After a teaser of the 2024 programme, last month, the full line-up of Nippon Connection 2024 has been announced and a feast of riches are on offer for cineastes and Japanophiles to devour.
The festival takes place in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, from May 28 to June 2 and there will be around 100 short and feature-length films and around 50 filmmakers from Japan at the festival, as well as workshops and more.
The theme of this year’s festival is “Crossing Borders” and the programme is packed with films that explore the relationship and influences between Japanese cinema and the films from the rest of the world and the films on offer have been split between five sections which will be detailed below.
Nippon Cinema
This section features the big blockbusters and latest works from big Japanese directors to give audiences a concise view of what is going on in mainstream Japanese film production and major titles that hit the festival circuit. This section features the NIPPON CINEMA AWARD, as decided by audience votes.
There are big-named directors like Takeshi Kitano with his blackly comic and very violent jidaigeki Kubi, which featured at Cannes Film Festival 2023. Another title that was also there was a work by German director Wim Wenders.
Release Date: December 22nd, 2023
Duration: 124 mins.
Director: Wim Wenders
Writer: Wim Wenders, Takuma Takasaki (Screenplay),
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Aoi Yamada, Min Tanaka, Arisa Nakano, Tokio Emoto, Yumi Asou,
Koji Yakusho (Cure, Charisma) won the Best Actor Award at the Cannes Film Festival 2023 for his role in this film. The last Japanese actor to win was Yuya Yagira for his performance in Nobody Knows (2004).
Yakusho plays a toilet cleaner in Tokyo encountering various people in four vignettes that were brought to the screen after a 17-day shoot. While at Cannes, the film was selected to compete for the Palme d’Or but ultimately won the Prize of the Ecumenical Jury and the aforementioned Best Actor Award.
The film stems from “THE TOKYO TOILET Project,” in which world-renowned architects and creators renovated 17 public toilets in Shibuya Ward, which Wenders endorsed.
Synopsis: Hirayama (Koji Yakusho) lives in a small house full of plants and analogue technology in a quiet neighbourhood in Tokyo that is full of cafes and bookshops. He works as a cleaner of public toilets and his hobbies include music and photography. His life is scored to the music of the likes of The Rolling Stones, Patti Smith, and Lou Reed and because of his love of trees, Hirayama takes pictures of them. Each day, he encounters different people and they all reveal some aspect of this quiet and unassuming man’s character and one day, an unexpected reunion with a tree shines a little light on his past.
There was also the latest work from indie kid Ryutaro Ninomiya which was in the Acid section of Cannes.
逃げきれた夢 「Nigekireta Yume」
Release Date: June 09th, 2023
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Ryutaro Ninomiya
Writer: Ryutaro Ninomiya (Screenplay),
Starring: Ken Mitsuishi, Miyu Yoshimoto, Haruka Kudo, Maki Sakai, Yutaka Matsushige, Rei Okamoto,
Synopsis: Shuhei Suenaga is a vice principal of a high school and he is becoming forgetful. It becomes obvious when he forgets to pay for a meal in a restaurant where an ex-student works. He begins to worry and begins to consider what his life was like before he felt his memories fading. He knows he is on bad terms with his wife Akiko and his daughter Mayu. He has also become distant with his friend Keiji. He decides to make a change in his life by repairing his relationships.
In terms of other festival names, we get veteran filmmakers like Shinji Iwai, with his music-themed drama Kyrie, and Nobuhiro Yamashita, who also brings a music-themed film, Let’s Go Karaoke!. Auds have the chance to watch (Ab)Normal Desire by Yoshiyuki Kishi and Ichiko by Akihiro Toda, both of which featured at Tokyo International Film Festival 2023. There is also Keisuke Yoshida, who has been featured in a new-talent sidebar at an earlier edition of that fest, with two of his works: God Seeks In Return and missing.
There are major award-winning works like Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy by Ryusuke Hamaguchi – the one critics tend to favour over his much-lauded drama Drive My Car – and a return to the screen from Kazuyoshi Kumakiri:
658km、陽子の旅 「658km, Yoko no Tabi」
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
Writer: Kosuke Muroi, So Namiko (Screenplay), Kosuke Muroi (Original Story)
Starring: Rinko Kikuchi, Pistol Takehara, Asuka Kurosawa, Atsushi Shinohara, Ai Mikami, Joe Odagiri, Jun Fubuki, Ken Yoshizawa, Sawa Nimura,
Kazuyoshi Kumakiri reunites with his leading lady from Hole in the Sky (2001), Rinko Kikuchi, for this drama which won Best Film, Best Screenplay, and Best Actress at the Shanghai International Film Festival 2023.
The other stars include Joe Odagiri (Bright Future, Mushishi), Jun Fubuki (Seance), and Asuka Kurosawa (Cold Fish).
Synopsis: Yoko is 42, single, and a freeter. She is one of many in the ice age generation who has struggled to find stability ever since leaving her hometown of Hirosaki, Aomori Prefecture, following an argument with her father. 20 years later, she is returning because she has received word that he has died. After meeting up with her cousin Shigeru, they hit the road but Yoko is soon accidentally left behind in a rest area with no transport and no money. She decides to hitchhike and meets people along the way.
Amidst the dramas and comedies set in reality, like workplace comedy-drama All the Long Nights, the family drama Takano Tofu, the movie adaptation of the TV comedy We’re Millennials Got a Problem? and the Taiwanese-influenced romantic dramas 18×2 Beyond Youthful Days and Secret: The Hidden Score, are recently released special effects extravaganzas/sci-fi tales like Penalty Loop, From The End Of The World and Fly Me to Saitama -FROM BIWA LAKE WITH LOVE- and
陰陽師0 「Onmyouji Zero」
Release Date: April 19th, 2024
Duration: 113 mins.
Director: Shimako Sato
Writer: Shimako Sato (Screenplay), Baku Yumemakura (Original Novel),
Starring: Kento Yamazaki, Shota Sometani, Nao, Masanobu Ando, Nijiro Murakami, Jun Kunimura, Kazuki Kitamura, Kaoru Kobayashi,
Website Twitter: @onmyoji0_movie IMDB
This is the latest movie influenced by the best-selling novels from award-winning writer Baku Yumemakura. Indeed, there have been a few Onmyoji films released and this features an original screenplay.
Synopsis: It is the Heian period (794-1185) and Seimei Abe is studying to become an onmyoji to protect the capital from curses and evil spirits. Not that he shows any interest in it but he has the natural ability and this is why he is asked by an aristocrat to investigate a mysterious phenomenon haunting the imperial court.
As well as contemporary films, we also get two classics that have been brought back to the screen and feature accompanying talks. The first is Die Tochter des Samurai (The Daughter of the Samurai) (Directors: Arnold Fanck, Mansaku Itami), which will see Dr. Iris Haukamp give a lecture and the other is Die Tänzerin / The Dancing Girl (Dir: Masahiro Shinoda, 1989), which features a talk by film expert Daniel Otto.
I want to give a shoutout to a film that has hooked my attention since I first saw it last year which has a wealth of talent in front of and behind the camera.
波紋 「Hamon」
Duration: 120 mins.
Director: Naoko Ogigami
Writer: Naoko Ogigami (Screenplay),
Starring: Mariko Tsutsui, Ken Mitsuishi, Hayato Isomura, Tamae Ando, Noriko Eguchi, Akira Emoto, Midoriko Kimura,
Naoko Ogigami is one of Japan’s more famous filmmakers and she has a great humanist streak to her works. The cast she has assembled for this one is incredible and they are anchored by Mariko Tsutsui in the lead role. She is easily one of Japan’s best actors!
Synopsis: Yoriko Sudo (Mariko Tsutsui) is interested in a cult religion called “Midorimono-kai” and she spends her days in prayer and study groups when not caring for her elderly father, moody son Takuya (Hayato Isomura), and Osamu, her loafer of a husband (Ken Mitsuishi). When Osamu disappears, Yoriko becomes heavily invested in the cult. When he returns more than ten years later and seeking help for his cancer, more trouble follows as Takuya brings his girlfriend home with intentions to marry her and she gets harassed by customers at her part-time job. Yoriko goes all in on the cult as she tries to deal with her mounting anger!
Nippon Visions
Nippon Visions is dedicated to showing off new talents and experiments and there are a whole host of features and shorts on offer. Naoko Ogigami, mentioned above, is on a jury that will hand out a Nippon Visions Jury Award and there are also the Nippon Visions Audience Award and Nippon Visions Storytelling Award.
There are multiple sections dedicated to short films:
Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia Special (four films)
Nippon Shorts: Encounters (five films)
Nippon Shorts: Crossing Borders (four films)
JVTA Meets Pia Film Festival Shorts (two films)
Now for the features!
地球星人（エイリアン）は空想する 「Chikyuuseijin (Eirian) wa Kuusousuru」
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Yoshiki Matsumoto
Writer: Yoshiki Matsumoto (Screenplay),
Starring: Yukichi Tanaka, Natsuki Yamada, Jin Arai, Sarasa Nakamura, Kazuki Muramatsu, Ruka Hiroe,
This film is Yoshiki Matsumoto’s feature film debut. It played at Skip City 2023 where it won both the SKIP CITY AWARD for the best new director and the prize for Best Picture in the Japanese feature category. It will next be seen at Nippon Connection.
Synopsis: Uto is a reporter who has shelved his sense of justice while he works for a scandalrag. Assigned the supernatural beat, he heads to Hakui, Ishikawa Prefecture, to investigate a case of a university student being abducted. There he runs into unexplainable incidents and weird occurrences and also a mysterious high school girl named who claims to be an alien. Despite being determined to uncover lies, everything seems to turn out genuine…
ABYSS アビス 「Abisu」
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Ren Sudo
Writer: Ren Sudo, Aya Watanabe (Screenplay),
Starring: Ren Sudo, Arisa Sasaki, Yoshiki Urayama, Natsuko, Kazunori Mimura, Kenta Ninomiya,
Aya Watanabe is a screenwriter on a multitude of indie projects and she has teamed up with the actor Ren Sudo, one of the leads of the stellar short film Last Judgement, who makes his first steps into directing with this project.
Synopsis: Ren Sudo plays Kei, a young man working part-time in a bar in Shibuya and as a model. When his brother, Yuta, commits suicide, Kei returns to his hometown to attend the funeral. That is where he meets Rumi, his brother’s former lover. There is a difficult history between the three and even with Yuta’s passing, it remains so as Kei pursues Rumi once more.
とりつくしま 「Toritsukushima」
Release Date: March 29th, 2024
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Kahori Higashi
Writer: Kahori Higashi (Screenplay), Naoko Higashi (Original Novel),
Starring: Tsumugi Hashimoto, Soushi Kujishima, Kyoko Koizumi, Miyu Ogawa, Umeno Uno, Yuzumi Shintani,
Twitter: @toritsukushi_ma
Kahori Higashi (Melting Sounds review + interview) has two films out this year: Memories of His Scent (review + interview) and this one, Toritsukushima, which stars Kyoko Koizumi (Leave My Girl Alone), Yuzumi Shintani, and Higashi’s familiar actress Umeno Uno. The film is based on Kahori’s mother’s own novel!
Synopsis: When people die, they get a visit from the “Toritsukushima.” It grants anyone with regrets the chance to return to Earth as whatever object they want to be. A wife turns into her husband’s favourite mug, a boy who becomes his favourite blue jungle gym, a grandmother who becomes the camera she gave to her grandson, and there are many others who become objects at the end of their lives to be near their loved ones.
Hijacked Youth – Dare to Stop Us 2
青春ジャック 止められるか、俺たちを2 「Seishun Jakku Tomerareruka, Oretachi wo 2」
Release Date: March 15th, 2024
Duration: 119 mins.
Director: Junichi Inoue
Writer: Junichi Inoue (Screenplay),
Starring: Arata Iura, Masahiro Higashide, Haruka Imou, Rairu Sugita, KOM_I, Yuuka Kori,
This is a sequel to Dare to Stop and the screenwriter for that film returns and also takes on directing duties. The stories he depicts are based on his own experiences with Wakamatsu and this one covers the creation of the mini-theatre Cinema Skhole in Nagoya.
Synopsis: The wealth of the 1980s saw the rise of video cameras and VHS tapes and a decline in living passionately. In the face of changes to culture, Koji Wakamatsu set up his own mini theatre with the help of a video camera salesman and others passionate about movies, including a young Junichi Inoue.
さよなら ほやマン 「Sayonara Hoyaman」
Release Date: November 03rd, 2023
Duration: 106 mins.
Director: Teruaki Shoji
Writer: Teruaki Shoji (Screenplay),
Starring: Afuro, Kumi Kureshiro, Kodai Kurosaki, Kanji Tsuda, Yoshinobu Sawaguchi, Keisuke Sonoyama, Yoneko Matsukane,
This film is set on a remote island in Ishinomaki City, Miyagi Prefecture. It is the homeplace of the director.
Synopsis: Akira and Shigeru are brothers who have been living alone together in their family house on an island ever since the disappearance of their parents. Akira is a fisherman while Shigeru has a mental disability. They are both responsible for a huge debt. Fortunately, their fellow islanders help them out. When a female manga artist named Miharu arrives from Tokyo, she asks the brothers to sell their house, and the three of them begin living together.
走れない人の走り方 「Hashirenai Hito no Hasiri-kata」
Release Date: April 26th, 2024
Duration: 82 mins.
Director: Su Yu-chun
Writer: Su Yu-chun (Screenplay),
Starring: Nairu Yamamoto, Saori, Ryusei Isoda, Ryuzaburo Hattori, BEBE,
Website Twitter: @hashirenaihito IMDB
I wrote about this for the Osaka Asian Film Festival:
This is top-tier work within the realm of a student graduation film. It’s probably an example of “write what you know” from the perspective of Taiwanese director Su Yu-chun. She was studying filmmaking in Japan and seems to have caught many aspects of the production process. Maybe not the motivations for film but that’s another matter.
You can read my review here.
A film about making films, we follow the exploits of Kiriko, an indie film director who is struggling to make a road movie that ends on a beach. Why do so many independent films have to have a beach scene? That is a question that gets asked along the way but her journey to the location is beset with difficulties, from budget to casting. There is only so much she can do and so she inches forward making compromises and finding ways around problems to realise her dream, all while living in the real world and fulfilling obligations to others as best she can.
Indeed, a film isn’t often made by one person alone and, breaking the tendency of the genre to focus on an enfant terrible or a wunderkind, Inch Forward convincingly shows collaboration through the people around Kiriko. From producer Takimoto who tries to hash out ideas, to actors seeking to understand a character Kiriko has in her head but not on the page, Inch Forward uses multiple perspectives to portray people who live with cinema in a warm and wry manner.
サイキックビジョン 邪願霊 ～狙われた美人キャスター～ 「Saikikku Bijon Jaganrei – Nerawareta Bijin Kyasuta-」
Release Date: 1988
Duration: 49 mins.
Director: Teruyoshi Ishii
Writer: Chiaki Konaka (Screenplay),
Starring: Naoto Takenaka, Haruo Mizuno, Emi Sato, Kazue Ishii, Masaki Umehara,
The Nippon Doc The J-Horror Virus is connected to this.
Synopsis: Emi is working hard to be a teen idol and she has the support of a film recording her journey but when reporters find out that the author of her latest hit has been dead for several years, all hell breaks loose.
ロンサム バケーション 「Ronsamu Bake-shon」
Release Date: October 07th, 2023
Duration: 68 mins.
Director: Atsuro Shimoyashiro
Writer: Atsuro Shimoyashiro, Futoshi Nakano (Screenplay),
Starring: Takuma Fujie, Kyoka Minakami, Risa Sakata, Otono Sakurai, Taro Suwa, Yoichiro Saito,
Atsuro Shimoyashiro made his feature debut with The Modern Lovers – which I interviewed him about – and he also made the short Kidofuji – which I also interviewed him about(!) – and so this is his sophomore feature effort, a cool laidback detective story taking place in Tokyo’s Keonji and a charming seaside location.
Synopsis: Koenji, Tokyo. Eichi Furuya is a private detective who is known for his regent hair. One day, Eichi receives a request from his ex-girlfriend, Kyoko. She had been searching through her late father’s belongings and found a film canister which contained footage a strange young woman. She wants to know who the woman was and her relationship with her father. Eichi and Kyoko head out to Jogashima, Kanagawa prefecture, in a Mercedes and treat the investigation as if it were a fleeting vacation…
ココでのはなし 「Koko de no Hanashi」
Release Date: N/A
Duration: 85 mins.
Director: Ryoma Kosasa
Writer: Rei Tsuruga, Ryoma Kosasa (Screenplay),
Starring: Kuu Izima, Yuji Komatsu, Yugo Mikawa, Naoyuki Miyahara, Nairu Yamamoto, Chiharu Ogoshi, Akari Sasaoka,
Twitter: @coco_film_2023 IMDB
Nairu Yamamoto is having something of a moment considering she is in quite a few films this year, including On a Boat and Inch Forward. She may be the lead in the latter film but here she is part of an ensemble drama that takes place during the Covid-19 pandemic/Olympics.
Synopsis: It is the time of the Olympics and the people staying at the Coco guesthouse build personal connections with each other while addressing issues in their loves. cultivates new relationships, providing a platform for confronting personal pasts and futures.
クオリア 「Kuoria」
Release Date: November 18th, 2023
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Ryo Ushimaru
Writer: Kenzo Kaga (Screenplay), Ryoichi Oshitomo (Original Story),
Starring: Kokone Sasaki, Ruka Ishikawa, Kenta Kiguchi, Maya Kudamatsu, Chikara To,
Synopsis: Yuko has married into the Tanaka family. They run a chicken farm and she has a tough time fitting in with various members. Things get even more twisted when her husband’s mistress applies to be a live-in worker and joins the dysfunctional band…
夜が明けたら、いちばんに君に会いにいく 「Yoru ga Aketara Ichiban ni Kimi no Ai ni Iku」
Release Date: September 01st, 2023
Duration: 137 mins.
Director: Tatuya Mori
Writer: Toshimichi Saeki, Junichi Inoue, Haruhiko Arai (Screenplay),
Starring: Akira Emoto, Suidobashi Hakase, Masahiro Higashide,, Kom I., Arata Iura, Shinsuke Kato, Mai Kiryu, Yuya Matsuura, Rena Tanaka, Pierre Taki, Eita Nagayama,
Tatsuya Mori is famous as a documentarian who covered the Aum cult with A and A2. He works on his first drama with this film which is based on the true story of itinerant Japanese peddlers brutally killed by villagers of Fukuda in the aftermath of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake.
There is an all-star cast with Arata Iura, Masahiro Higashide, Pierre Taki, singer Kom I., and Rena Tanaka, and Eita Nagayama.
This film is released on the 100th anniversary of the earthquake.
Synopsis: The year is 1923 and we are taken to Fukuda village, Chiba Prefecture. It is the hometown of Tomokazu Sawada, a recent returnee , along his wife Shizuko, from Gyeongseong (now Seoul). While in Korea, Sawada was an eyewitness to the massacres committed by the Japanese army and he will see something similar occur in Japan following a major earthquake that strikes the Kanto region on September 01st. In the days that follow rumours of crimes push people to attack outsiders. On September 6, a group of 15 peddlers from Kagawa, are travelling through when an argument with a ferryman on the Tone River leads to a confrontation and a massacre.
悪魔がはらわたでいけにえで私 「Akuma ga Harawata de Watashi」
Release Date: February 23rd, 2024
Duration: 61 mins.
Director: Kenichi Ugana
Writer: Takao Nakano (Screenplay),
Starring: Ryuta Endo, Saki Hirai, Keisuke Nomura, Kento Miura, Lloyd Kaufman, Shiho, Haruki Itabashi,
Kenichi Ugana has expanded his 2021 short film Visitors with new characters and developments. It looks like an Evil Dead-esque splatter fest and it features veteran horror director Lloyd Kaufman making an appearance.
Synopsis: Haruka, Nana, and Takanori visit the house of their friend and fellow band member Souta after he drops off the radar. When they get there, they find that all of the windows are covered with newspaper and there is something strange about him. In the back of a room is a door to another world and demonic forces are lurking…
Nippon Animation
Japan is a powerhouse of animation and this section contains the latest of big-budget works to some of the best films from the next generation of talent from Tokyo University Of The Arts. There is also a classic in the form of the American-Japanese fantasy adventure Little Nemo: Adventures in Slumberland, a 1980s film that featured the involvement of Hayao Miyazaki and Isao Takahata.
This section has 2D animation, stop-motion, features and shorts, and enough stories to satisfy everyone and it also features stories that cross borders in terms of theme and production methods and people involved.
Of the major films seen in the last post are Blue Giant, The Concierge, and Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower.
These are joined by:
Totto-Chan: The Little Girl at the Window 
映画 窓ぎわのトットちゃん 「Eiga Madogiwa no Totto-chan」
Release Date: December 08th, 2023
Duration: 114 mins
Director: Shinnosuke Yakuwa
Writer: Shinnosuke Yakuwa (Screenplay), Tetsuka Kuroyanagi (Original Creator),
Starring: Liliana Ono (Totto-chan), Anne (Cho Kuroyanagi), Karen Takizawa (Miss Oishi), Koji Yakusho (Sosaku Kobayashi), Shun Oguri (Moritsuna Kuroyanagi),
Animation Production: Shin-Ei Animation
Synopsis: Tetsuko Kuroyanagi’s memoir about her time transferring from an elementary school and moving on to Tomoe Gakuen, just as Japan entered into war was turned into a book that became a big hit in Japan and the 80s and now gets an anime adaptation.
Sumikkogurashi: The Patched-Up Toy Factory In The Woods
映画 すみっコぐらし ツギハギ工場のふしぎなコ 「Eiga Sumikko Gurashi: Tsugihagi Koujo no Fushigi na Ko」
Release Date: November 03rd, 2023
Duration: 70 mins.
Director: Hazumu Sakuta
Writer: Takashi Sumita (Script), Yuri Yokomizu, San-X (Original Creator)
Starring: Narrators – Yoshihiko Inohara, Manami Nanjo
Animation Production: Fanworks
Synopsis: The slightly negative characters are back for their third film and this time it’s operating a toy factory that they discover deep in the forest. They get off to a good start but things get even more special when they discover the secret at the heart of the factory.
The Tunnel to Summer, the Exit of Goodbye
夏へのトンネル、さよならの出口 「 Natsu e no Tunnel, Sayonara no Deguchi」
Release Date: September 09th, 2022
Duration: 62 mins
Director: Tomohisa Taguchi
Writer: Tomohisa Taguchi (Screenplay), Mei Hachimoku (Original Creator)
Starring: Marie Iitoyo (Anzu Hanashiro), Oji Suzuka (Kaoru Tono), Arisa Komiya (Koharu Kawasaki), Haruka Terui (Hamamoto Sensei),
Animation Production: CLAP
Synopsis: Tono Kaoru lost his sister Karen in an accident five years ago so the rumour that stepping through the Urashima Tunnel will grant a person’s desires plays on his mind. There is a catch: to get something, you must lose something, even if that something is a couple of years from your life. Together with new transfer student Anzu Hanaki, he investigates a tunnel that seems to be the one of legend.
These are the biggest films on offer. Animation expert Dr. Catherine Munroe Hotes will introduce shorts made by female filmmakers with a selection from Maya Yonesho’s Daumenreise providing the framework for the program (an image from which you can see at the top of this section).
Nippon Docs
Nippon Docs will shine a light on a variety of topics, from how Japanese society instils a sense of discipline and engagement from people starting in school – The Making Of A Japanese – to how people who drop out of society – Johatsu – Into Thin Air – to a notorious head of a talent label who used his power to harm people – Predator: The Secret Scandal Of J-Pop – outsider cults in Aum: The Cult at the End of the World which looks at the Aum Shinrikyo doomsday cult who manufactured nerve gas and released it in their 1995 terrorist attack on the Tokyo subway that left 14 dead and 6,000 injured and also mental health issues in What Should We Have Done?.
There’s a rich variety of topics that will show that Japan is diverse in people and ideas and a particular focus on social issues and ethnic minorities/different communities in Japan. From Zainichi Koreans to Okinawans – Okinawa feels like a world away from normality for some people on the main island of Honshu…
アリランラプソディ 「Ariran Rapusudi」
Release Date: February 17th, 2024
Duration: 108 mins.
Director: Sung Woong Kim
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Website Twitter: @2023ariran
Synopsis: Director Sung Woong is a second generation Zainichi Korean. In this documentary, he records the lives of first-generation Zainichi Koreans for living in Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture and their history in the city, their memories of discrimination, and the homes in Korea that they left behind.
オキナワより愛をこめて 「Okinawa yori Ai o Komete」
Release Date: 2023
Duration: 101 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Sunairi
Writer: N/A
Starring: Mao Ishikawa
Hiroshi Sunairi is originally from Hiroshima but he is now based in New York. He has two documentaries at the festival, both of which are dedicated to the photographer Mao Ishikawa.
Synopsis: Mao Ishikawa is a photographer who comes from Okinawa. She spent her early 20s working as a barmaid in establishments specifically catering to African-American GIs stationed there during the Vietnam war and took photographs of them and her fellow bar workers and the children from various relationships to show the bonds, intimacy, love, racism, and politics of people living with Japan’s wartime past and America’s imperialism. These photographs formed the basis of her books like “Red Flower – The Women of Okinawa.” She guides the filmmakers around former bars, her home, and her photographs as she recounts her relationships with those she was close to. During this journey, we see how Okinawa has changed.
HAPPY SANDWICH 〜幸せのサンドウィッチ〜 「HAPPY SANDWICH – Shiawase no Sandouicchi-」
Release Date: 2023
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Tsukasa Kishimoto
Writer: Tsukasa Kishimoto (Screenplay)
Starring: Shogo Manna, Yayoi Shiroma, Kodaira-kun, Akari Seragaki, Daiki Miura, Mimi Saita,
This film is billed as a documentary movie with drama and it contains the history, food culture, and nature of Okinawa.
Synopsis: Set in the northern part of Okinawa, we follow Shogo Manna, the owner of a BBQ restaurant named Manmi, is asked by Kaminchu (Shinto priests in Okinawa) to make a special sandwich as an offering to the gods. In order to create a sandwich fit for gods, Manna travels around the island by jeep to interview various people, including chefs, farmers, and food critics, to learn more about their ideas of food and food production. A hybrid film that blends documentary and fiction, HAPPY SANDWICH is an uplifting foodie road movie, representing the wonders of Okinawa culture
And there are also a grip of films interested in artistic culture – including cinema!
SHUNGA: The Lost Japanese Erotica 
春の画 SHUNGA 「Haru no Ga SHUNGA」
Release Date: November 24th, 2023
Duration: 121 mins.
Director: Junko Hirata
Writer: N/A
Starring: Tadanori Yoko, Makoto Aida, Ryoko Kimura, Aki Ishigami, Monta Hayakawa, Yo Yoshida and Mirai Moriyama (Voice Overs),
Synopsis: This is a documentary about Shunga – pictures depicting sex and love – that flourished during the Edo period but was banned during the Meiji period because it was thought of as obscene. Director Junko Hirata travelled the length and breadth of Japan and even overseas to interview art collectors, ukiyo-e researchers, art historians, engravers, and painters and show off the works. There are also animated Shunga…
Release Date: 2023
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Sarah Appleton, Jasper Sharp
Writer: N/A
Starring: Takako Fuji, Joji Iida, Rie Ino’o Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Shizu, Terutoshi Ishii, Masayuki Ochiai, Norio Tsuruta, Hiroshi Takahashi, Shinya Tsukamoto,
Twitter: @TheJHorrorVirus IMDB
Synopsis: Sarah Appleton and Asian film scholar Jasper Sharp have made a documentary that traces the origins and life of J-horror. They interview the actors who played iconic characters like Sadako and Kayako and the filmmakers who created such classic scary tales, including Kiyoshi Kurosawa (Charisma, Cure, PULSE) and Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo: The Iron Man).
ディス・マジック・モーメント 「Deisu Majikku Mo-mento」
Release Date: November 25th, 2023
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Lim Kah-wai
Writer: Lim Kah-wai (Screenplay),
Starring: Ayako Shimoji, Masanori Kinjo, Ryuji Taira,
Synopsis: The hook for Lim Kah Wai’s travelogue comedy Your Lovely Smile was sending real-life filmmaker Hirobumi Watanabe on a cross-country trip to seek out help for a film project that saw him visiting many mini theatres. This seems to be the basis of his latest film, a documentary that sees him touring mini theatres throughout Japan and interviewing the people operating them.
Nippon Retro
Nippon Retro is dedicated to Japanese noir and features a slate of classics from some of the masters of the form. You have Dragnet Girl by Yasujiro Ozu, The Bad Sleep Well by Akira Kurosawa, Take Aim at the Police Van by Seijun Suzuki, The Black Test Car by Yasuzo Masumura, and Stakeout by Yoshitaro Nomura.
All are great but here are two certified bangers:
野獣の青春 「Yajū no seishun」
Release Date: April 21st , 1963
Duration: 92 mins.
Director: Seijun Suzuki
Writer: Ichiro Ikeda, Tadaaki Yamazaki (Screenplay), Haruhiko Oyabu (Novel)
Starring: Joe Shishido, Misako Watanabe, Tamio Kawachi, Eiji Go, Akiji Kobayashi, Yuzo Kiura, Hiroshi Kono, Seijun Suzuki.
Youth of the Beast was one of two films Seijun Suzuki made with Joe Shishido in 1963 (the other being Detective Bureau 2-3: Go to Hell Bastards!) and the two make a fantastic combination as the director uses his star’s rough and raw charisma to power an action-packed, cool, and fun film. This is one of those films where Suzuki transitioned into a more colourful and visually theatrical style compared to his older works.
Synopsis: An ex-cop/ex-con named Mizuno finds himself embroiled in an investigation into yakuza-run sex work when his former partner winds up dead in a love hotel in what is ostensibly a lovers’ suicide. Behind the whole charade is Nomoto Enterprises and Mizuno decides to infiltrate their operations with anarchic and violent effect.
乾いた花 「Kawaita Hana」
Release Date: March 01st, 1964
Duration: 96 mins.
Director: Masahiro Shinoda
Writer: Masahiro Shinoda, Masaru Baba (Script), Shintaro Ishihara (Original Novel),
Starring: Ryo Ikebe, Mariko Kaga, Takashi Fujiki, Naoki Sugiura, Shin’ichiro Mikami
According to the fest, this film, “enduringly shaped the genre of yakuza thrillers.” I haven’t seen it yet to say one way or another but it has gotten a Criterion release in the past and this is a new 4K version thanks to Shochiku. In connected news, the writer of the book this is based on, Shintaro Ishihara, died recently. The former governor of Tokyo, he was a far-right ultra nationalist and like most people on the political right, a hateful figure.
Synopsis: Ex-con Muraki has just hit the streets and he is already diving back into his old yakuza habits. One is gambling on a card game called tehonbiki and it is while doing this that he meets a mysterious and daring gambler named Saeko whom he falls for with serious consequences…
The Guest of Honour/recipient of Nippon Rising Star Award is Kotone Furukawa who is featured in a number of Nippon Visions titles.
She is a name I first saw as part of Kamata Prelude and then in indies like Rikiya Imiazumi’s Over the Town and a grip of titles that have been in trailer posts (in an omnibus film here and Amefuritte, the End here). She is probably best known for being in Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s award-winning drama Wheel Of Fortune And Fantasy.
Kotone will receive the Nippon Rising Star Award for exceptional emerging talent at the festival on June 2, 2024 and a selection of her films, including the new horror film Best Wishes To All by (Dir: Yuta Shimotsu), which will celebrate its German premiere in the presence of the director and the world premiere of the romantic-drama Secret: A Hidden Score by Hayato Kawai.
Here is a taste of one of her films at the fest:
みなに幸あれ 「Mina Ni Sachi Are」
Release Date: January 19th, 2024
Duration: 89 mins.
Director: Yuta Shimotsu
Writer: Rumi Kakuta (Screenplay), Yuta Shimotsu (Original Story)
Starring: Kotone Furukawa, Koya Matsudai, Yoshiko Inuyama, Masafumi Nishida, Shiho Yoshimura,
Website Twitter: @Minasachi_movie IMDB
This was at Japan Cuts 2023. It has a good pedigree.
The film is based on a short film of the same title, also made by director Yuta Shimotsu. Said short won the Grand Prize at the 1st Japan Horror Film Awards. It was produced by Takashi Shimizu of Ju-on fame. It stars Kotone Furukawa, a rising star.
Synopsis: A young woman visits her grandparents’ home in a quaint village and feels a disturbing aura and senses something off about her grandparents and neighbours. She soon discovers what brought them happiness—a revelation that will lead her to question her choices, sanity, her trust in humans and her conception of reality itself in a disturbing ending. The film is based on the theme of “someone’s happiness is built on someone else’s misfortune.”
Accompanying these cinematic delights will be lots of cultural events ranging from workshops, concerts, and lectures to cover Japan’s musical, culinary, artistic diversity. Examples include Manga portraits, to Ikebana arrangement, the singer Ai Higuchi (YouTube channel) and the band Samurai Apartment (YouTube channel) on the stage and the paper theatre of kamishibai and aikido. Food, whiskey, lectures, and discussions and water yo-yos (known as tsuri) will be available at various locations, including the Japanese market.
You can see more on the Nippon Culture and Nippon Kids sections.
Tickets
The complete program and tickets are available on the festival website.
Event Locations
Festival Centers: Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm and Produktionshaus NAXOS
Additional venues in Frankfurt am Main: Eldorado Arthouse Kino, cinema of the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum, Mal Seh’n Kino, Internationales Theater Frankfurt, Saalbau Bornheim, NaxosAtelier