Welcome to the second trailer post of the week.
You can find the first post here.
Well, in terms of film activity, I have watched is Nuri Bilge Ceylan’s Uzak (2002) and the latest Heroic Purgatory has been released, the 2004 Yo Ah historical action, romance, coming-of-age high school drama Once Upon a Time in High School (2004).
What are the rest of the Japanese films getting screened this week?
New Directions in Japanese Cinema 2024
Each year, around four short films are produced by the Agency for Cultural Affairs as part of their ndJC (New Directions in Japanese Cinema) project which aims to encourage young filmmakers.
Here are the 2024 crop:
Atedokoro ni tazune atarimasen 
あて所に尋ねあたりません 「Atedokoro ni tazune atarimasen」
Release Date: April 18th, 2025
Duration: 29 mins.
Director: Sota Takahashi
Writer: Sota Takahashi (Screenplay),
Starring: Rika Kanda, Rintaro Hinotsu, Yohei Yamazaki, Yasu, Hiroko Nakajima,
Website Twitter: @ndjc_project
Takahashi is a graduate from both Tokyo Zokei University’s Department of Film and Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media. His graduation project IDO SURU KIOKU SOUCHI TEN “Memory Devices” won the Audience Award at Pia Film Festival 2023.
Synopsis: Mizuho is a temporary worker at a warehouse who has a crush on her colleague Yuji. He is leaving his job soon so Mizuho writes a letter to express her feelings, but isn’t able to give it to him until his last day at work when she manages to engineer a situation where they can be alone together. Later that day, Mizuho returns to the warehouse to pick up something she forgot and discovers…
Awai no mamono-tachi 
あわいの魔物たち 「Awai no mamono-tachi」
Release Date: April 18th, 2025
Duration: 30 mins.
Director: Yuto Morita
Writer: Yuto Morita (Screenplay),
Starring: Eriko Nakamura, Shintaro Yuya, Takako Toumi, Chihaya Ando,
Website Twitter: @ndjc_project
Yuto Morita is a graduate from the Screenwriting Course at Japan Institute of the Moving Image. His first directorial debut, Zutsu ga Itai won the Special Jury Award at the PFF Awards 2020. After being re-edited, it was released in cinemas in 2022. He is currently working in home care for the severely disabled.
The film stars Eriko Nakamura (Lust in the Rain (2024), Lonely Glory (2023)) and Shintaro Yuya of (Sasaki In My Mind (2020) – see it on SAKKA).
Synopsis: Thirty-five-year-old Kanako Nozawa regularly travels from Tokyo to her old family home with her partner Rintaro and their dog Sabi. Usually, while she cleans up the house in preparation for selling it off, Rintaro tends to head to nearby mountains to take photographs but, for a change, Kanako decides to join him. When they return to the family home, however, Sabi is gone…
Ichiban hoshi wa touku kagayaku 
いちばん星は遠く輝く 「Ichiban hoshi wa touku kagayaku」
Release Date: April 18th, 2025
Duration: 30 mins.
Director: Karin Takeda
Writer: Karin Takeda (Screenplay),
Starring: Ruka Ishikawa, Marina Seto, Taiki Kawaguchi, Rei Taketsugu, Koji Tsujimoto,
Website Twitter: @ndjc_project
Karin Takeda is a graduate from Tokyo Polytechnic University, Department of Imaging Art. Her film Till the Day I Can Laugh about My Blues was nominated for the Feature Length category in the Japanese Film Competition at the SKIP CITY International D-Cinema Festival 2023 and the 24th TAMA NEW WAVE Competition.
The film stars Ruka Ishikawa of colorless (2020).
Synopsis: After six months since she last saw him, Ako is still stewing in the break-up with her boyfriend of three years and she been unable to throw away the ring he gave her. When she helps her friend Yuko to bury her dead pet hamster in a park at night and sees Yuko get a new hamster, Ako begins to move on with her life…
Sleeping Swan 
スリーピング・スワン 「Suri-pingu Suwan」
Release Date: April 18th, 2025
Duration: 30 mins.
Director: Sonomi Sato
Writer: Sonomi Sato (Screenplay),
Starring: Shuri Suwa, Ayana Shiramoto, Ryo Matsuura, Ryo Iwase, Tomo Nakai,
Website Twitter: @ndjc_project
Sonomi Sato is a filmmaker from Ishinomaki, Miyagi Prefecture, who made Spring After Spring Passes Us By with local residents in her hometown. Her work, If These Letters Reach Your Eyes (2024) was her graduation project from the Department of Film and New Media, Nihon University College of Art and won the Runner-up Grand Prix and the Audience Award in the Short Film Competition of the Tokyo Documentary Film Festival 2020.
Synopsis: One morning on his way to work at a restaurant, 24-year-old university drop-out Souma encounters a frightened junior high school girl and a 24-year-old woman named Marina who subdues the man who harassed the girl. A few days later, Souma visits a gym in order to improve himself and meets Marina again. As he gets to know Marina better, Souma decides to confront the events of his past with his six-year-old cousin Eri.
Taida no unmei 
太陽（ティダ）の運命 「Taida no unmei」
Release Date: April 19th, 2025
Duration: 129 mins.
Director: Tadahiko Sako
Writer: N/A
Starring: Masahide Oota, Takeshi Onaga,
Website Twitter: @tida_movie
TBS employee Tadahiko Sako has made a number of documentaries about Okinawa, specifically how various leaders have sought to protect the rights of Okinawans against Americans and the government of Tokyo. These documentaries include Ikiro Shimada Akira Senchuu Saigo no Okinawa Kenchiji (2021) and The man most feared by the US military (2019).
Here’s an overview of the latest film on the Asahi news website.
Synopsis: “Taida” is a word in the Okinawan dialect which means “sun,” and, in ancient times, it was used to describe a chief or leader. This documentary looks at the careers of two governors of Okinawa, Masahide Oota and Takeshi Onaga, who both became popular with Okinawan citizens due to their efforts to champion the rights of locals.