The 13th Annual Japan Film Festival Los Angeles
August 18-19, 2018
Japanese American National Museum (National Center for the Preservation of Democracy building) at Little Tokyo, Los Angeles
Forwarded for the Japan Film Festival Los Angeles
“The movie is an adventure!” We have invited films that push the boundary of Japanese filmmaking.
The 2018 Japan Film Festival screens films that reflect on contemporary Japanese culture and the tradition.
We will be screening 7 feature films and 9 short films including submission movies that were offered by the general public in both Japan and the United States.
Our mission is to introduce Japanese culture and Japanese film industry talent to people in the United States.
Currently, Japan Film Festival Los Angeles is the only Japanese film festival in the Los Angeles area.
This year, we will bring the festival to the Japanese American National Museum in downtown Los Angeles to collaborate with the Nisei Week, the biggest Japanese community festival in Los Angeles.
OPENING FILM
Saturday, August 18 at 11:00 AM
blank 13
Drama 70min
Director: Takumi Saitoh
Cast: Issei Takahashi, Mayu Matsuoka, Takumi Saito, Misuzu Kanno
In Japanese with English subtitle
Plot: Koji’s father is missing. It takes thirteen years for him to be found, but he is ridden with cancer and does not have long. A son’s longing for an absent father transfigures into a discovery of a life lived at his funeral.
Saturday, August 18 at 1:00 PM
Oh Lucy! (short) and submission short film collections.
Drama 22min
Director: Atsuko Hirayanagi
Cast: Kaori Momoi
In English and Japanese
Plot: Setsuko is a single, emotionally unfulfilled woman, seemingly stuck with a drab, meaningless life in Tokyo. At least until she’s convinced by her niece, Mika to enroll in an unorthodox English class that requires her to wear a blonde wig and take on an American alter ego named “Lucy.”
2018 Short Film Collections
JAP
Drama 10 mins 50 secs
Cast: Kenny Pallone, Rick Kamazawa, Michael Gmur, Arthur Roberts.
Writer and Director: Derek Pike
Producer: Sam Dunkley
Plot: Two Japanese American men escape from the Gila River internment camp.
Rice Ball
Drama 15 mins
Cast: Hideo Kurihara, Yusuke Oishi, Yasumi Yajima.
Writer and Director: Yusuke Oishi
Producers: Yusuke Oishi and Akihiro Sawaguchi
Plot: A father and a son return from the crematory. The rice ball made by the father was round and too big, and it was different from the mother’s rice ball flavor. But the son finished eating the
first one and reached out for the second one.
Home
Documentary 10 mins 58 secs
Cast: Kyoko Takenaka
Writer and Director: Kyoko Takenaka
Producer: Kyoko Takenaka
Summary: Through original song and poetry, artist and filmmaker Kyoko Takenaka creates a multimedia statement on how the affirmation of culture, resistance and resilience can disrupt enduring myths of Asian-Americans.
Freedom
Drama 3 mins 5 secs
Cast: Hannah Sharp, Olyvia Scott, Lauren Schultz, Erik Nesteruk, Mark Pittman B, Carol Adams.
Director: Ayaka Kurukawa
Producer: Joyce Louis-Jean
Pachinko
4 mins 2 secs
Director: Luis Grané
Producer: Tomás Basile
Summary: A visitor immersed in Tokyo considers how the heavy set of implicit rules might take a toll on the individual psyche and mess with human instincts. People co-exist with animated cartoon characters and have imaginary interactions with ancestors by honoring traditions. Pachinko balls represent the influence from American culture.
Mental Sketch
Drama 6 mins 40 secs
Cast: Riku Saito
Director: So Watanabe
Producer: Dogwood International Productions
Odayaka-Ya
Documentary 15 mins 40 secs
Cast: Erika Endo, Haru Shimazaki, Kazu Shimazaki.
Writer and Director: Kazuhito Takazawa
Producer: Kazuhito Takazawa
Summary: The Great East Japan Earthquake and tsunami in Tohoku on March 11, 2011 completely changed our values and the way we see things. It seems people are reconsidering their lifestyles, shifting the focus of happiness away from financial gain to feeling a connection with nature and with other people. One couple moved to Sagamiko in Kanagawa Prefecture to start over, leaving their city life in Tokyo behind. Their new lifestyle would be half agriculture and half unknown.
Gift
Drama 4 mins 48 secs
Cast: Oji Asuga, Rin Amikawa, Ichiro Murata, Kouki Agena, Yuto Domon. Writer and Director: Keiya Ando
Producer: Mami Akara
Plot: Story about man who has a special gift of sharing one week of his life to other people.
Saturday, August 18 at 3:20 PM
The Scythian Lamb
Drama 126min
Director: Daihachi Yoshida
Cast: Ryo Nishikido, Fumino Kimura, Ryuhei Matsuda
Writers: Tatsuhiko Yamagami
In Japanese with English subtitle
Plot: A sleepy seaside town is stirred by the arrival of six mysterious strangers who acclimate to local life in distinct roles: a malevolent boatman, a sexy caregiver, a frightening launderer, a timid barber, a methodical cleaning woman, and a simple-minded deliveryman. Oblivious to their origins, city official Tsukisue supports their assimilation until the discovery of a dead body forces him to unravel their secrets.
Saturday, August 19 at 5:50 PM
One Cut of the Dead
Comedy Horror 96min
Director: Shinichiro Ueda
Cast: Takayuki Hamatsu , Mao, Harumi Shuhama
In Japanese with English subtitle
Plot: Things go badly for a hack director and film crew shooting a low budget zombie movie in an abandoned WWII Japanese facility when they are attacked by real zombies. The one cut 37 minutes zombie movie with an unusual twist.
Sunday, August 19 at 11:00 AM
Lost in Ramen
Drama 100 min
Director: Yuki Kumagai
Producer: Ayumi Hayashi, Tomohiro Kobayashi
Cast: Yurika Nakamura, Wakana Aoi, Renji Ishibashi
In Japanese with English subtitle
Plot: A high school girl who is betrayed by a friend and tries to commit suicide, a ramen restaurant owner whose wife has passed away, and a cooking expert who was involved in a car accident: all were feeling devastated until they found Seiran Restaurant’s ramen. The ramen changes their lives and helps them to overcome hardships. A touching and heartwarming story, based on the webcomic by Akiteru Hayashi.
Sunday, August 19 at 1:20PM
Forgive-Don’t Forget
Documentary Feature 70 min
Directors: Paul Martin, Brad Bennett, Austin Journey, Paul Ufema
Producer: Paul Martin, Brad Bennett In English and Japanese
Plot: When Japan surrendered to the U.S. at the end of World War II, numerous Japanese swords were confiscated and taken back to the States. In order to better understand the past and build a bridge between cultures in the present, an American filmmaker attempts to return one of these surrendered swords to its original owner.
Sunday, August 19 at 3:05PM
We Are X
Music Documentary 93 min
Director: Stephen Kijak
Producer: Jonathan McHugh, Jonathan Platt, John Battsek, Diane Becker
Cast: X-Japan, Gene Simmons, Wes Borland, Richard Fortus, Marilyn Manson In English and Japanese
Plot: From the production team behind the Oscar® winning Searching for Sugar Man comes We Are X, a transcendent rock & roll story about X Japan, the world’s biggest and most successful band you’ve never heard of…yet.
CLOSING FILM
Sunday, August 19 at 5:20 PM
Hee
Drama 72 min
Director: Maori Momoi
Producer: Kazuyoshi Okuyama
Cast: Kaori Momoi, Yugo Saso, Ayako Fujitani
In Japanese with English subtitle
Q&A with Kaori Momoi
Plot: Dr. Sanada works as a psychiatrist at a clinic in the United States. One day while out shopping with his family, he encounters a woman whom he once treated, named Azusa. Azusa’s words reverberate in his mind, and he envisions questioning her at the clinic. Soon after the episode, Dr. Sanada gets the chance, but under very different circumstances. Azusa’s shocking story goes beyond anything he imagined.
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Sunday, August 19, 7:20 PM-8:00PM
Award Ceremony
Invitation only
For more information, visit www.jffla.org and follow @JapamFilmFestLA on Twitter