Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2016

The Japan Foundation’s annual Touring Film Programme returns for a week-long celebration of Japanese films, new and vintage. Japan’s is one of the greatest and most original cinemas in the world, and this year the programme inspired by Akira Kurosawa’s iconic 1952 film Ikiru (“To Live”), exploring the way in which Japanese filmmakers capture life itself – and how people across the ages have interacted with the environment and situations they live in. Watch films that showcase Japan's rich history, from the best Japanese films of 2015 to cult Japanese movies of decades past.
New releases in the programme include Suzuki Matsuo's A Farewell to Jinu (2015) and the animated Miss Hokusai (2015) from Katsushika Hokusai (globally famous for his piece The Great Wave).
Also in the strand comes The Cowards Who Looked to the Sky (2012) Yuki Tanada’s drama about infidelity, infused with cosplay. The female director's 2009 film and Noriben – The Recipe for Fortune (2009), about a single mother's quest to gain independence by opening a lunch box shop.
Documentary will also be making an appearance for the first time, with Tale of a a Butcher Shop, an award-winning film about a family-run butcher shop in Kaizuka City, where they have been raising and slaughtering cattle, and selling their meat in their small shop for over 100 years, and the tradition of the Kitades. The season also includes Keisuke Kinoshita's classic A Japanese Tragedy (1953) by master Keisuke Kinoshita.
Contemporary Japanese cinema is often given short shrift on these shores; every year, this programme offers an essential opportunity to catch up on what’s new, while revisiting old classics. The foundation provides a springboard for the best films at cinema festivals in Japan to make their way to a global audience. Don’t miss it.