The Vancouver International Film Festival 2024 runs from September 26th to October 06th and there are a mixture of Japanese feature and short films which will be screened as well as a Canadian film with a Japanese connection.
Here’s the round-up of Japanese films.
ぼくが生きてる、ふたつの世界 「Boku ga Ikiteru, Futatsu no Sekai」
Release Date: September 20th, 2024
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Mipo O
Writer: Takehiko Minato (Screenplay), Dai Igarashi (Original Non-fiction Essay),
Starring: Ryo Yoshizawa, Akiko Oshidari, Akito Imai, Denden, Setsuko Karasuma,
Website Twitter: @FutatsunoSekai_
Mipo O, director of The Light Shines Only There (2014) and Being Good (2015), helms her first film in nine years and adapts an autobiographical essay by Dai Igarashi.
Synopsis: Dai was born to loving deaf parents in a rural town and has grown up acting as their interpreter. However, having parents who are different makes him stand out and he becomes embarrassed and blames his mother for his frustrations. Thus, at the age of 20, a newly-minted adult, he moves to Tokyo and pursues an independent life. After a while passes, and he has met more people as a magazine journalist, he returns home to his mother and a memory from the past comes to him unexpectedly…
Release Date: October 10th, 2024
Duration: 123 mins.
Director: Neo Sora
Writer: Neo Sora (Screenplay),
Starring: Yukito Hidaka, Hayato Kurihara, Makiko Watanabe, Shiro Sano, Ayumu Nakajima, Kilala Inori, Shina Peng, Pushim,
This one was previously screened earlier this month at Venice. Neo Sora has released a few documentaries about his father Ryuichi Sakamoto and one was at las year’s Venice Film Festival. This film will also be screened at the New York Film Festival.
Synopsis: The world is about to change. Kou and Yuta are rambunctious best friends who live in a near-future Tokyo where the threat of a catastrophic earthquake is ever present. Just before their high school graduation, they prank the principal of the school which leads him to install a surveillance system…
Release Date: September 27th, 2024
Duration: 95 mins.
Director: Kohei Igarashi
Writer: Kohei Igarashi, Koichi Kudobera (Screenplay),
Starring: Hiroki Sano, Nairu Yamamoto, Yoshinori Miyata, Hoang Nhu Quynh,
Kohei Igarashi, director of Hold Your Breath Like Lover (2014), finds his latest work as the opener to the 2024 Venice Days (Giornate Degli Autori) programme. A story of a man dealing with grief at a holiday resort that looks as if it is told with subtlety and wryness, there is a review by Guy Lodge over at Variety that states something of our chances of seeing it:
This Gallic-Japanese co-production will burnish Igarashi’s reputation on the festival circuit, though it may be too low-key for theatrical distribution in many markets — its youthful slant and quiet formal simplicity make it a viable fit for specialist streaming platforms.
The most recognisable name from the cast is Nairu Yamamoto who appeared in two Osaka Asian Film Festival 2024 titles: On a Boat and Inch Forward.
Synopsis: On August 19, 2023, childhood friends Sano and Miyata spend time in Atami at a seaside resort hotel that is scheduled to close soon. It is the place where Sano met and fell in love with his wife Nagi five years previously. In the intervening time, she died in her sleep and Sano has been consumed with grief. At the resort, Miyata, unable to see Sano’s obsession with memories of his wife, tries to help him out with a date and activities but Sano is consumed with searching for the red cap he gave to Nagi before the two left the resort.
Release Date: N/A
Duration: 105 mins.
Director: Mads K. Baekkevold
Writer: N/A
Starring: Hidekazu Tojo
Synopsis: For his debut feature, Norwegian Mads K. Baekkevold travels to Canada and Japan to make a documentary portrait of Hidekazu Tojo, a man who helped make sushi mainstream. Now in his seventies. he looks back on his life, from his early days as an immigrant to his work in the Vancouver food scene and the appreciation he earned from foodies and fans for creating the California Roll, and and a return trip to Japan he took where he connected with locals and explored new food trends.
Viva Nik – The Spirit of Niki de Saint Phalle 
タロット・ガーデンへの道 「Tarotto Ka-den he no Michi」
Release Date: September 25th, 2024
Duration: 76 mins.
Director: Michiko Matsumoto
Writer: Michiko Matsumoto (Screenplay),
Starring: Niki de Saint Phalle, Camille Morineau, Roger Nellens, Marina Karella, Jean Gabriel Mitterrand, Chizuko Ueno, Dawn Cardenas, Kyoko Koizumi (Narrator)
The film is narrated by Kyoko Koizumi.
Synopsis: Michiko Matsumoto has a background as photographer and she has specialised in photographing female artists and artworks. She makes her film directorial debut with this documentary about feminist artist Niki de Saint Phalle (1930-2002) who, according to the VIFF site, “is best known for her playfully vibrant, voluptuous Nana statues, which stand proudly as icons of female empowerment in multiple countries’ public spaces.”
Niki was the daughter of a French aristocrat and became aware of the difficulties faced by woman and channelled various reactions and ideas related to that into paintings, outdoor sculptures, buildings, the famous Tarot Garden, which took 20 years to create and features mirrors and mosaics laid down in dreamy patterns, and the “Nana” series of female figures. Director Matsumoto had known her since 1981 and travelled to see Niki’s works around the world. The film explores Niki’s life and work through many of the photographs Matsumoto has taken and interviews with people who knew her.
Shorts
Release Date: N/A
Duration: 23 mins.
Director: Yoshimi Joya
Writer: Yoshimi Joya (Screenplay),
Starring: Yu Ishizuka, Alysa Omori, Megumi Chikuni, Yoichiro Saito, Magy, Anam Sekiguchi,
Yoshimi Joya previously directed Doughnuts Mori (2022).
Synopsis: Late one night, two women who work at a hostess bar are approached by police.
私の犬が死んだ 「Watashi no Inu ga Shinda 」
Release Date: N/A
Duration: 9 mins.
Director: Takahiro Senda, Tasuku Matsunaga
Writer: Tasuku Matsunaga (Screenplay),
Starring: Nao Oishi, Kandai Sano, Michiyo Ishimoto,
Twitter: @sen_coelacanth
Synopsis: Riko and her boyfriend Yoshiki visit her mother after the death of their family dog.
あめだま 「Amedama」
Release Date: September 20th, 2024
Duration: 21 mins.
Director: Daisuke Nishio
Writer: Ichiro Takano (Screenplay), Baek Hee-na (Original Story),
Starring: Haruto Shima, Hiroshi Iwasaki, Kazuhiro Yamaji, Sakiko Uran, Ikkei Watanabe, Oi Kiko,
Animation Production: Toei Animation
This is based on Baek Hee-na, winner of the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award (the children’s book equivalent of a Nobel Laureate prize for literature) in 2020 for “Cloud Bread” and a popular writer. You can hear her words and see images from Amedama in this talk she took part in.
Synopsis: A loner named Dong Dong initially wanted to buy more marbles to play his solitary games with but he ended up getting magic sweets that lead to some startling developments.
Here’s my coverage of Vancouver from previous years: