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Eiga Sai film festival kicks off PHL-Japan Friendship Month
Kamui (2009) Image from Kamui Film Partners
Twelve mostly award-winning Japanese films produced between 2005-2012 are featured in the 15th Japanese Film Festival (Eiga Sai), kicking off Philippine-Japan Friendship Month with entertaining glimpses into the different facets of Japanese society and culture.
“With a wide variety of genres from action, to animation, family drama, to mystery, we want Filipinos to understand the current situation in Japan through this select Japanese cinema. Most of the festival films tackle current pressing issues that confront the Japanese people and society, both in the cities and rural areas,” said Shuji Takatori, director of the Japan Foundation, Manila (JFM), the festival's host.
All the films will be shown with English subtitles and all screenings will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Shang Cineplex Cinema 2 at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall from July 4 to 14.
The mall plans to hold other activities to complement the Eiga Sai, such as photography and pop-art exhibits and a classical music concert.
According to JFM project coordinator Roland Samson, the 2013 Eiga Sai films will also be screened at Abreeza-Ayala in Davao City and the Film Development Council of the Philippines Cinematheque in Davao City from July 19 to July 28; at the Ayala Center Cinema 4 in Cebu City from Aug. 7 to Aug. 11; and at the UP Diliman Film Institute from Aug. 19 to Aug. 25.
“With a wide variety of genres from action, to animation, family drama, to mystery, we want Filipinos to understand the current situation in Japan through this select Japanese cinema. Most of the festival films tackle current pressing issues that confront the Japanese people and society, both in the cities and rural areas,” said Shuji Takatori, director of the Japan Foundation, Manila (JFM), the festival's host.
All the films will be shown with English subtitles and all screenings will be open to the public on a first-come, first-served basis at the Shang Cineplex Cinema 2 at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall from July 4 to 14.
The mall plans to hold other activities to complement the Eiga Sai, such as photography and pop-art exhibits and a classical music concert.
According to JFM project coordinator Roland Samson, the 2013 Eiga Sai films will also be screened at Abreeza-Ayala in Davao City and the Film Development Council of the Philippines Cinematheque in Davao City from July 19 to July 28; at the Ayala Center Cinema 4 in Cebu City from Aug. 7 to Aug. 11; and at the UP Diliman Film Institute from Aug. 19 to Aug. 25.
Parade (2010) Image from Parade Film Partners
The centerpiece of this year’s Eiga Sai is director Takashi Yamazaki’s trilogy “Always San-cho-me no Yuhi (Always-Sunset on the Third Street), a comedy-drama series based on a best-selling manga about tackling the triumphs and travails of the residents of a working-class Tokyo neighborhood, the Yurimachi San-cho-me.
Part I is set in 1958, the year the iconic Tokyo Tower was built, while Part II’s backdrop is spring of 1959, which showcased the recreation of the famous Nihombashi District of Tokyo and the Haneda Airport. Part III takes place in 1964, and this final installment shows footage of a revitalized Tokyo, after the war, evoking nostalgia with the Tokyo Olympics Games hosting and the introduction of the Shinkansen (bullet trains) as a means of public transportation.
Takatori said the trilogy has been very successful in Japan, because it gives its audience hope in a time of recession. “Even though times are changing, we can face forward because we have dreams,” he added.
It is a universal sentiment. Benedict Olgado, director of the National Film Archives of the Philippines, said foreign film festivals such as the Eiga Sai, which has built a strong following of its own, “bridge nations and people through the power of cinema.”
“There is nothing like the shared experience of watching a film that unites people together. Cinema has the capability to connect us, to push the creativity and the capacity of our human spirit, to move us continuously to strive and to do better – to be better,” he said.
Part I is set in 1958, the year the iconic Tokyo Tower was built, while Part II’s backdrop is spring of 1959, which showcased the recreation of the famous Nihombashi District of Tokyo and the Haneda Airport. Part III takes place in 1964, and this final installment shows footage of a revitalized Tokyo, after the war, evoking nostalgia with the Tokyo Olympics Games hosting and the introduction of the Shinkansen (bullet trains) as a means of public transportation.
Takatori said the trilogy has been very successful in Japan, because it gives its audience hope in a time of recession. “Even though times are changing, we can face forward because we have dreams,” he added.
It is a universal sentiment. Benedict Olgado, director of the National Film Archives of the Philippines, said foreign film festivals such as the Eiga Sai, which has built a strong following of its own, “bridge nations and people through the power of cinema.”
“There is nothing like the shared experience of watching a film that unites people together. Cinema has the capability to connect us, to push the creativity and the capacity of our human spirit, to move us continuously to strive and to do better – to be better,” he said.
About Her Brother (2010) Image from About Her Brother Film Partners
The 2013 Eiga Sai opens Wednesday with the 7 p.m. invitational screening of “Ototo” (About Her Brother), a film by the award-winning director Yoji Yamada, which presents the “humanistic bonds between a hardworking elder sister and her failed younger brother.”
Among the other films in this edition of Eiga Sai are “Kokuhaku” (Confessions), “Kamui Gaiden” (Kamui), “Shokudo Katatsumuri” (Rinco’s Restaurant), “Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho” (Mai Mai Miracle), “Katen no Shiro” (Castle Under Fiery Skies”, “Furusato-Japan” (Japan, Our Homeland), “Parade”, and “Dear Doctor.”
Japanese anime films will also be shown at the SM Mall of Asia Cinema 6 on July 20 and 21, featuring the must-see “Byosoku Go Senchimetoru” (5 Centimeters per Second) and “The Place Promised in our Early Days,” by Makoto Shinkai, an acclaimed Japanese anime filmmaker. — BM, GMA News
The Eiga Sai Japanese Film Festival will be held at Shangri-La Plaza Mall from July 3-14. The Festival is hosted by Japan Foundation Manila in cooperation with the Japanese Embassy of Manila, Shangri-La Plaza and the Film Development Council of the Philippines.
For more information, visit www.shangrila-plaza.com or call 370-2597 or 811-6155 to 58. Click here or here (both .pdf) for the screening schedule.
Among the other films in this edition of Eiga Sai are “Kokuhaku” (Confessions), “Kamui Gaiden” (Kamui), “Shokudo Katatsumuri” (Rinco’s Restaurant), “Mai Mai Shinko to Sennen no Maho” (Mai Mai Miracle), “Katen no Shiro” (Castle Under Fiery Skies”, “Furusato-Japan” (Japan, Our Homeland), “Parade”, and “Dear Doctor.”
Japanese anime films will also be shown at the SM Mall of Asia Cinema 6 on July 20 and 21, featuring the must-see “Byosoku Go Senchimetoru” (5 Centimeters per Second) and “The Place Promised in our Early Days,” by Makoto Shinkai, an acclaimed Japanese anime filmmaker. — BM, GMA News
The Eiga Sai Japanese Film Festival will be held at Shangri-La Plaza Mall from July 3-14. The Festival is hosted by Japan Foundation Manila in cooperation with the Japanese Embassy of Manila, Shangri-La Plaza and the Film Development Council of the Philippines.
For more information, visit www.shangrila-plaza.com or call 370-2597 or 811-6155 to 58. Click here or here (both .pdf) for the screening schedule.
