Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Japan Storms Venice Competition Lineup!
Screen has just published the list of this year's lineup at the 65th Venice Film Festival. Congratulations to the following Japanese (and Japanese co-production) titles in and out of competition:
Competition
- Achilles And The Tortoise (Akiresu to kame), dir. Takeshi Kitano
- Ponyo On The Cliff By The Sea (Gake no ue no Ponyo), dir. Hayao Miyazaki
- The Sky Crawlers, dir. Oshii Mamoru
- Plastic City (Dangkou), dir. Yu Lik-wai (Brasil/China/Hong Kong/Japan)
Out Of Competition, Special Events
- Ketto Takadanobaba (1937), dirs. Masahiro Makino & Hiroshi Inagaki
In collaboration with Far East Film Festival of Udine
- Monster X Strikes Back: Attack The G8 Summit! (Girara no Gyakushu: Towako Samitto Kiki Ippatsu), dir. Minoru Kawasaki
Previous posts about Japanese films at Venice here.
4 comments:
Wow both Ponyo and Sky Crawlers will be in competition. You rarely see animated films vying for major festival awards, let alone two. And high profile ones to boot.
Oh, and you can consider Barbet Schroeder's Inju, La Bete Dans L'ombre a J-film too given its cast and locale.
Don't forget Paprika at Venice in 2006 (with Tales From Earthsea out of competition). Marco Muller loves him some Asian cinema. Innocence in Cannes was another.
Inju is not a Japanese co-production, which is why I didn't list it (wouldn't have listed The Last Samurai either). But Edoogawa Rampo, Sugata Shun and Ishibashi Ryo do count for a lot!
As graduate of the Ca Foscari Venice University of Oriental Languages I can tell you I believe there is a simple reason for so many Japanese movies at the Venice film festival.
The interconnections between University teachers, public figures of Venice and Japanese film directors.
In particular my ex teacher Maria Roberta Novielli, author of a book (maybe more) on the Japanese cinema.
She has also taught a University course (compulsory) on Japanese Cinema.
Furthermore she seems to have very close contacts with Kitano.
It is incredible how nearly every year there is a movie from Kitano at the Venice Film Festival.
Ciao
A compulsory course on Japanese cinema? That's interesting in itself.
And then there was these guys.
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