Watch Japanese Movies in Hong Kong & Toronto and Help Japan!

I'd like to bring attention to another film-related fundraising effort, co-ordinated by pictures dept. president Shiomaki Yûko (汐巻裕子), who's been one of the most active Japanese film industry figures on the international scene for years.

Her campaign, entitled "Support Japan - GAMBARE," is being run through fundraising site JustGiving Japan. You can of course contribute directly through the website by credit card (instructions in English, Chinese and French).

Or (or even better, And) if you happen to be in Hong Kong next week, you can attend a 35mm screening of Masaaki Taniguchi's Time Traveller: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time (Toki wo Kakeru Shôjo)『時をかける少女』 ), with proceeds going to the campaign. This has been arranged with the film's Hong Kong distributor Panorama Entertainment. One of the many reviews for the film here (Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow).

Screening Date: Thursday 24th March at 12:00 (121min)
Screening Venue: Agnes B Cinema, Hong Kong Art Center
*Note: screening will be in Japanese with Chinese subtitles

Additionally, pictures dept. in cooperation with Chris MaGee of the aforementioned J-Film Pow-Wow are arranging a Toronto fundraising screening of J-film fan favourite Fine, Totally Fine (Zenzen Daijôbu, 『全然大丈夫』) (see my Dec 16 2007 entry). Details soon.

As a cherry on top, the campaign is endorsed by director Sono Shion, whom pictures dept. worked with on his latest film Guilty of Romance (Koi no Tsumi, 『恋の罪』). So you better listen! Yûko's initiative also got a mention in this article by Mark Schilling for The Japan Times.

You can download a PDF of the full press release here (日本語のプレスリリース)

The campaign is part of a larger effort to raise money for the Civic Force (日本語).

What has the Civic Force done for the disaster so far? Here is a paragraph from the English page on their site which explains it in a nutshell:

Civic Force, Japan's leading NGO in disaster response and relief, dispatched the helicopter-emergency teams immediately to the field to grasp the situation and delivered first rescue goods. Civic Force was the first rescue NGO on the ground. Based on the survey, we identified the most affected and vulnerable area and started to help people.

It must be said that while the nuclear threat is dominating the media (and creating unwarranted panic), there are survivors of the initial quake and tsunami who are still at great risk and unfortunately dying. The Civic Force will help combat that devastating reality.