Chicago Japan Film Collective presents 11 Films over 11 Days in a run that stretches from November 14th to the 24th. There will be two in-theatre screenings at Music Box Theatre, Chicago, and 11 screened online. The theme for this year is “co-existence,” with the hope of spreading the message of living harmoniously.
There is a rich variety of stories from the indie end of the spectrum, some of which you probably won’t see even in festivals!
Tickets are already on sale, so what might you want to watch?
OPENING NIGHT FILM
Sunday, November 17th, at 19:00 at MUSIC BOX THEATRE, Chicago, IL.
サユリ 「Sayuri」
Release Date: August 23rd, 2024
Duration: 108 mins.
Director: Koji Shiraishi
Writer: Mari Asato, Koji Shiraishi (Screenplay), Rensuke Oshikiri (Original Manga),
Starring: Ryoka Minamide, Hana Kondo, Zen Kajihara, Fusako Urabe, Kokoro Morita, Kitaro, Rei Inomata, Toshie Negishi,
Website Twitter: @sayurimovie2024 IMDB
Synopsis: After the Kamiki family move into their dream home, they begin dying off one by one due to the spirit of a young girl named Sayuri who haunts the building. When the eldest son, Norio, is threatened, his grandmother Harue, a woman who suffers from dementia, regains her senses and says, “I’m going to send that thing to hell.” Norio and his grandmother take revenge on Sayuri in the name of their family.
CLOSING NIGHT FILM
Sunday, November 24th, at 19:00 at MUSIC BOX THEATRE, Chicago, IL.
Qualia 
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…
ONLINE
Streaming service SAKKA are partnering up with CHICAGO JAPAN FILM COLLECTIVE to provide viewers with virtual screenings. Details:
Virtual Screenings 2024 (U.S. only)
ALL-VIRTUAL ACCESS PASS (All 9 online screenings): $30
SINGLE VIRTUAL TICKET (One online screening): $12
*Early Bird (until 11/7): $2 off with code CJFC2024EB
You can see more details on the SAKKA site.
きのう生まれたわけじゃない 「Kinou Umaretawake Janai」
Release Date: November 11th, 2023
Duration: 86 mins.
Director: Kenji Fukuma
Writer: Kenji Fukuma (Screenplay),
Starring: Kurumi, Kenji Fukuma, Sawa Masaki, Tomori Abe, Fumio Moriya, Kotaro Kaburagi,
Not Born Yesterday is the seventh feature film from Kenji Fukuma. On top of being a director, he was a critic, poet, scholar of English literature and a Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University. I first encountered his name with A Fairy Tale (2013), a film I stated that I really wanted to watch at the time. That feeling has never left me. Sadly, Fukuma passed away before Not Born Yesterday could be released but audiences will be able to enjoy this feature.
Synopsis: Nanami ix an eighth grader who lives alone with her mother since the disappearance of her father. He was the one who gave her the name Nanami, which means “Seven Seas.” One day, while cutting school and hanging out at the riverside, Nanami encounters a woman named Misaki, who has just lost her husband and the two form an instant connection. Nanami next meets, Terada, a 77-year-old former sailor who lost his wife when he was young. He spends his time with other elderly people who share snack but lately he feels anxiety and sees visions of his wife. Nanami forms a connection with him, too. A small community begins to form around the three as they learn to look at life anew with each different encounter and they discover secrets about themselves.
ブリング・ミンヨー・バック！ 「Buringu Minyo- Bakku!」
Release Date: September 15th, 2023
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Yuji Moriwaki
Writer: N/A
Starring: Minyo Crusaders, Frente Cumbiero, Peter Barakan, Chitose Hajime, Makoto Kubota, Yuichi Kishino, Hajime Oishi, Tokyo Cuban Boys, Riyo Mountains
Synopsis: This documentary closely follows the Tokyo-based band Min’yo Crusaders. Their music attempts to fuse Afrobeat/Latin-inspired dance music with min’yo music, or, “people’s songs.” They are popular inside and outside of Japan and tour the world. Director Yuji Moriwaki has followed them for five years and filmed their music-making process, tours, interviews with musicians and critics and more while also asking the audience to consider the definition of min-yo music.
コーポ・ア・コーポ 「Ko-po A Ko-po」
Release Date: November 17th, 2023
Duration: 97 mins.
Director: Masaaki Jindo
Writer: Kazuhiko Kondo (Screenplay), Renji Iwanami (Original Story),
Starring: Fumika Baba, Masahiro Higashide, Yuki Kura, Reiko Kataoka, Takashi Sasano, Yui Kitamura,
Synopsis: Yuri Tatsumi is one of a number of residents at a cheap apartment complex in downtown Osaka. She has fled her family and wound up in the arms of a bunch of misfits, each of whom seems like a wheeler dealer and a schemer or just plain awkward. When a fellow resident commits suicide, those remaining begin to contemplate their lives.
愚鈍の微笑み 「Gudon no Hohoemi」
Release Date: October 20th, 2023
Duration: 60 mins.
Director: Kenichi Ugana
Writer: Kenichi Ugana (Screenplay),
Starring: Momoko Tanabe, Kaoru Koide, Kokoro Morita,
Director Kenichi Ugana has been a star of the indie scene having emerged just under a decade ago with Ganguro Gal`s Riot and Goodbye Silence and going on to wow with Extraneous Matter – Complete Version and recently-released Love Will Tear Us Apart. He’s a constant festival presence and now he works with a stellar actor who has emerged in the same period, Kokoro Morita of Lonely Glory.
Synopsis: The film takes place in a forest where three young women, eat food, drink, listen to music, and generally live happily. However, the sound of a plane and the presence of a JSDF soldier upsets that peace. The story references the threat of viruses, natural disasters, and wars that are constantly taking place around the world at this very moment and how everyone is affected by conflict and turmoil, no matter where it is.
あの娘は知らない 「Ano Ko wa Shiranai」
Release Date: September 23rd, 2022
Duration: 76 mins.
Director: Masahide Ichii
Writer: Masahide Ichii (Script),
Starring: Momoko Fukuchi, Amane Okayama, Tomoko Nozaki, Tamae Ando, Taro Suwa, Maki Kubtoa,
Momoko Fukuchi looks like a relatively new actress and she is paired up with the more experienced Amane Okayama (Poetry Angel) for this original drama from Masahide Ichii. It is directed by Aya Igashi, a filmmaker whose short Tokeru was featured at Cannes and who directed the feature A Crimson Star (2018).
Synopsis: Nana Nakajima nurses a painful heart in a seaside town where she runs the inn Nakajima-so and keeps her feelings of loss over the death of her family to herself. When a young man named Shuntaro Fujii visits her inn during the off-season, she meets a kindred spirit who is also in mourning. It was the last place that his girlfriend had stayed just before her death. He wants to retrace her footsteps to understand her passing. He arrives at Nakajima-so…
Murishinai Kegashinai Ashita mo Shigoto! Shin Nemuro Pro Wrestling Story 
無理しない ケガしない 明日も仕事！ 新根室プロレス物語 「Murishinai Kegashinai Ashita mo Shigoto! Shin Nemuro Puroresu Monogatari」
Release Date: January 02nd, 2024
Duration: 79 mins.
Director: Hiroshi Minato
Writer: N/A
Starring: Samson Miyamoto, Ossan Tiger, MC Mercy, TOMOYA, Nene-sama, Ken Yasuda & Narumi Shibata (Narration),
Website Twitter: @nnp_movie
Nemuro, Hokkaido. The home of a professional wrestling league made up of colourful characters which director Hiroshi Minato has chosen as his subject. The director has made documentaries in Hokkaido previously, including one called Daikoku-za Bay Blues (大黒座ベイ・ブルース) which depicts the owners and the titular mini theatre.
According to a Japanese pro-wrestling fan site, this film’s title is drawn from one of the subjects in the film, the late Samson Miyamoto, whose catchphrase was “Do not overdo it, do not get injured, work tomorrow!”
Synopsis: This is a documentary about the amateur professional wrestling organisation “Shin Nemuro Pro Wrestling” which is based in Nemuro, Hokkaido. The wrestling group was founded in 2006 by Samson Miyamoto, a toy store owner in Nemuro City. It collected together a host of colourful characters but in September 2007, Miyamoto was diagnosed with leiomyosarcoma, an incurable disease, and announced that Shin Nemuro Pro Wrestling would disband on December 31st of the same year. He passed away a couple of years after. A few years after that, members of the wrestling group he set up went back into the ring.
The documentary was originally broadcast on television. This theatrical cut adds new material and features narration from Ken Yasuda (The Actor).
Till the Day I Can Laugh about My Blues 
物体 妻が哲学ゾンビになった 「Yaji to Minshu Shugi Gekijoukakudai-ban」
Release Date: December 09th, 2023
Duration: 100 mins.
Director: Karin Takeda
Writer: Karin Takeda (Screenplay),
Starring: Miyu Watanabe, Kokona Sumi, Shino Natsume, Tomie Kataoka, Ri Marumoto, Shizuku Narumiya, Hinata Sato,
This was screened at Skip City D Cinema Festival.
Synopsis: Anne is a junior high school student who is struggling to fit in at school. After she purchases a magical kaleidoscope from a mysterious store, she uses it and a door opens and leads her to a rooftop where she meets Aina, a student with the same kaleidoscope. Rumour has it that a student committed suicide by jumping off the roof and Anne suspects that Aina may be a ghost but the two quickly become close friends and Aina helps Anne.
CJFC X
Tanabe Benkei Film Festival &
Jimbocho Movie Festival (JMF)
Programs from Two Film Festivals in Japan
(Virtual Screenings, U.S. Only)
99％、いつも曇り 「99%, Itsumo Kumori」
Release Date: December 15th, 2023
Duration: 72 mins.
Director: Midori Sangomi
Writer: Midori Sangomi (Screenplay),
Starring: Midori Sangomi, Satoshi Nikaido, Ayumi Ena, Ami Ide, KOTA,
Actor Midori Sangomi is making her directorial debut with this film that was programmed for the Tokyo International Film Festival 2023.
Synopsis: Kazuha is a 45-year-old woman who has Asperger Syndrome. After meeting her uncle on the first anniversary of her mother’s death, his questions about her not having children seem to presage a change with her husband Daichi who wants to have kids. Kazuha is not confident since she has Asperger and, 15 years ago, she suffered a miscarriage.
Esper X Tantei-sha Sayonara no Sagashimono 
エスパーX探偵社 さよならのさがしもの 「Esupa- X Tantei-sha Sayonara no Sagashimono」
Release Date: April 29th, 2023
Duration: 90 mins.
Director: Akiyoshi Koba
Writer: Akiyoshi Koba (Screenplay),
Starring: Takuma Suehara, Daichi Saeki, Mika Akizuki, Rina Matsui, Kokoro Toyoshima,
I interviewed Akiyoshi Koba for his film Nunchaku and Soul. It’s great to see him back with a new film!
Synopsis: Matsuda is a detective working in Asakusa, Tokyo. What makes him different from other gumshoes is his psychic powers and he needs them when he traces a missing woman to a gang of psychics who use their powers for crime. The only rub is that his powers work when he is punched… As Matsuda begins his investigation, he is obstructed by his old rival, detective Minamino, who is also investigating a case related to the same group and the two begins to work together but Minamino is hiding a secret that Matsuda doesn’t know…
Previous Coverage:
Chicago Japan Film Collective 2022