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In the shadows of Tokyo’s relentless redevelopment, rising filmmaker Yuiga Danzuka found both the canvas and the subject for his Cannes Directors’ Fortnight selection “Brand New Landscape.” The debut feature transforms the Japanese capital’s architectural flux into a metaphor for a family navigating grief and disconnection. The film is subsequently playing at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

“As someone born and raised in Tokyo, I’ve long felt a complex, hard-to-articulate emotion toward the city’s rapid transformation,” Danzuka says. “When my cultural discomfort with urban life overlapped with deeply personal feelings about my own family, I instinctively felt that this was a story that needed to be made into a film.”

The film follows two siblings grappling with their mother’s absence and the return of their estranged father, a renowned architect, against the backdrop of Tokyo’s ever-changing skyline.

Danzuka, who studied under filmmaker Kunitoshi Manda...

Born in 1980, Daisuke Miyazaki started making films when he was student at Waseda University. In 2004, his thesis film “The 10th Room” won the Grand Prix at New York University’s Kut Film Festival in Japan. After graduating from college, he has worked for Leos Carax, Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Kunitoshi Manda. “Yamato (California)” is his second feature film.

On the occasion of his film, “Yamato (California)” screening at Five Flavours, we speak with him about music, his recent film, Japanese society and many other topics.

Why did you decide to become a filmmaker?

I liked art in general so it was a natural thing to start filmmaking because you can combine all art forms into one. The 2nd golden era of Hollywood, when I was a child in the 80’s and also the art house film boom in Japan when I was in college influenced me as well.

You have worked...

From April 15th to 19th, Frankfurt transforms into the center of the Japanese film world when the Nippon Connection 2009 opens its doors once again. After giving us a first look at the highlights of the largest festival for Japanese film worldwide, the official site has now been updated with the full program that includes more than 150 feature and short films.

Nippon Cinema 20th Century Boys (Niju seiki shonen), R: Yukihiko Tsutsumi, J 2008

www.20thboys.com All Around Us (Gururi no koto), R: Ryosuke Hashiguchi, J 2008

www.gururinokoto.jp Detroit Metal City, R: Toshio Lee, J 2008

www.go-to-dmc.jp Genius Party Beyond, R: Masahiro Maeda, Koji Morimoto, Kazuto Nakazawa, Shinya Ohira, Tatsuyuki Tanaka, J 2008

www.genius-party.jp/beyond Genius Party, R: Atsuko Fukushima, Shoji Kawamori, Shinji Kimura, Yoji Fukuyama, Hideki Futamura, Masaaki Yuasa, Shinichiro Watanabe, J 2007

www.genius-party.jp/genius01 Gs Wonderland, R: Ryuichi Honda, J 2008

www.gs-w.jp Hells Angels,...