three years ago. At the time, So was preparing to shoot her second feature, Treeless Mountain, in Korea. Since So was interested in directing children and shooting on 16mm, she was very excited to talk to Mr. Eda. Mr. Eda nodded, grabbed a translator, and So asked her question. Mr. Eda thought for a moment, his face went bright, and he went into a very long and elaborate explanation in Japanese. So was ...

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s films are haunted by the specter of death—from the exquisite undercurrent of loss infusing “Maborosi”’ to the explicitly gimmicky conceptualization of the hereafter in “After Life” to the looming danger hovering over the abandoned children of “Nobody Knows”. His latest, “Still Walking,” again takes up questions of mortality. As the Yokoyama family reconvenes for what we gradually realize is a memorial day commemorating the eldest son’s death, remaining siblings …...

Hirokazu Kore-eda’s films are haunted by the specter of death—from the exquisite undercurrent of loss infusing “Maborosi”’ to the explicitly gimmicky conceptualization of the hereafter in “After Life” to the looming danger hovering over the abandoned children of “Nobody Knows”. His latest, “Still Walking,” again takes up questions of mortality. As the Yokoyama family reconvenes for what we gradually realize is a memorial day commemorating the eldest son’s death, remaining siblings …...

In the run-up to Fri day's New York re lease of Hirokazu Kore-eda's "Still Walking" (2008), Bam Rose Cinemas has mounted a retrospective of the Japanese helmer's work.

Some of the films screened last week, but there are more to come. Among them is the beautiful "Maborosi" (1995), the first fiction feature by Kore-eda, who previously had concerned himself with documentaries.

It tells the story of a young wife (Makiko Esumi) who is left alone with her newborn child after her husband dies, apparently a suicide.

She remarries and moves to...