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Comprising international premieres, short programs, and some of the country’s finest-ever films in new restorations, 2025’s Japan Cuts––running July 10-20 at New York’s Japan Society––is upon us. As one of North America’s sole festivals devoted to new voices in Japanese cinema, it’s likely your only opportunity to see many titles in a theatrical space. Though one can feel a bit dizzy looking through everything, we’re glad to distill it––from masters to nascent talents and, along the way, a few absolute classics given much-deserved restorations.

Blazing Fists (Takashi Miike)

It’s hard to say what’s more endearing about Takashi Miike these days: that the director of Audition and Ichi The Killer is still out there producing work at the same, alarming rate or the clear sense that he’s still enjoying himself. Miike’s one-hundred-and-somethingth film, Blazing Fists, is a story about...

The 27th edition of the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia), an Academy Award®-accredited festival and one of Asia’s largest international short film festivals, was held in 2025.

Under the theme “creative active generative,” the festival aimed to bring together filmmakers from around the world to showcase their creativity, foster interactions between works, audiences, creators, and companies, and generate new synergies. The festival also embraced emerging technologies, including generative AI, to create new forms of creative expression and envisioned the future of Ssff & Asia.

At the Awards Ceremony — honors were presented across a wide range of categories, including a record-setting five films that qualified for nomination for the following year’s Academy Awards®. These included the three live-action categories, as well as the Non-Fiction and Animation categories.

In addition, awards were also presented for the U-25 Project, the Shibuya Diversity Award, the Hoppy Happy Award, the Global Spotlight Award,...

The upcoming 18th edition of Japan Cuts, North America’s largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema, will kick off with a special screening of ChaO, the hotly anticipated animated feature debut from director Yasuhiro Aoki.

Produced by Studio 4ºC, the avant-garde animation house behind Mind Game and Tekkonkinkreet, ChaO reimagines a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale through a cyberpunk lens, transporting audiences to a near-future Shanghai where humans and mermen coexist. The story follows an ordinary salaryman who is unexpectedly thrust into a diplomatic marriage with a mermaid princess, triggering a whirlwind of political absurdity and emotional discovery. With over 100,000 hand-drawn frames created over the course of seven years, Aoki’s film is described as a visually extravagant and emotionally idiosyncratic passion project. Japan Cuts is hosting the special screening ahead of the film’s theatrical release in Japan in August. Gkids has acquired domestic theatrical rights.

Running July 10–20 at...

The last decade of cinema has brought no greater certification than Kiyoshi Kurosawa as Japan’s preeminent filmmaker. The thought occurs to me looking at the programming for Japan Society’s 2025 edition of Japan Cuts, sponsored by Gu, running July 10—20, and North America’s foremost showcase for Japanese cinema that boasts four of his features––two new, two repertory, two named Serpent’s Path, and one on a head-spinningly rare 35mm print. New York premieres of Cloud and the 2024, great, still-undistributed Serpent’s Path take place with the director in-person, as will a print of 1998’s License to Live and 1998’s Serpent restored in 4K and distributed by Janus Films. The latter two fit into Japan Cuts’ Classics section, rounded out by the great Shunji Iwai’s Love Letter, also debuting a 4K restoration.

Among newer titles I’ll vouch for Saki Michimoto’s formally flexible, emotionally attuned debut feature See You Tomorrow,...

Japan Society has announced the full lineup for the 18th edition of Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film at the organization’s New York headquarters.

The festival, now powered by title sponsor Gu, will showcase 30 films across 11 days, featuring two world premieres, nine North American premieres, and 10 New York premieres.

Leading this year’s guest roster, legendary filmmaker Kurosawa Kiyoshi will be honored with the 2025 Cut Above Award for outstanding achievement in film. Widely regarded as one of Japan’s most influential living directors, Kurosawa is known for modern classics including “Tokyo Sonata,” “Cure” and “Pulse.” The festival will present premieres of his latest works — psychological thriller “Cloud” and “Serpent’s Path,” a reimagining of his own 1998 original.

The festival will also welcome acclaimed actress Yuumi Kawai, this year’s best actress winner at the Japan Academy Film Prize for her performance in “A Girl Named Ann.” Kawai will attend...

On the occasion of his presence as Jury Member at Shorts Shorts Film Festival & Asia, we talked on zoom with director Shunji Iwai, in an insightful conversation covering his work, inspirations, and current projects.

In this exclusive interview, Iwai discusses his views on Japanese short films today and whether he still watches them, the impact of his early short films on his growth as a filmmaker, what he’s looking for as a jury member at Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia, the experience of directing the new series “Luca on the Road” and the transition from his feature “Kyrie“, collaborating with stars like Aina the End, Haru Kuroki, and Suzu Hirose, whether we can expect more adaptations of his own novels on screen , what he’s working on next.

Don’t miss this rare and thoughtful look into the creative world of one of Japan’s most distinctive directors.

Paramount Pictures’ Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning, which premiered here in Cannes on Wednesday, has been cleared for a May 30 release in China.

The film has passed censorship and been dated despite the China Film Administration’s recent announcement that it would “moderately reduce” the number of U.S. films imported into the country in response to U.S. President Donald Trump’s 145% tariffs on Chinese goods.

However, the U.S. and China recently agreed to cancel some of the tariffs they’d imposed on each other after Trump’s escalation, and pause others for 90 days, following talks between the two nations in Geneva.

Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning is being released in China just one week after its North America release on May 23 through Paramount.

Disney’s Thunderbolts* is currently on release in China and since the announcement of the “moderate reduction” three other US studio titles...

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia) 2025, an Academy Awards® accredited and one of the largest international short film festivals in Asia and originating in Japan, is pleased to announce the official jury members for the festival. The best short films in each category and section that will be nominated for the Academy Awards® in the following year.

In addition to the festival directors and programmers who have been involved in the selection process at international film festivals, the jury will judge this year‘s short films from a variety of perspectives, including filmmakers, actors, and cultural figures. https://www.shortshorts.org/2025/en/jury/

■Live Action Competition / International Category Judges

29 nominated films among 1980 submissions form 91 countries and regions

■Non-Fiction Competition Judges：

14 nominated films among 295 submissions form 35countries and regions

Debo Adedayo,

Juri Ueno (Actor), Miyuki Fukuma (Producer)

■Live Action Competition/Asia International Category Judges：

21 nominated films among 738 submissions from 21 countries...

Japanese production company The Seven is making its theatrical debut with crime thriller “Baka’s Identity” (A Fool’s Identity), set to release in Japan on Oct. 24. The film reunites “Yu Yu Hakusho” producer Akira Morii with actors Takumi Kitamura and Go Ayano, joined by rising star Yuta Hayashi.

Directed by Koto Nagata, a protégée of acclaimed filmmaker Shunji Iwai, the chase thriller explores Japan’s criminal underworld through the perspectives of three young men over three intense days. Based on Jun Nishio’s prize-winning 2019 novel, the screenplay adaptation comes from Japan Academy Award-winner Kosuke Mukai.

The story follows Takuya and Mamoru (Hayashi), two disadvantaged young men working in identity theft schemes who seek help from Kajitani (Ayano), their underworld mentor, when they try to escape their criminal lives.

“This is a film about men who have lost everything and who still choose to live,” said Kitamura, who stars as Takuya,...

Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia) 2025, one of Asia‘s largest international short film festivals accredited by the US Academy Awards®, will be held from Wed, May 28 to Wed, June 11 June at multiple venues in Tokyo and online. The online venues will begin streaming some of the programs in advance from Thu, April 24 and will run until Mon, June 30.

4,592 entries from 108 countries and regions

275 submissions for short films using AI

While many of the films submitted to this year’s festival focused on family ties and the generation gap in each region, half of the films in the International category depicted the conflict in Israel and Palestine. Trends noted in the entries include universal adolescence, trans youth perspectives from Generation Z and stories with dementia as a motif.

AI-based entries, which have been growing over the past few years, numbered more than 240 this year. While more and more films...

Ikki Katashima‘s melodrama tells the story of two writers at very different stages of their careers; separated by a small stretch of water, brought together by chance. Making the most of its setting, it perhaps struggles to fully develop the story, needing a little more variety and spark to inspire its audience.

Paradise of Solitude is screening at Cinema at Sea

Ayame (Akiho Otsubo) is an aspiring writer, though works her days at a textile factory and her aunt’s antiques shop. At the request of a colleague, she writes love letters for a mysterious crush, though it seems her work friend has less noble intentions for her writing talents. Not too far away, struggling writer Yo (Sho Aoyagi) receives an email that captures his attention from its subject. He reads on, taken in by the words, though realises the ruse when clicking on its link.

The words inspire him,...

The interview was conducted through the good offices of Total Stage Produce Inc.

Isao Yukisada is a prominent Japanese film director, screenwriter, and producer, born in 1968, in Kumamoto, Japan. He began his filmmaking career after studying at School of Imaging Technology in Japan (Toho Kakuen) where he developed his craft. Before stepping into the role of a director, Yukisada worked as an assistant director under Shunji Iwai, a highly respected filmmaker known for his poetic, emotionally rich films such as ‘Love Letter’ (1995) and ‘Swallowtail Butterfly’ (1996). His time working with Iwai helped him gain valuable insights into visual storytelling, pacing, and emotionally resonant character development, which would later become a hallmark of his own directing style.

Yukisada made his directorial debut with ‘Open House‘, a romantic drama about a woman navigating complex emotional relationships. The film was a relatively low-profile start to his career but set the foundation for his future works,...

Asia in the mid-1990s to early 2000s experienced both economic upheaval and a cinematic renaissance. As the financial crisis rippled through the region, a new wave of filmmakers emerged, crafting films that captured the turbulence of the era. World cinema witnessed the rise of several influential movements, from J-horror and Korean crime thrillers to the early days of Hallyu and the digital arthouse films of Southeast Asia that produced figures such as Apichatpong Weerasethakul, Erik Khoo, and Lav Diaz.

Between the festival regulars and national mainstream releases, are relatively underseen films that captured their times with a sense of grit. In the wake of the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, the region faced economic instability, widespread unemployment, and a deep sense of uncertainty about the future. Against this backdrop, a wave of filmmakers across Asia captured the struggles, aspirations, and disillusionment of those navigating an increasingly precarious world. These films, often made on modest budgets,...

Over a decade after his rom-com sensation, “Hana and Alice“, Shunji Iwai returns to the characters of Hana Arai and Tetsuko Arisugawa with a rotoscoped prequel film that paints beautiful animated images over live-action footage. Like the first film, “The Case of Hana & Alice” is a whimsical and cute tale of self-discovery and new beginnings in a middle-school setting.

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It doesn’t deal with its predecessor’s more mature themes, as the girls are only 14 and don’t have much to worry about here. But it still addresses change, with a new school for Alice, and the rumored death of a lover for Hana. This is simply a lighthearted film about being young, with a plot that sounds even simpler on paper than that of the original. It’s the story of how Hana and Alice met and became inseparable best friends.

Miho Nakayama, a respected Japanese music and film personality, died at 54. Her agency, Big Apple, confirmed her death on Friday. Nakayama was discovered deceased at her Tokyo residence, leaving a considerable legacy in the entertainment world.

Her abrupt passing has shocked fans and colleagues. The cause of her death has not yet been determined as investigations continue. Her website had earlier that day postponed a Christmas show in Osaka owing to her health struggles.

Nakayama was born in Tokyo on March 1, 1970, and her career began in 1985. That year, she made her television debut on TBS, released her first single, “C,” and appeared in a film adaptation of the manga “Be-Bop High School.”

In the late 1980s, Nakayama became famous in the city pop genre. She is famous for successful singles like “Waku Waku Sasete” and albums like “After School,” “Catch the Nite,” and “Mind Game.” Despite releasing fewer music albums in the early 2000s,...

To follow up “All About Lily Chou-Chou“, Shunji Iwai crafted a more innocent romantic-comedy that touches on the subjects of love, memory and friendship in a time of transition, from middle-school to high-school, from careless children to slightly more responsible teenagers. With a charming and silly story that is both hilarious and heartwarming, Iwai effortlessly captures the essence of being a teenager overwhelmed by your own life, trying to balance school, goals, friendship and romance. But he also captures the happiness, the naïveté, and the freedom of youth. Like making foolish mistakes, having fun with friends, getting caught up in manipulation schemes to earn a boy’s heart and making greedy decisions like trading a friendship for love. And it all feels so genuine and authentic.

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Through Shunji Iwai’s masterful direction and gorgeous aesthetic, and Yu Aoi and Anne Suzuki‘s wholesome performances,...

by Tiago Carneiro

Back in the 90s, Shunji Iwai had already established himself as a master of romance, but “Swallowtail Butterfly” redefined his craft and solidified him as a versatile filmmaker, showcasing his impressive ability to transcend genres. This film seamlessly blends a myriad of genres into a cohesive, all-encompassing tale of cinematic chaos. It is a science-fiction film, but also a musical at times, and a western, an action-thriller, a noir crime story, an entrancing mystery, a hilarious comedy, and a heartfelt coming-of-age drama. This may sound like the messy work of a madman, and it is, but in the best way.

Genres are twisted into something unique and collide with each other to form a surreal narrative that fully immerses the viewer into its intricate world-building and array of likeable characters. Shunji Iwai goes insane behind the camera and inside the editing room, making the film feel like...

Beginning Friday, October 4, Plastic, Daisuke Miyazaki‘s heartwarming love story propelled by the intoxicating power of shared musical obsession, opens for an exclusive one-week NY theatrical run at Metrograph In Theater. On the same day, the film will also have its streaming premiere on Metrograph At Home, running for an exclusive limited engagement until December 4.

Miyazaki’s tender, colorful, terribly charming tribute to headstrong youthful romance and the transcendent power of pop is inspired (and soundtracked) by musician Kensuke Ide’s eclectic, electrifying 2020 concept album—a record framed as being the work of a fictional ’70s glam rock group, Exne Kedy and the Poltergeists, and their mysterious frontman. In Plastic, rock obsessives Jun and Ibuki (Takuma Fujie and An Ogawa) bond over their mutual love for Exne Kedy’s elusive music, falling in love while trying to track their idols down, only to drift apart during the Covid-19 pandemic… until...

Tadanobu Asano is set to receive The Hollywood Reporter’s Trailblazer Award at the upcoming 37th installment of the Tokyo International Film Festival next month.

The chameleonic screen actor has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema for nearly three decades while regularly appearing in prominent supporting parts in big Hollywood productions. But his swaggering recent performance as the irascible samurai Yabushige on FX‘s smash-hit series Shogun has given him an all-new level of global recognition over the past year. In the process of becoming an indelible fan favorite, Asano also received his first Emmy nomination for the part.

THR’s Trailblazer Award, whose recent honorees include six-time Emmy winner Jean Smart, David Oyelowo, Eva Longoria, Matt Bomer, Niecy Nash-Betts and America Ferrera, is given to artists whose work and careers illuminate stories and characters who have been traditionally marginalized in Hollywood. International editor Abid Rahman will present Asano with the award on Oct.

North America’s largest Japanese film festival presents two weeks of contemporary premieres, including new films from Kei Chika-ura, Takeshi Kitano, Gakuryu Ishii, Shunji Iwai, Sho Miyake and Shinya Tsukamoto. The program features 31 films, including 5 International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, 2 East Coast Premieres and 7 New York Premieres, as well as the International Premiere of Shin Godzilla: Orthochromatic. Special guests include iconoclastic director Gakuryu Ishii, appearing for the East Coast Premiere of The Box Man as well as a retrospective screening of August in the Water; director Noriko Yuasa will appear at the International Premiere of Performing Kaoru’s Funeral, winner of the Japan Cuts Award at the 2024 Osaka Asian Film Festival; and actress Tomoko Tabata will appear...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

In the article series Sound and Vision we take a look at music videos from notable directors. This week: several music videos by Shunji Iwai. Shunji Iwai is very prolific. Not only has he made about more than ten feature movies, all equally sprawling and epic in scope, he also made many shorts, several television series, wrote many (online) novels, and above all directed more than 100 music videos. All About Lily Chou Chou, his most famous movie, started as an online serial in the form of a semi-fictional message board for a fully fictional artist, called Lily Chou Chou. When it eventually got turned into a movie, using a lot of the input Iwai had gathered from his interactions on these messageboards, Iwai decided...

[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...

The Look Back anime movie, based on the critically acclaimed one-shot manga by Chainsaw Man creator Tatsuki Fujimoto, will very shortly make its East Coast premiere at the 2024 Japan Cuts Film Festival in New York City. The film festival will also serve as the international premiere for the live-action Blue Period movie.

Per a press release, the Japan Cuts Film Festival will screen the animated Look Back movie as well as the live-action Blue Period movie at the Japan Society in New York. Look Back will be screened on July 14, 2024, just two weeks after the film makes its domestic debut in Japan on June 28. The 2024 Blue Period movie will premiere in North America on July 13, 2024, before even its public Japanese release on Aug. 9.

Related Oshi no Ko Live-Action Gets Debut Trailer and Release Date Reveal for Prime Video

Oshi no Ko fans get a first look at the upcoming live-action,...

July 10–21, 2024 · Japan Society · New York, NY

North America's largest Japanese film festival presents two weeks of contemporary premieres, including new films from Kei Chika-ura, Takeshi Kitano, Gakuryu Ishii, Shunji Iwai, Sho Miyake and Shinya Tsukamoto

31 films including 5 International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, 4 U.S. Premieres, 2 East Coast Premieres and 7 New York Premieres

Includes the International Premiere of Shin Godzilla: ORTHOchromatic

Shin Godzilla: ORTHOchromatic © 2016,2023 Toho Co., Ltd

New York, NY—Japan Society announces the full lineup of the 17th annual Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film, the largest festival of its kind in North America. Set for July 10–August 21 in New York City, this year's edition will present over 30 films spanning 12 days across Feature Slate, Next Generation, Classics and Short Film sections. Among the festival's lineup are five International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, four U.S. Premieres, two East Coast Premieres and seven New York Premieres. Additionally, Japan...

Comprising international premieres, short programs, and some of the country’s finest-ever films in new restorations, 2024’s Japan Cuts––running July 10-21 at New York’s Japan Society––has been unveiled. It’s in the festival’s nature that numerous works and directors are lesser-known on American shores, though a cursory search has one regularly stopping: new films by Takeshi Kitano (Kubi), Shunji Iwai (Kyrie), Shinya Tsukamoto (Shadow of Fire), and Gakuryu Ishii (The Box Man) populate the selection. Meanwhile, Hideaki Anno’s modern classic Shin Godzilla debuts in a new, black-and-white cut Shin Godzilla: ORTHOchromatic.

Its classics section is three-for-three: Ishii’s August in the Water, Shinji Somai’s Moving, and Toshiharu Ikeda Mermaid Legend, which is more or less one of the greatest films ever made. One can anticipate at least a couple of Japan Cuts’ current unknowns are tomorrow’s figureheads.

See the full lineup below:...

Following the recipe he implemented for “A Bride for Rip Van Winkle” and “Last Letter”, of shooting movies based on his own novel, Shunji Iwai has come up with “Kyrie”, a 3-hour movie that details the story of its three main characters over the span of 13 years. At the same time, it functions as a promotional piece for the idols in the cast, mainly Aina The End whose songs are heard throughout.

Kyrie is screening at Nippon Connection

The movie starts in the present, but eventually unfolds over several different time axes. In the present, Kyrie, a mysterious girl who only whispers except when she is singing, is trying to become a professional musician, but has no luck, even having to live on the streets. Eventually, another girl her age approaches her, Ikko, who immediately convinces her to become her manager, with the two soon sharing an apartment.

It turns...

Animation studio Mappa has partnered with K2 Pictures, a newly launched film company, to produce films for the global market. This was announced on the official website of K2 Pictures.

In addition to Mappa, K2 Pictures is also partnering with renowned filmmakers, including Shunji Iwai, Hirokazu Kore-eda, Kazuya Shiraishi, Miwa Nishikawa, and Takashi Miike.

This partnership signals a significant shift for Mappa, which is the only animation studio on the list of partners. the studio has expressed its eagerness to contribute to the filmmaking process as a partner.

“We have joined this project with the desire to support K2 Pictures’ challenge. We want to contribute as much as we can as a partner in movie production while considering what an animation studio can offer.“

K2 Pictures was established by Japanese producer Muneyuki Kii, a former Head Producer at Toei, with the goal of creating a new ecosystem for Japanese films.

Mappa, the popular studio behind anime hits like Jujutsu Kaisen, Attack on Titan, and Chainsaw Man, makes a surprise foray into the live-action production business. They team up with several partners hoping to revitalize the film industry.

Via Comic Natalie, Mappa has joined a group of production partners who will support K2 Pictures in producing a live-action film aimed at the global market. K2 Pictures is a company focused on film and video, with well-known Japanese filmmakers Hirokazu Kore-eda, Shunji Iwai, Kazuya Shiraishi, Miwa Nishikawa, and Takashi Miike supporting the cause alongside Mappa. Fans can check out this latest venture's announcement visual and more information below.

Related Dragon Ball Z's Goku and Vegeta Make Shock Appearance in Mappa Spring 2024 Anime Dragon Ball Zcharacters Goku and Vegeta just made a shock appearance in Mappa's new Oblivion Battery anime, making a cameo in Episode 3.

Film producer Muneyuki Kii founded K2 Pictures in Aug.

Animation studio Mappa will begin a partnership with K2 Pictures , a newly-launched film company based in Tokyo, to produce films for the global market, following an announcement on the company's official website . K2 Pictures was established by Japanese producer Muneyuki Kii , a former head producer at Toei. The company's official website describes its purpose as follows: The company aims to create a new funding ecosystem for Japanese films to enrich local productions by returning profits traditionally accruing to film companies to both investors and creators, and it will also produce projects with emerging and established creators. Additionally, as part of the initiative, K2 Pictures is launching a new content fund – K2P Film Fund I – which will provide support for Japanese features across both animation and live-action and will enable investors, creators and crew members to profit from the Japanese film industry. The Fund is aiming to collaborate with from investors in Japan,...

K2 Pictures, a Japanese production company launched by former Toei producer Muneyuki Kii, is to introduce a new film fund at Cannes and a slate that includes upcoming projects from Palme d’Or winner Hirokazu Kore-eda, acclaimed genre director Takashi Miike and top animation studio Mappa.

The K2P Film Fund I aims to support live-action and animated Japanese features, collaborating with local and international investors from the US, Asia and beyond. Profits from productions will be funnelled back to investors, creators and crew.

Announcing the fund, K2 Pictures revealed it will collaborate with leading Japanese directors and creators on...

Veteran Japanese character actor Tadanobu Asano is having a very overdue breakthrough moment. The chameleonic film star has been a mainstay of Japanese cinema for nearly three decades, while also regularly appearing in prominent supporting parts in big Hollywood productions. But his irresistible performance in FX’s period series Shōgun is giving him an all-new level of global recognition.

Asano co-stars in Shōgun as Kashigi Yabushige, the scheming lord of Izu, a rugged region of feudal Japan where much of the series takes place. Playing the character with lived-in swagger and a fatalistic sense of humor, Asano has become one of the show’s clear fan favorites, with Reddit and Twitter threads popping up to revel in his character’s antics. Asano announced himself early in Shōgun‘s run: As many have marveled, Yabushige makes his entrance to the show by boiling a man alive but then wins the audience...

Soon it's that time of year again! Just a few weeks left until the 24th Nippon Connection Film Festival once again envelops Frankfurt am Main (Germany) in bright pink. From May 28 to June 2, 2024, the world's largest festival of Japanese cinema will showcase around 100 short and feature films at eight venues. The country's culture will also be explored through the extensive culture program, reflecting Japan's musical, culinary, and artistic diversity.

The Nippon Connection Film Festival presents works by both established filmmakers and emerging directors. From Takeshi Kitano's action-packed samurai film Kubi to the captivating comedy Fly Me To The Saitama -From Biwa Lake With Love- by Hideki Takeuchi, and Yoshimi Itazu's imaginative animation The Concierge, the film program offers highlights of various genres. Most films will celebrate their German, European, or international premieres at the festival. The festival's focus on Crossing Borders, supported by the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, explores...

Wong Ching Po’s crime thriller The Pig, The Snake And The Pigeon has emerged as the second biggest Taiwanese film of all time on release in mainland China, having grossed over $69.5m (Rmb 500m) amid a simultaneous worldwide launch on Netflix.

Distributed by Star Alliance Movies, the film opened third on March 1 at the tail end of the Chinese New Year period, behind festive hits Article 20 and Pegasus 2. But it climbed to number one on its third day of release and has since been topping China’s daily box-office chart for 16 consecutive days, beating other new releases such as Dune: Part Two,...

Zdf Latest To ‘Race Across The World’

A six-part series based on Studio Lambert’s Race Across the World is set to air on German pubcaster Zdf in spring 2025. Planning is underway for casting and filming is set for the fall, with All3Media’s German producer, Tower, attached to make the show. Kirstin Benthaus-Gebauer will be the producer with Friederike Haedecke, Johannes Geiger, Thorsten Haas and Daniel Nemetschek the editors. The original BBC show has run to strong ratings in the UK for three seasons and one celebrity series. New seasons of both versions have been commissioned after the the first ep of the celebrity run drew 6.2 million viewers, consolidating the format’s position among the BBC’s top factual programs. The German deal, struck with distributor All3Media International, marks the fifth international version of the show, coming after three seasons on TV2 in Denmark, an upcoming production on MTV Katsomo and MTV3 in Finland,...

Busan International Film Festival has unveiled its full line-up, including opening and closing films, and announced that Hong Kong star Chow Yun-fat has been named as Asian Filmmaker of the Year.

Chow will be feted through the screening of two of his most iconic films – Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and John Woo’s A Better Tomorrow – as well as recent release Once More Chance, directed by Anthony Pun.

In addition to Chow, international guests expected at the festival include Luc Besson, Japanese filmmakers Hirokazu Kore-eda and Ryusuke Hamaguchi, Korean-American filmmakers Lee Isaac Chung and Justin Chon, and Chinese actress Fan Bingbing.

The festival will open with the world premiere of Jang Kun-jae’s Because I Hate Korea, adapted from the popular novel by Chang Kang-myoung, and close with Chinese filmmaker Ning Hao’s The Movie Emperor, starring Andy Lau, which is receiving its world premiere in Toronto.

Suffering from chronic insomnia that makes him irritable and distant, Ganta Nakami struggles to fit in at Kuyo High School. Assigned by his classmates to fetch a stepladder from the supposedly haunted observatory, he meets Isaki Magari, a cheerful student suffering from the same nocturnal condition as himself. Having herself spread the rumor about the near-abandoned place, Isaki invites Ganta to share her haven. However, an overly well-intentioned teacher discovers the ruse and urges them to resurrect the astronomy club if they want to keep their little paradise. On the advice of the club's former leader, the duo organizes a stargazing event, which unfortunately falls through despite the unexpected help of several other students. Devastated, Ganta believes he is the instigator of everything that goes wrong around him, but Isaki puts things into perspective by confessing a secret that haunts her day and night. A congenital illness has left her with half a heart,...

While not the strongest film – even within director Jun Ichikawa's oeuvre – 2001's “Tokyo Marigold” is interesting within the context of Japan's ‘lost decades' and the changing face of the metropolis. At the turn of the millennium, the grime and gloom of 90s cinema was replaced by a cleaner, fresher look, as style replaced substance. Clearly a student of Ozu, Ichikawa's Tokyo story shows a Japan of the gloss and sheen of Haruki Murakami novels and Muji furnished apartments; of upwardly mobile young office workers in doomed, short-term love affairs.

Eriko (Rena Tanaka) is a young woman somewhat lost in adult life, working as a clerk for a car dealership, drifting through her days. Around her, colleagues and friends appear surer of themselves, going places with their lives, offering her friendly advice, job opportunities and chances at love: More exciting work comes when she bumps into an old school...

Sci-fi fantasy stars Aoi Ito from Katayama Shinzo’s ’Missing’.

Japan’s Free Stone Productions is launching sales at Hong Kong Filmart on sci-fi fantasy drama From The End Of The World, starring Aoi Ito from Katayama Shinzo’s Missing.

Directed by Kazuaki Kiriya, whose credits include the post-apocalyptic epic Casshern and English-language action film Last Knights, the film also stars Mari Natsuki and Shunji Iwai, the writer/director of films such as Love Letter and All About Lily Chou-Chou.

The story follows a seemingly normal high school girl who wakes from a dream about a 10-year-old girl living in...

Mubi has announced its lineup of streaming offerings for next month, including a series on first films featuring David Cronenberg’s Stereo, Kelly Reichardt’s River of Grass, Jerzy Skolimowski’s Identification Marks: None, Fatih Akın’s Short Sharp Shock, Panos Cosmatos’ Beyond the Black Rainbow, and, with Mubi’s theatrical release of her new film Alcarràs, Carla Simón’s Summer 1993.

Additional highlights include Mathieu Amalric’s Hold Me Tight starring Vicky Krieps, Sundance favorites with films from Sean Baker, Lynn Shelton, Tom Noonan, and Andrew Bujalski, plus works from Nicolas Roeg, Claude Chabrol, and Aftersun director Charlotte Wells.

Check out the lineup below and get 30 days free here.

January 1 – Stereo, directed by David Cronenberg | First Films First

January 2 – Short Sharp Shock, directed by Fatih Akın | First Films First

January 3 – River of Grass, directed by Kelly Reichardt | First Films First

January 4 – Identification Marks: None, directed by Jerzy Skolimowski | First Films...

Japan Society

One of Japan’s great living directors, Shunji Iwai, is highlighted in “Love Letters,” a four-film retrospective.

Anthology Film Archives

Histoire(s) du cinéma plays in its entirety on Saturday and Sunday as part of an ongoing Godard series.

Roxy Cinema

Every Man for Himself and A Serious Man play on 35mm this Friday; the latter encores Sunday, when a print of Close Encounters also screens.

Film Forum

Orson Welles’ The Trial, restored in 4K, begins a run; The Princess Bride screens this Sunday.

Film at Lincoln Center

The retrospective of Yoshimitsu Morita has its final weekend.

Museum of the Moving Image

The director’s cut series offers Heaven’s Gate on Friday and Saturday, while Fanny and Alexander screens this Sunday.

IFC Center

Freshly anointed the greatest film of all-time, Jeanne Dielman begins a run, as does It’s a Wonderful Life; Suspiria, Pet Sematary, Hellboy, Pan’s Labyrinth, Suspiria,...

The films of Shunji Iwai present a view of the world in an almost dreamlike manner. That said, no matter how stylized his work can be, he’s never afraid to offer a raw portrait of reality. The youthful years of people’s lives are generally a time of happiness and growth, building memories that, years later, can be looked back on with a happy sense of nostalgia. Yet, the harsh truth is that’s heartbreakingly not always the case, and in a country like Japan, issues such as bullying remain a major problem. Combined with experimental filmmaking, Iwai would make a feature following Japanese youth lost in sorrow and partaking in misguided behavior. That harrowing film is “All About Lily Chou-Chou.”

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Throughout the 1990s in Japan, music was super popular, and there was a noticeable rise in juvenile delinquency,...

It’s a grand time for fans of Japanese cinema if you’re living in New York City. With a Noriaki Tsuchimoto retrospective recently concluding at the Museum of the Moving Image, a Yoshimitsu Morita retrospective starting Friday at Film at Lincoln Center, and a Shunji Iwai series coming to Japan Society, another major highlight is “Hachimiri Madness: Japanese Indies from the Punk Years,” which kicks off this Friday at Metrograph.

One of the major highlights of that series––which profiles works from the jishu eiga (“autonomous film”) indie scene that kicked off in the late 1970s Japan with 8mm-shot guerilla filmmaking––is the brand-new, 25th-anniversary restoration of Nobuhiro Suwa’s 2/Duo, which features an early performance from Drive My Car‘s Hidetoshi Nishijima. It opens on December 9, and ahead of that we’re pleased to exclusively debut the new trailer (courtesy Arbelos). The high-definition digital transfer was supervised by Suwa and cinematographer Masaki Tamura.

Japan Society is pleased to announce Love Letters: Four Films by Shunji Iwai, a weekend series celebrating the defining early works of filmmaker Shunji Iwai. One of the most original talents to emerge from Japan in the ’90s, Iwai tapped into the dreams and lives of Japan’s youth with his lyrical meditations on the hardships of young adulthood, capturing pivotal and unforgettable moments of life. Balancing popular entertainment with arthouse predilection, Iwai’s exhilarating takes on the youth film provided a much-needed voice for the younger generation, offering delicate portraits of adolescence, ripe with poetic yearnings of grief, friendship, and young love. Iwai’s sumptuous visual style, coupled with his affecting and underground appeal, opened a world of new possibilities in the ’90s cinescape—marking him as one of the most accomplished and unique filmmakers of his generation.

A primer on the director’s essential works, Love...

Four Reasons Why This Multiverse Family Drama is a Must-Watch:

1. A drama version of “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, but from the daughter’s perspective

Everyone thought Lin Zhaoxi (played by Zhang Zifeng) was a genius, but only she knows that she’s actually from another parallel world, and that she’s using her memories in another parallel universe to “cheat”.

Similar to the multiverse concept fleshed out in “Everything Everywhere All at Once”, “The Heart of Genius” depicts Lin Zhaoxi travelling into a parallel world where she finds herself a 12-year-old again. This time, she is determined to catch up to the legacy of her father Old Lin (played by Lei Jiayin) and her crush Pei Zhi Wei (played by Zhang Xincheng) – both mathematical geniuses vastly different from her, a philosophy major. Changing major events in her life that happened when she was 12 and 18 respectively, Lin Zhaoxi is forced...

Filmmaker Hideaki Anno is one of Japan’s most imaginative and creative filmmakers working today. Whether it be his superb anime show “Neon Genesis Evangelion” or his excellent film “Shin Godzilla,” the auteur director has made a reputation for himself with his stylish filmmaking mixed with emotional storytelling and social commentary. Early on, Anno directed very grounded and haunting pieces of Japanese cinema but with touches of his usual insanity present throughout his work. His first live-action feature, “Love & Pop,” tells a powerful tale of the bond between a group of school girls and raises awareness of disturbing taboos within Japanese society. Following this, Anno would truly show his talents as a filmmaker in his intimate and beautiful film “Shiki-Jitsu.”

on YesAsia

The title of the movie translates to “Ritual” or “Ceremonial Day.” The project would be produced by Studio Kajino, a subsidiary of the popular animation company Studio Ghibli.

Second Hand Rose is a Chinese rock band from Beijing. The band is known for its bold combination of traditional Chinese instruments with solid rock & roll fundamentals and performances that include intense stage play elements. Zhang Yaoyuan, who is currently doing a PhD in Films at the Tokyo University of the Arts, decides to focus on Liang Long, the lead singer of the band, in the month before his New Year’s Eve concert in 2019, when he also shot his very first film, “Little White Boat”, directed by Geng Zihan.

On Stage is screening at Osaka Asian Film Festival

“On Stage” is an unusual documentary, particularly when one considers its main theme. For starters, Zhang was allowed to follow Brother Long, as many refer to him in the movie, quite closely, before, during and after his work. However there are very few moments in the film where he is actually alone with the documentarian,...

The BFI today announce full details of a hotly anticipated two-month season dedicated to Anime, running at BFI Southbank and BFI IMAX from 28 March – 31 May. Originally planned for summer 2020 as part of the BFI’s major survey of Japanese cinema BFI Japan, the season arrives, at long last, to entertain and delight anime fans and novices alike.

The programme will include:

· A broad mixture of classic films such as Akira, Ghost In The Shell, Belladonna Of Sadness, Cowboy Bebop: The Movie and Tekkonkinkreet, as well as an early shorts programme spotlighting work from 1917-1946· Previews of new releases including the thrillingly original Inu-oh, high-octane urban fairy tale Bubble and the powerful and thought-provoking short Summer Ghost (2021) followed by a Q&a with director loundraw· Much-loved recent work by major auteurs Mamoru Hosoda, Makoto Shinkai (Your Name) and the late great Satoshi Kon· A spotlight on emerging female talent Naoko Yamada...

During this pandemic, we have watched and reviewed a rather large number of “quarantine films”, since the creativity of many directors could not be contained due to the lockdown. It is the first time, though, to watch a kaiju one, and a black and white one for that matter, with Shunji Iwai getting particularly creative on how to achieve something like that. First hint? Capsule Kaiju.

The 12 Day Tale of the Monster That Died in 8 is screening at Five Flavours Asian Film Festival

The inspiration behind the movie came from special-effects wizard Shinji Higuchi, who initiated an online challenge titled Kaiju Defeat Covid, where the idea was to catch an invisible monster, fuse it with your own Godzilla toy monster, and send the strengthened creature to crush the virus. Higuchi even put an instruction video on Youtube and Iwai took up the idea and turn it into a 12-part internet...

As part of the “Lost Future”-series, which is one of the many facets of BFI Japan, there will be a screening of Shunji Iwai’s “All About Lily Chou-Chou”, which hasn’t been screened since its UK debut in 2001.

The movie shows us a group of teenagers who meet online after becoming obsessed with a J-Pop starlet (Lily Chou-Chou) and it explores the onset of online communities in the early internet era of the millennium. It is a very dark and emotional story as well as visually interesting, as a quite dazzling early foray into digital cinematography.

Screening as part of #BFIJapan, see Shunji Iwai’s All About Lily Chou-Chou at the @lost__futures 20th Anniversary Screening, Weds 10th Nov at the @ThePCCLondon. Tickets: https://bit.ly/LF007EMBERZ...

Stars: Kaori Fuji, Takako Matsu, Seiichi Tanabe | Written and Directed by Shunji Iwai

Even though I’d call myself a fan of Asian cinema, the reality is, if it isn’t horror or animated, I probably haven’t seen it. So I was thrilled to get the chance to watch 1998’s April Story at this year’s Fantasia Fest.

On the face of things, April Story is a very simple movie and not a whole lot happens. In Spring a girl, Uzuki Nireno, leaves the island of Hikkaido and her home town to attend University in Tokyo. And that’s kinda the whole story. We follow her as she struggles a little with being out of her comfort zone and the city not being quite as fantastic as she hoped.

But this is not a sad story, far from it. We see her loneliness and anxiety in new situations but...

Shunji Iwai made his feature debut in 1995 with “Love Letter” after a career directing music videos. It is a film that has some brilliant moments of filmmaking from someone who clearly knows their craft, though the music video influence can also grate and annoy at times. After a previous idol group documentary (“How to Forget Sadness: Documentary of Nogizaka46” (2015)), Takeshi Maruyama likewise switches from directing music videos to feature films with his ambitious ensemble piece “Spaghetti Code Love”.

Spaghetti Code Love is screening at Japan Cuts

Taking its name from unstructured source code, this is a number of separate stories of the lives of various young Tokyoites as they struggle to cope with love and life in the modern-day metropolis. There is a struggling musician who pines for her ex who now beds a high-class escort; a young photographer who falters at his big break, while having to fend off...