Japanese Films in Rotterdam

It's that time of year again, when Japanese cinema enjoys its ongoing good relations with the International Film Festival Rotterdam (Jan 23 - Feb 3) and the Berlin International Film Festival (Feb 7 - 17), in their 37th and 58th editions respectively. First let's take a look at the films in Rotterdam in this post, followed by a Berlin post later this week.

The image at left seems to be this year's official poster. What do you think of the cat without its stripes? Only world and international premieres are listed on the official site at the moment, but that's enough to write about for now.

As with last year, there is one feature competing for the Tiger Award -- photographer-turned-director Wakagi Shingo's (若木信吾監督) Waltz in Starlight (Hoshikage no Waltz, 『星影のワルツ』). I saw an industry screening of this during Tokyo FILMeX and liked it well enough. Shot on video, it depicts a young man's return to his hometown and his relationship with his Grandfather and his two mentally challenged childhood friends. It reminded me of a strong Pia Film Festival entry (that is a compliment). There's also one Japanese film competing for the short film award -- Makino Takashi's Elements of Nothing, which features music by Jim O'Rourke (who also did music for Wakamastu's United Red Army).

I don't know if it's an official retrospective on Ishii Yûya (石井裕也監督), who's all of 25 years old, but he has five features in the "Sturm und Drang" section. First there's 2005's Bare-Asssed Japan, which won the Grand Prize at the Pia Film Festival last year followed by sophomore effort Rebel, Jiro's Love (Hangyaku Jirô no Koi)『反逆次郎の恋』). Ishii's latest video features, Monster Mode (Bakemono No Moyô,『ばけもの模様』) and Girl Sparks (『ガール・スパークス』), are also screening. He's part of the second generation of directors from the Osaka University of Arts indie film scene where directors like Yamashita Nobuhiro and Kumakiri Kazuyoshi came out of.

This World of Ours (trace back from my Sept 9 2007 entry) continues its world tour in Rotterdam. Where do you think it ranks on my Top 10 of the year?

There's also Shadow Of Sand (Suna No Kage, 『砂の影』) directed by Kaida Yusuke (甲斐田祐輔監督). It stars Tom Mes' cinema Goddess Eguchi Noriko. Shot in 8mm, including what looks like location work in Tottori Prefecture, where the legendary Women of the Dunes was filmed.

In the "Time and Tide" section there's Megumi: Until They Took Her Away, directed by Dutch filmmaker Mirjam van Veelen. It's co-produced by John Williams' 100 Meter Films. Congrats on the selection, John.

In the same section is Junk Films: The Collected Short Shockumentaries of Tsurisaki Kiyotaka. Tsurisaki's work looks like the kind of Japanese/Chinese/Italian mondo death videos I used to watch in my teens, but captured through an artistic eye. Not sure if I could stomach it anymore.

In the "Cinema Regained" section is Half Empty or Half Full (Hanshin Hangi, 『半身反義』), which sounds interesting.

Finally, on a more mainstream front, Appleseed: Ex Machina screens in the "Rotterdamerung" section.

See my 2007 overview here.