NYTFGP2008 FESTIVAL PART ONE

ASYL - PARK AND LOVE HOTEL
Directed by Izuru Kumasaka
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE*
With Director Kumasaka

Running time: 111 min.
Image © PFF Partners

AUDIENCE SELECTED FILM

Izuru Kumasaka’s debut feature won the coveted “Best First Feature Film” award at 2008’s Berlin International Film Festival. The action of this beautifully crafted film takes place on the rooftop of a Tokyo “love hotel” that has been turned into an idyllic park where four women with unlucky fates find refuge and share their dreams and failures. Through this peculiar hotel, which is more like a sanctuary, there pass different people with mental problems and also physical illnesses.

The director Kumasaka takes up the challenge of turning an older woman into the star of the film and surrounding her with younger actresses playing roles that are far removed from the concept of glamour. The ironic world portrayed by the movie symbolizes the alienation and dreams of people in modern society.

BLOODY SNAKE UNDER THE SUN
Directed by Yu Nakai
*INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE*
With actor/model Shogen

Running time: 122 min.
Image © Three Arrows Entertainment

AUDIENCE SELECTED FILM

An official selection of the 2007 Tokyo International Film Festival, Yu Nakai’s first feature film touches on the sights, the sounds, and the vibe of post-WW2 Okinawa. Tensions between the occupying US military and street gangs participating in the black market come to a head in this tale of 60’s Okinawa, where the island’s beautiful culture and music take center stage.

Despite the beauty around them, brothers Gin and Ryo can’t help but cause trouble, while their mother and sister struggle to make ends meet through more legitimate means. Director Nakai’s music background and unique casting (Shogen who plays “Ryo” is the model for Jean Paul Gaultier and international magazines, and Mitsuki Koga who plays “Gin” models for Nike, Levi’s, and others) make this film special both aurally and visually.

THE CHASING WORLD
Directed by Issey Shibata
*US PREMIERE*

Running time: 98 min.
©2007 “The Chasing World” production committee

NYT SELECTED FILM

This Film was made based on 19 year old Yusuke Yamada’s million seller debut novel “Riaru onigokko/Tag for Real.” The original story takes place in 3000 AD in Japan. A monarchy is in power and the King orders all those named Sato, the most common surname in Japan, to play a game of tag. Those who are caught will be prosecuted.

In order to adapt this strong story for his debut feature film, director Issey Shibata took his own unique idea of the “parallel universe.”Relying on powerful physical action rather than computer graphics, he created a high octane thrill ride of a film, fueled by the blood, sweat, and tears of the predator/prey relationship.

CORAZON DE MELON
Directed by Makoto Tanaka
*INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE*

Running time: 112 min.
Image © Epic Records Japan Inc.

AUDIENCE SELECTED FILM

Izumi is an office lady who lives with her boyfriend, Hiromi. Hiromi has an illness that prevents him from finding a job. One day, Izumi’s company undergoes a restructuring. Without telling Hiromi, Izumi begins to hunt for a new job, with little success. Without knowing the troubles placed on Izumi, Hiromi says that he wants to eat a high grade type of melon. For Hiromi’s sake, Izumi runs about trying to procure this melon. Though Hiromi becomes better, he fakes sickness and does not try to work. Thus Izumi, after constant stress, catches Hiromi’s illness and collapses.

Starring Waka Inoue and T.M.Revolution’s Takanori Nishikawa, this is the heart warming story that displays exactly how far a person will go in the name of love.

INTERVIEW (coming soon)

DEATH OF DOMOMATA
Directed by Shutaro Oku
*INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE*

Running time: 80 min.
Image © M6 Trance Picture Works

AUDIENCE SELECTED FILM

DEATH OF DOMOMATA is a film about a “play within a play”. It introduces lines from “Death of Domomata” by one of Japan’s greatest writers Takeo Arishima (1878-1923), as it follows a production of his play. Set in a drug rehabilitation center, the film starts with a scene that introduces the six girls, victims of their own excess and lack of worth. They are rehearsing the play “Death of Domomata” for their annual Christmas Eve recital.

Little by little the dialogue of the play mingles with the true voices of the girls and the lines begin to blur.In this film, called the ultimate ”no frills girls’ movie,” what director Oku, known previously for his dramatic stage directions, pursues at the heart of the film is: “Do artists really have to become junkies?” DEATH OF DOMOMATA – “No choice but to die young.”

GENIUS PARTY
Directed by Atsuko Fukushima, Shoji Kawamori, Shinji Kimura, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura, Masaaki Yuasa, Shinichiro Watanabe, Mahiro Maeda, Koji Morimoto, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka
*NY PREMIERE*

Running time: 102 min.
Image © Genuis Party

NYT SELECTED FILM

“GENIUS PARTY” is an anthology of short animated films from Studio 4.C, who are best known for their “Animatrix” and “Tekkonkinkreet” projects. The project’s theme given to seven and five selected directors for “Genius Party (2007) and was “ZERO regulation on creation.” Under this ultimate freedom, 12 geniuses created something special and unique for themselves.

Director Shinichiro Watanabe (”Cowboy Bepop,” “Samurai Champloo”) said in an interview, “All of my anime is about guns, swords, blood, etc. Using this opportunity, I just wanted to make a real love story which I’ve never done before.” His “Baby Blue” in “Genius Party”, featuring the voice of Yuya Kagura (“Nobody Knows”) and Rinko Kikuchi (“Babel”) is a beautiful love story that cannot be missed.

GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES
Directed by Taro Hyugaji
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE*

AUDIENCE SELECTED FILM

Best known for its internationally acclaimed anime version by Isao Takahata of Studio Ghibli , GRAVE OF THE FIREFLIES is now a major live action motion picture. Director Taro Hyugaji presents the dramatic story of a little orphan girl and her brother’s struggle to survive 1945’s war-ravaged Japan.

Each night fireflies illuminate the dark of the night and keep Seita and Setsuko amused. But in the morning, the fireflies lay dead on the ground. Setsuko gives a name to each firefly and buries them in graves…

This is Hyugaji’s first feature film.

KAMACHOP
Directed by Anji Matsumoto
*INTERNATIONAL PREMIERE*
With Director Matsumoto

AUDIENCE SELECTED FILM

Kamachi and Chop, known together as Kamachop, are two ghosts who were originally killed by lightning and are now haunting/squatting in a Shinjuku hotel room. One day an older woman comes to Tokyo to borrow money from a loan shark. She intends to give the money to her slacker son to help him out, but fate keeps them from meeting. Her selflessness intrigues the ghosts, who can do nothing but observe as a complicated human drama unfolds around them.

Using “The Myth of Sisyphus,” a philosophical essay by Albert Camus, as the motif, KAMACHOP is Anji Matsumoto’s first feature film, showing that people are connected each other with an “invisible string.” He and his punk film team Kakumei Tomato’s passion made him complete this film at the super low budget of $6,000.

OFFICIAL FILM TRAILER

TEA FIGHT
Directed by Wang Yemin
*NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE*

AUDIENCE SELECTED FILM

This Japan/Taiwan co-produced film is a film about an ancient “tea curse” passed down through generations of the Yagi family in Kyoto. When the wife of a teashop owner dies, he believes she was a victim of this curse and decides to shut down his business. His daughter takes it upon herself to research the curse and discovers a special tea in Taiwan that can counteract her family’s misfortune. Her father follows her, thinking that she’s falling into some sort of trap set up by Taiwanese tea makers.

Eventually, this all leads to a rematch of a “tea fight” which originally took place nearly 1,000 years ago… The beautiful animated opening sequence telling the once-upon-a-time story set in the Song Dynasty, was mace by Studio 4C (“Animatrix”,“Tekkonkinkreet”) and the film’s score is by Sean Lennon.