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Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cate Blanchett, Minha Kim and Owen Cooper are among the nominees at the Seoul International Drama Awards (Sda), which marks its 20th edition this year.

24 titles and 32 individuals have been nominated in the program and individual categories respectively, beating 276 entries from 50 countries.

Supported by Korea’s Ministry of Culture, Seoul City and local broadcasters Kbs, Mbc, Sbs, Ebs, and CBS, the awards will announce its final winners in September, with the ceremony broadcast on October 2 via Sbs TV and the official YouTube channel.

In the Best Director category, Japan’s Hirokazu Kore-eda (Asura), Denmark’s Bille August (The Count of Montecristo), South Korea’s Won-suk Kim (When Life Gives You Tangerines), Philip Barantini (Adolescence) and Jin-ah Lee (To My Lonely Sister) are among the nominees.

Screenwriters Dan Erickson (Severance S2), Soo Hugh (Pachinko S2), Sang-choon Lim (When Life Gives You Tangerines) and Stephen Graham (Adolescence) are in...

Netflix has revealed its 2025 slate of Japanese films and television series, with the streamer offering a rich mix of period series, action films and intriguing unscripted offerings.

The standout highlight from the lineup, and a potential breakout global hit, is the period series Last Samurai Standing. The series hails from filmmakers Michihito Fujii, Kento Yamaguchi and Toru Yamamoto and could appeal to fans of both FX’s Shogun and Netflix’s Squid Game with its survivalist premise and period setting. Junichi Okada leads the cast in this story that takes place at the tail end of the samurai era in Japan and is about 292 warriors who are invited to compete to the death for a cash prize. Last Samurai Standing is an adaptation of Shogo Imamura’s novel Ikusagami, which has already been adapted into a popular manga series.

‘Last Man Standing’

Hirokazu Koreeda’s Asura is among the streamer...

Netflix has unveiled its Japanese content slate for 2025, headlined by “Last Samurai Standing,” a period drama featuring 300 samurai warriors gathered at Tenryuji Temple in Kyoto, lured by the promise of a 100 billion yen prize. The series stars Junichi Okada, who serves as lead actor, producer and action choreographer.

“When most people think about samurai, they think about this very glamorous period in Japanese history,” says Netflix Japan content head Kaata Sakamoto. “But what a lot of people don’t realize is that, towards the end of the Edo period, the samurai lost a lot of their glamour and their power. ‘Last Samurai Standing’ is about what would happen if these warriors — the toughest and best in Japan — all of a sudden became common people and had to fight for their lives. Think ‘Shōgun’ meets ‘Squid Game.'”

The streaming giant’s lineup includes “Alice in Borderland” returning for its third season in September,...

When their aging father’s affair brings four sisters back together, it rocks the foundations of their family. Written and directed by Cannes winner and Oscar nominee Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters), the seven-episode domestic drama Asura stars Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Yu Aoi, and Suzu Hirose. It’s based on writer Kuniko Mukōda’s 1970s miniseries Like Asura.

Stream all episodes now.

Check it out at the top of this page.

One winter day in Tokyo, the four Takezawa sisters — ikebana teacher Tsunako (Miyazawa), homemaker Makiko (Ono), librarian Takiko (Aoi), and restaurant server Sakiko (Hirose) — get together for the first time in a long while to discuss the exploits of their father, Kotaro (Kunimura). Takiko tells her siblings that Kotaro has been having a lengthy affair and even had a child out of wedlock. While the women are hesitant to believe Takiko, they promise to hide the allegation from their mother,...

Despite the accolades and the occasionally triumphant comments from all over, Koreeda’s films after “Shoplifters” did not reach the level of his masterpieces. “Asura” however, a 7-episode series which was adapted from the 1979 drama titled “Ashura no Gotoku” and is now streaming on Netflix, is definitely masterful. Even more so, it proves that even a material that is soapy in its basis, can become something outstanding in the hands of the Japanese master.

Click the image below to follow our Tribute to Netflix

The story takes place in the end of the 70s and revolves around four sisters. Tsunako is the oldest and a widow who is handling the flower arrangement in a restaurant, while retaining an affair with the owner, Sadaharu, who is running it along with his wife. She also has a son who is away while she also teaches ikebana. Eventually she is fired from the restaurant due to financial issues,...

Netflix's Asura has an impactful story anchored by great performances from its four lead stars: Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Yu Aoi, and Suzu Hirose.

The seven-part drama series is based on Kuniko Mukōda's novel, Ashura no Gotoku, which revolves around four sisters who discover their father's affair.

As they try their best to hide the heartbreaking secret from their mother, more unnerving details about the sisters' lives are unearthed.

Read full article on The Direct.

Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda’s latest Netflix series, Asura, has been received very well – thanks to the brilliant storytelling, masterful direction, and fantastic acting performances by the cast. In this article, we’re going to look into who is playing what in the show and talk about the character for a bit.

Jun Kunimura as Kotaro

Veteran actor Jun Kunimura — whose most famous work is playing the Japanese priest in Korean director Na Hong-Jin’s The Wailing (2016), which I considered to be the greatest horror movie of this generation — plays Kotaro in Asura. The show begins with Takako discovering her seventy-something father – Kotaro – being unfaithful to her mother for a long time and even having a child. Kunimura is quite fantastic in the role, where most of the acting is done by expression and not words.

Keiko Matsuzaka as Fuji

Keiko Matsuzaka, who has a sprawling career and was also...

One of the best films of 2014, “Pale Moon” is also a great specimen of contemporary Japanese cinema. Based on the novel “Kami no Tsuki” by Mitsuyo Kakuta, the film tells the story of Rika Umezawa, a timid woman in her forties, who lives with her husband, although they do not have any children.

She works part-time at a bank doing house calls to sell bonds and other banking products and, in general, lives an utterly conventional life. However, once she convinces Kozo Hirabayashi, a slightly perverted older rich man, to buy a very expensive bond, her life changes radically. The people in the bank start to appreciate her more, while she meets Hirabayashi’s grandson, Kota, with whom she strikes an affair, after he pursues her relentlessly but briefly. Frustrated by her self-centered husband’s ignorance and non-appreciation for her, he lets him go by himself to Bangkok, where he is offered a job,...

The UK’s biggest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP25), is back for its latest entertaining and thought-provoking instalment, presenting a packed programme on the theme of ‘Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema’.

In a world where injustice runs rampant, cinematic expressions of justice seem inexhaustible: time and time again, heroic protagonists fend off malicious antagonists or enact their revenge, with the constant injustices they face mirroring those of audiences. Japanese film is no exception to this, and the JFTFP25 promises to showcase how Japanese filmmakers use the language of cinema to explore the concepts of criminal, social and moral justice, along with the ways people respond to external judgement. Featuring everything from thought-provoking hidden gems, powerful true-life tales, women-led stories, anarchic comedies, and unearthed retrospective titles, UK audiences are invited to join the festival in questioning the very concepts of justice, justification and...

“Doesn’t everyone have something they’re not proud of?” This question, asked by the eldest sister Tsunako in the new trailer for Asura, sets the tone for a series that dives into family secrets and personal struggles. The Japanese drama remake, directed by Hirokazu Kore-eda, will premiere on January 9 and promises to engage audiences with its powerful story and talented cast.

The main cast includes Jun Kunimura as the sisters’ father Kotaro, Keiko Matsuzaka as their mother Fuji, and Masahiro Motoki as Makiko’s (Machiko Ono) husband Takao. Ryuhei Matsuda plays Katsumata, a private investigator who has feelings for Takiko (Yu Aoi).

Kisetsu Fujiwara appears as Sakiko’s (Suzu Hirose) boxer boyfriend Hide, while Seiyo Uchino portrays Sadaharu, a restaurant owner secretly involved with Tsunako (Rie Miyazawa). These supporting characters shine alongside the four sisters, building excitement for their on-screen dynamics.

Other notable roles include Yui Natsukawa as the wife of Tsunako’s lover,...

One of the most celebrated films of 2016, Ryota Nakano‘s second and last (until now) film won a number of awards, including ones for its female protagonists from the Japanese Academy, and was the official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

Her Love Boils Bathwater is streaming on Jff Theater

Futaba is a single mother struggling to make ends meet after her husband suddenly left her and the family’s bathhouse business went under. While coming to terms with her situation, she is dealt another blow when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Instead of succumbing to despair, though, Futaba decides to tie all loose ends in her life in the few months she has left. This includes changing her daughter’s Azumi, composition, making her brave and not afraid to face her own fears and also finding a suitable man for her; tracking down her estranged husband,...

Premiering on January 9, Asura brings a fresh take on the classic Japanese family drama Like Asura, with top Japanese actors like Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Yu Aoi, and Suzu Hirose.

Directed and written by Hirokazu Kore-eda (known for Shoplifters and Our Little Sister) and produced by Yasuo Yagi, the show offers a relatable look at family life and universal relationships. A newly released opening video shows the story’s 1970s setting, keeping the drama’s original feel.

The original Like Asura, written by the late screenwriter Kuniko Mukoda, set the stage for Japanese family dramas. Set in 1979, it follows four sisters — Tsunako, Makiko, Takiko, and Sakiko — as they deal with the shock of their elderly father’s affair.

Like the “asura,” or fierce demigods from Buddhist stories, the sisters experience a storm of emotions, sometimes clashing but also finding deep connections. As they each navigate their own views on love and life,...

Written and directed by Palme d’Or-winning auteur Hirokazu Kore-eda, Netflix’s Asura will premiere on January 9, 2025, the streamer said.

The Japanese series stars Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Yu Aoi, and Suzu Hirose.

Based on the novel Ashura no Gotoku by Kuniko Mukoda, Asura tells the story of four sisters: ikebana teacher Tsunako (Miyazawa), housewife Makiko (Ono), librarian Takiko (Aoi) and waitress Sakiko (Hirose). On one winter day, they gather together for the first time in a long while.

Takiko suspects that their aging father, Kotaro, has a lover and child. While the other sisters find this unbelievable, they promise to keep this from their mother, Fuji. However, this commotion brings to light various conflicts and secrets that lurk in the women’s lives.

The novel was adapted into a TV miniseries on Japanese broadcaster Nhk in 1979 and a feature film titled Like Asura in 2003.

The streamer added that like the “asura,...

Japanese art-house star Hirokazu Kore-eda (Shoplifters, Monster) is re-teaming with Netflix to write and direct Asura, a contemporary remake of a classic Japanese family drama series from the late 1970s. Starring popular actresses Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Yu Aoi and Suzu Hirose, the show has already finished production and will launch on Netflix on Jan. 9.

Kore-eda and his team have approached the series as a tribute to the influential Japanese TV writer Kuniko Mukoda, who scripted the original Like Asura and several other landmarks in the early days of the J-drama genre.

“With great respect for Mukoda and her influence on his career, Kore-eda infuses Asura with his unique vision, highlighting the independence and complexity of women,” Netflix said in a statement.

Notes Kore-eda: “What makes Kuniko Mukoda’s dramas so rich are the superficial poison exchanged in conversation and the love hidden behind those cruel words. The...

Originally released as a four-episode mini-series (“Phoenix: Eden17”) and adapted into a feature-length film with an alternative ending, “Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower” is based on the work Hi no Tori (Phoenix) by Osamu Tezuka. The original series, which began publishing in 1954, was plagued by sporadic release and was never finished due to the legendary mangaka's passing in 1989.

The story, spanning over a thousand years, starts with Romi and her partner escaping from Earth and finding a new planet they can cultivate and grow a home on. Romi gives birth and leaves her child behind to sleep in stasis for 13 years, which turns into 1,3000 years when an error occurs. However, when she awakes, the space traveler finds that an entire civilization has risen, with her son having met and bred with alien life. Now the queen of the ‘moopy's,' Romi's desire to return to Earth still grows; when a young alien,...

Hiroyuki Sanada has been honing his acting skills for over fifty years, having started when he was six years old. He landed his first role opposite the celebrated Japanese actor and martial artist Sonny Chiba in Game of Chance. Since then, the Tokyo-born actor, 63, has barely decelerated.

Hiroyuki Sanada in Shōgun (Credit: FX)

That being said, we cannot overlook the brilliant performance he gave in Rachel Kondo & Justin Marks’ Shōgun. As Lord Yoshii Toranaga, he practically steals every scene of the FX series. Unfortunately, the 10-episode series is over, but he has starred in a number of similar flicks that are well worth your time.

Nevertheless, Sanada’s résumé includes a number of stellar but lesser-known roles. Rest assured, if you enjoy his portrayal of Lord Toranaga, here are three must-see films starring the talented actor that will satisfy your craving for more of his compelling performances.

1. The Twilight Samurai...

The 66th edition of the Blue Ribbon Awards, presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, has announced its winners on January 24, 2024. The nominees are selected from movies released in 2023. The trifecta wins for “Godzilla Minus One” come as no surprise, sweeping the Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories. Yuya Ishii picks up the Best Director award for both his movies “The Moon” and “Masked Hearts”.

Best Film

Masked Hearts

Ichiko

Egoist

Monster

The Dry Spell

Godzilla Minus One

Mom, Is That You?!

(Ab)normal Desire

The Moon

One Last Bloom

Perfect Days

Bad Lands

September 1923

Do Unto Others

As Long as We Both Shall Live

Best Director

Yuya Ishii – The Moon, Masked Hearts

Hirokazu Koreeda – Monster

Daishi Matsunaga – Egoist

Takashi Yamazaki – Godzilla Minus One

Yoji Yamada – Mom, Is That You?!

Best Actor

Goro Inagaki – (Ab)normal Desire

Ryunosuke Kamiki – Godzilla Minus One, We're Broke, My Lord!

Presented by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, and Japan Society

February 15-24, 2024 at Japan Society

and partner venues in NYC

New York, NY – Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Society are proud to announce the eighth installment of the Aca Cinema Project film series – Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux – an ongoing initiative fostered by the Government of Japan to increase awareness and appreciation of Japanese films and filmmakers in the United States. The Aca Cinema Project has presented events in both New York and LA since 2021, and its upcoming edition will showcase over nine contemporary and classic films from February 15-24, 2024 all with the central theme of the modern family. The bonds of the Japanese family are often revered in the West, and this series will both celebrate these traditions as well as call into question their reality and relevance in our quickly changing modern world.

As part of the Aca Cinema Project––”an ongoing initiative fostered by the Government of Japan to increase awareness and appreciation of Japanese films and filmmakers in the United States”––Japan Society will run “Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux” from February 15-24. A mix of American premieres and repertory showings, this series puts “bonds of the Japanese family” front and center to “both celebrate these traditions as well as call into question their reality and relevance in our quickly changing modern world.”

U.S. premieres include Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Yoko, starring Rinko Kikuchi, and Keiko Tsuruoka’s Tsugaru Lacquer Girl. A special spotlight is given to Ryota Nakano, whose A Long Goodbye and exquisitely titled Her Love Boils Bathwater will be making New York debuts; his 2020 feature The Asadas also plays.

Repertory screenings will be held for Kohei Oguri’s Muddy River, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata, Kore-eda’s Still Walking,...

Key Asian territories have picked up the drama.

Japan’s Free Stone Productions has secured a brace of deals on Yuya Ishii’s The Moon, following its world premiere in competition at Busan International Film Festival this week.

The film has been acquired for distribution in Taiwan (SkyDigi) and Korea (Media Castle) during the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm), which runs parallel to the festival. It is set to be released in Japan by Star Sands on October 13.

The story follows a writer named Yoko who takes a job at a nursing home, where she witnesses elderly and disabled residents...

Yuya Ishii has been the mastermind behind a number of films we cherish particularly here in Asian Movie Pulse, with “The Great Passage” especially featuring frequently in some of our ‘best of’ lists. Recently, however, and particularly since “The Asian Angel”, Ishii seems to have lost some of his edge, which he apparently tries to find once more with “The Moon”, a rather ambitious project.

The Moon is screening at Busan International Film Festival

Yoko Dojima once wrote a novel about the 2011 Earthquake, which brought her fame and even a much younger and rather handsome husband, Shohei, who calls her maestra and is an animator. Currently, though, she has not been able to produce anything new, which is why, along with the financial issues the couple faces, she agrees on taking on a job as caretaker at a facility for the severely disabled, which is located deep in the forest.

A grief-stricken author attempts to reconnect with society by taking a job at a nursing home for the severely disabled in Yuya Ishii’s compelling drama The Moon, inspired by a real-life Japanese tragedy and adapted from the novel by Yo Hemmi. Rie Miyazawa (Pale Moon) is sensational in the lead role, but is surrounded by an equally impressive ensemble that includes Joe Odagiri (Adrift in Tokyo), Fumi Nikaido (Why Don't You Play in Hell?), and Hayato Isomura (Tokyo Revengers). Yoko (Miyazawa) and her husband Shohei (Odagiri) are battling to keep their marriage on course following the death of their infant son due to a congenital heart disease. Yoko previously found success as a writer, publishing a celebrated novel about the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. Since...

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

Phoenix: Eden17, Studio 4°C's adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's Phoenix manga, will be getting a new feature film.

Studio 4°C's modern retelling of Tezuka's classic is one of several exclusive anime series to debut on Disney+ this year. According to Anime News Network, the official website for Phoenix: Eden17's film version, titled Phoenix: Reminiscence of Flower, recently unveiled a new key visual and trailer for the upcoming movie, which presents a condensed version of the poignant four-episode series with an alternate ending. The film will premiere in theaters across Japan on Nov. 3.

Related: Osamu Tezuka's Final Completed Work Was Arguably His Most Important

Reminiscence of Flower is being overseen by the same creative team that produced Eden17. Shojiro Nishimi, who is also known for his work on the anime anthology film, Batman: Gotham Knight, will once again serve as Director. Scriptwriters Katsunari Mano and Saku Konohana are returning to write the screenplay.

Having won a number of awards in Deauville, Golden Horse and Taipei Film Festival, “The Cabbie” is Chen Yi-wen’s most successful movie to date, and was also Taiwan’s submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, although it was not accepted as a nominee.

“The Cabbie” is screening at Taiwan Film Festival Edinburgh

The film is split in two parts essentially, which intermingle on a number of occasions. The main arc revolves around Su Daquan, a taxi driver, and his family, starting with the way his parents, a coroner and a taxi driver met and married, and continuing with his personal history. In adolescence, when his peers were driving scooters, he was driving a car without license, and his performance in school was of no importance, since the only thing that mattered was for him getting his license, something he eventually achieved,...

Having won a number of awards in Deauville, Golden Horse and Taipei Film Festival, “The Cabbie” is Chen Yi-wen’s most successful movie to date, and was also Taiwan’s submission to the 74th Academy Awards for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film, although it was not accepted as a nominee.

The film is split in two parts essentially, which intermingle on a number of occasions. The main arc revolves around Su Daquan, a taxi driver, and his family, starting with the way his parents, a coroner and a taxi driver met and married, and continuing with his personal history. In adolescence, when his peers were driving scooters, he was driving a car without license, and his performance in school was of no importance, since the only thing that mattered was for him getting his license, something he eventually achieved, immediately starting working for his father’s company.

From a futuristic existential animation about androids to a culturally rich documentary delving into the art of ramen-making, the Japanese Film Festival: Online returns from 14-27 February 2022 with a free streamed Festival featuring the best in Japanese cinema.

The 2022 Festival presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney will screen 17 films nation-wide for free, including feature films and documentaries. Jff Online 2022 marks the second time The Japan Foundation, Sydney will screen the festival across Australia to enjoy online.

Japanese Film Festival Director, Yurika Sugie said:

“Jff Online invites Australian audiences to celebrate the richness of Japanese cinema from the comfort of their own homes, with an eclectic virtual program traversing the hottest new international film festival award-winners, past Jff favourites and cult hits.”

Japanese Film Festival Programmer, Susan Bui said:

“Enjoy cutting-edge titles from Japan’s finest auteurs in tandem with Japanophiles from 25 countries world-wide as part of this exciting global initiative.

Tsutomu Tanimura (Masataka Kubota) is a 30-year-old man, living in a provincial city. He works as a private secretary for Shohei Kawashima, who is a member of the House of Representatives and he has strong support from his constituents. One day, Shohei Kawashima collapses. Around this time, the House of Representatives is dissolved. For the next House of Representatives election, Shohei Kawashima’s 45-year-old daughter, Yumi Kawashima (Rie Miyazawa), decides to run for office.

Throughout the history of the genre, from literature to film, the samurai has always been a representative of a strict hierarchical social order but also a code, the bushido, which defines him, and he has to obey. While also repeatedly seen as a victim of both of these concepts, it has often been the case the samurai was regarded a hero-like figure, at times precisely because he obeyed the bushido or would not let his master down. In many ways the samurai is a reflection of Japanese society and its virtues, and also how these have changed in each decade. One of the most interesting entries because of its portrayal of this particular warrior and fighter has to be Yoji Yamada’s 2002 feature “The Twilight Samurai”, a movie which has been repeatedly praised by critics and received a plethora of awards, such as 12 Japanese Academy Awards. With its story taking...

Despite now being typecast as a director of family dramas, Hirokazu Koreeda isn’t a director afraid to step out of his comfort zone, experimenting with fantasy (“Air Doll”) and courtroom drama (“The Third Murder”). It’s no surprise then that his sole jidaigeki (period drama) to date, 2006’s “Hana”, tells the story of a samurai well out of his comfort zone in his role. The English language release came with the tagline “The tale of a reluctant samurai”, but the hero, Soza (Junichi Okada) is more than just reluctant and is actively running away from the role typically associated with such honourable duties.

In 18th century Japan, Soza hides out in a small community on the outskirts of Edo to seek out the murderer of his father, head of his clan, killed over a petty squabble. His duty is to get revenge. But despite the constant...

Adapting Haruki Murakami’s works in cinema is definitely an arduous task, chiefly due to the surrealism and minimalism that characterize his novels. However, this particular movie managed to capture the homonymous short story’s full essence.

The story behind the film is a very interesting. One day, Murakami entered a small shop with second hand clothes in Maui, where he bought, for $1, a T-shirt with the name “Tony Takitani” written on it. Actual Tony had produced these T-shirts as part of his failed campaign for a state Senate Seat. Murakami, though, was truly inspired by the name. According to an interview he gave at The Daily Yumiuri, “Every time I put on the T-shirt, I felt like this Tony Takitani was begging me to write a story about him.” And that he did, writing a short story that was included in the 2006 collection, “Blind Willow, Sleeping...

For his transition from documentaries to fiction, writer-director Daishi Matsunaga chooses a challenging topic; one of those subjects that sit on the narrow edge between tearjerker territory and the land of unrequested philosophy. But, guess what? He manages not to plunge into one nor the other side and, on the contrary, to stay afloat and gift us with a sombre yet tender movie.

Loosely based on the prolific artist and godfather of manga Osamu Tetzuka’s last journals and reflections before dying, aged 60, of an announced death, “Pieta in the Toilet” centres on the young introverted painter Hiroshi (Yojiro Noda), who – for a lack of confidence and “joie de vivre” in general – has given up his art in exchange of a relatively easy and unchallenging job as window cleaner.

Very early in the film, Hiroshi passes out while at work and is taken to hospital, where further...

Japan's entry for the foreign-language category at the Oscars is Ryota Nakano's Her Love Boils Bathwater (Yu o Wakasu Hodo no Atsui Ai).

Written and directed by Nakano, it tells the story of a mother who decides to resolve all her family's problems after she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Rie Miyazawa won the Japan Academy Prize for best actress for her performance, while Hana Sugsaki won best supporting actress for her portrayal of Miyazawa's daughter. The film lost out to Godzilla Resurgence for best picture.

Japan first won the foreign-language Oscar in 1951 with Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon and last...

The ceremony took place in the Grand Prince Hotel, in Tokyo, on the 3d of March and the winners were:

Best Picture: Godzilla Resurgence (Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi)

Best Animated Film: In this corner of the World (Sunao Katabuchi)

Best Director: Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi (Godzilla Resurgence)

Best Screenplay: Makoto Shinkai (Your Name)

Best Actor: Koichi Sato (64: Part I)

Best Actress: Rie Miyazawa (Her Love Boils Water)

Best Supporting Actor: Satoshi Tsumabaki (Rage)

Best Supporting Actress: Hana Sugisaki (Her Love Boils Water)

Best Cinematography: Kosuke Yamada (Godzilla Resurgence)

Best Lighting Direction: Takayuki Kawabe (Godzilla Resurgence)

Best Music: Radwimps (Your Name)

Best Art Direction: Yuji Hayashida & Eri Sakujima (Godzilla Resurgence)

Best Sound Recording: Jun Nakamura & Haru Yamada (Godzilla Resurgence)

Best Film Editing: Hideaki Anno and Atsuki Sato (Godzilla Resurgence)

Best Foreign Language Film: Sully

Newcomer of the Year: Hana Sugisaki (Her Love Boils Bathwater), Mitsuki Takahata (Evergreen Love,...

We’re on the record as thinking that Toho’s most recent Godzilla flick, Shin Godzilla, was a pretty good time, blending political satire and smashing buildings into one city-stomping package. But given that we gave the movie a B, we might still be out of step with the Japanese Academy Prize’s assessment of the film. The Prize—often referred to as the Japanese Academy Awards—named Shin Godzilla (also known as Godzilla: Resurgence) its Best Picture of 2016 today, along with six other awards, including Best Director.

Godzilla stomped all over the night’s second place finisher, the critically acclaimed anime film Your Name. Other films up for contention at this year’s awards included Rage, What A Wonderful Family!, and Her Love Boils Bathwater, which earned a Best Actress award for star Rie Miyazawa.

[via The Hollywood Reporter]...

The award ceremony for the oldest Japanese cinema competition took place on February 5 at the Bunkyo Civic Center, and the list of winners is:

Best Actor: Yuya Yagira (Destruction Babies)

Best Actress: Rie Miyazawa (Her Love Boils Bath Water)

Best Supporting Actor: Pistol Takehara (The Long Excuse)

Best Supporting Actress: Hana Sugisaki (Her Love Boils Bath Water)

Best Director: Sunao Katabuchi (In This Corner of the World)

Best Director (Foreign): Clint Eastwood (Sully)

Best Screenplay: Hideaki Anno (Shin Godzilla)

Best New Actor: Nijiro Murakami (Destruction Babies, Natsumi no Hotaru)

Best New Actress: Nana Komatsu (Oboreru Knife, Destruction Babies)

Best Ten Japanese Feature Films

In This Corner of the World (Sunao Katabuchi)

Shin Godzilla (Shinji Higuchi/Hideaki Anno)

Harmonium (Koji Fukada)

Destruction Babies (Mariko Tetsuya)

Long Excuse (Miwa Nishikawa)

The Bride of Rip Van Winkle (Shunji Iwai)

Her Love Boils Bath Water (Ryota Nakano)

Creepy (Kiyoshi Kurosawa)

Over the Fence...

The 29th ceremony took place on December, 28 at the New Otani Hotel, in Tokyo and the list of winners is:

Best Film: 64: Part 1 (Takahisa Zeze)

Best Director: Makoto Shinkai (Your Anme)

Best Actor: Koichi Sato (64: Part 1)

Best Actress: Rie Miyazawa (Her Love Boils Bathwater )

Best Supporting Actor: Satoshi Tsumabuki (Rage, Museum)

Best Supporting Actress: Aoi Miyazaki (Rage, If Cats Disappeared from the World)

Best International Film: Spotlight (Tom McCarthy)

New Face Award: Kasumi Arimura (Nanimono, Natsumi’s Firefly)

Yujiro Ishihara Award: Dangerous Cops: Final 5 Days (Toru Murakawa)

Toru Murakawa Kasumi Arimura Rie Miyazawa...

The awards were first presented in 1976, from the sports newspaper Hochi Shinbun, currently named Sports Hochi. The voters include readers of the newspaper and a committee of Japanese film critics.

This year’s ceremony was held on December 20th, at Prince Park Hotel, in Tokyo, and the winners were:

Best Picture: Her Love Boils Bathwater (Ryota Nakano)

Best International Picture: Creed (Ryan Coogler)

Best Actor: Tomokazu Miura (Katsuragi Case)

Best Actress: Rie Miyazawa (Her Love Boils Bathwater)

Best Supporting Actor: Go Ayano (Rage)

Best Supporting Actress: Hana Sugisaki (Her Love Boils Bathwater)

Best New Artist: Takanori Iwata (Evergreen Love) Ryota Nakano (Her Love Boils Bathwater)

Special Award: Your Name

Best Director: Lee Sang-il (Rage)...

Lou Ye’s Blind Massage won best film at the Asian Film Awards in Macau on Tuesday night, while Ann Hui won best director for The Golden Era.

Hui’s biopic of writer Xiao Hong also picked up best supporting actor for Wang Zhiwen’s performance, while Blind Massage also won best cinematography for the work of Zeng Jian.

Liao Fan (pictured at left) was awarded best actor for Diao Yinan’s Black Coal, Thin Ice, which also won best screenwriter for Diao’s script.

Best actress went to Korea’s Bae Doo-na (pictured at right) for A Girl At My Door, while Japan’s Ikewaki Chizuru won best supporting actress for The Light Shines Only There. The best newcomer went to Zhang Huiwen for her role in Zhang Yimou’s Coming Home.

Jiang Wen’s Gone With The Bullets was a multiple winner in the technical categories, picking up best VFX (Rick Sander and Christoph Zollinger...

As the only Japanese film playing in competition at the Tokyo International Film Festival, expectations were high and goodwill primed to cheer the root-of-all-evil tale “Pale Moon” as the local find of the week. And it just scooped the Audience Award, having earned at least mild praise from most critics, so really the only kink in that narrative is us, contrarians that we are. "Pale Moon," the fourth feature from director Daihachi Yoshida, is certainly more slickly made than some of the other competition titles here. It boasts a locally well-known lead in stage and screen actress Rie Miyazawa, plus a springy, culturally and temporally relevant-feeling plot about the corrupting lure of money. But it is also a remarkably plodding telling of a familiar story, one that unfolds in so linear a fashion that it feels oddly overexplained, only ever operating on a single level, entirely without subtext or subplot.

Audience Award won by Pale Moon with the film’s Rie Miyazawa named best actress.

The 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) wrapped tonight with Josh and Benny Safdie’s Us-France co-production Heaven Knows What winning the Tokyo Grand Prix. The top award comes with a cash prize of $50,000.

The co-directors also took Award for Best Director ($5,000) with their film about young junkies struggling to survive in New York. Heaven Knows What was an Asian premiere in Tokyo after Venice, Toronto and New York.

The Special Jury Prize ($20,000) went to Bulgaria-Greece co-production The Lesson directed by Kristina Grozeva and Petar Valchanov.

Rie Miyazawa took the Best Actress award ($5,000) for her performance in Pale Moon, a world premiere title which also picked up the Audience Award ($10,000).

Directed by Daihachi Yoshida (The Kirishima Thing), the film was the only Japanese work in competition and drew pleased buzz from hard-pressed festival-goers looking for good Japanese films in the selection.

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Going from strength to strength, director Yoshida Daihachi (The Kirishima Thing) returns to the themes of conformity and rebellion in Japanese society in Pale Moon (Kami no Tsuki), the story of an obedient housewife who becomes an embezzler to live it up with a young lover. Though seemingly played for straight drama, there are mischievous clues throughout the film that other readings are possible, confirmed in the surprise ending. The fun — and anxiety — lies in watching the delightfully proper heroine overturn the conventions of a highly regimented country, and stage and screen actress Rie Miyazawa is fully up

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In an early announcement, the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival (Tiff) has revealed Japanese film Pale Moon will be the only local film in Competition this year.

Directed by Daihachi Yoshida, award-winning filmmaker of The Kirishima Thing, Pale Moon will receive its world premiere at the festival, which runs Oct 23-31.

The rest of Tiff’s line-up will be announced Sept 30.

Based on prize-winning author Mitsuyo Kakuta’s novel The Eighth Day, suspense film Pale Moon stars Rie Miyazawa as an ordinary housewife who unexpectedly gets involved in a large embezzlement case.

Yoshi Yatabe, programming director of Tiff’s International Competition section, said: “It was fate when the director Daihachi Yoshida, who is always careful to portray a character attractively, encountered the actress Rie Miyazawa.

“In Pale Moon, Miyazawa performed perfectly in the role of a woman who experiences liberation from suppression and downfall. The chemistry between the director and the star created this year’s representative...

This is the full trailer for Japan's live-action big screen adaptation of of the anime film Kiki's Delivery Service. I have to admit the trailer put a smile on my face. It looks like it will be an adorable film. The story follows "a young girl named Kiki who must leave her home for a year to begin training in witchcraft. After saying goodbye to her friends and family Kiki leaves on her broom and begins her new life in the town of Koriko seaside with her trusted cat Jiji."

Anime fans, there will be slight changes from the story told in the anime as the live-action Kiki's Delivery Service will be based on Kadono's first two volumes while the 1989 anime from Studio Ghibli only covered the first. There are six collected volumes in total that chronicle the tales of Kiki and her black cat Jiji so it seems likely...

Anime fans, there will be slight changes from the story told in the anime as the live-action "Kiki's Delivery Service" will be based on Kadono's first two volumes while the 1989 anime from Studio Ghibli only covered the first. There are six collected volumes in total that chronicle the tales of Kiki and her black cat Jiji so it seems likely that if the first film is successful, a trilogy will be created adapting two books at a time. Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge) directs and newcomer Fūka Koshiba plays the titular lead. Ryōhei Hirota, Machiko Ono, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Miho Kanazawa, Rie Miyazawa and Michitaka Tsutsui also star. Satoko Okudera (Wolf Prince) penned the film's script. Filming began on May 23, 2013 and recently wrapped for a Japanese release on March 1, 2014. Related Content: Anime: Second Teaser Trailer For Live-Action Kiki's Delivery Service Anime: First Teaser Trailer...

We have the second teaser trailer for the live-action remake Kiki's Delivery Service, based on the popular anime. F&#251ka Koshiba stars in this fantasy comedy about a young witch who sets out to make it on her own, along with her talking black cat Jiji.

Kiki's Delivery Service comes to theaters in 2014 and stars Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Fûka Koshiba, Michitaka Tsutsui, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ryohei Hirota, Miho Kanazawa. The film is directed by Takashi Shimizu.

There will be slight changes from the story told in the anime as the live-action "Kiki's Delivery Service" will be based on Kadono's first two volumes while the 1989 anime from Studio Ghibli only covered the first. There are six collected volumes in total that chronicle the tales of Kiki and her black cat Jiji so it seems likely that if the first film is successful, a trilogy will be created adapting two books at a time. Takashi Shimizu (The Grudge) directs and newcomer Fūka Koshiba plays the titular lead. Ryōhei Hirota, Machiko Ono, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Miho Kanazawa, Rie Miyazawa and Michitaka Tsutsui also star. Satoko Okudera (Wolf Prince) penned the film's script. Filming began on May 23, 2013 and recently wrapped for a Japanese release on March 1, 2014. Related Content: Anime: First Teaser Trailer For Live-Action Kiki's Delivery Service First Image From Live-Action Kiki's Delivery...

The first trailer and poster have arrived for the live-action adaptation of Kiki's Delivery Service, based on the 1989 anime. F&#251ka Koshiba stars as Kiki, a young witch who must use her powers to earn a living out in the cruel world, away from her herbalist mother. She is accompanied by her pet and best friend, the very talkative black cat Jiji. Kiki's Delivery Service will open in Japan on March 1, 2014. We are awaiting news of an American release date.

Kiki's Delivery Service comes to theaters in 2014 and stars Rie Miyazawa, Machiko Ono, Fûka Koshiba, Michitaka Tsutsui, Hiroshi Yamamoto, Ryohei Hirota, Miho Kanazawa. The film is directed by Takashi Shimizu.

On Monday it was announced that Sho Sakurai and Keiko Kitagawa will be starring in a movie version of Fuji TV’s Nazotoki wa Dinner no Ato de, a 10-episode TV drama which aired from October-December last year.

Based on a best-selling novel by Tokuya Higashigawa, the drama starred Kitagawa as an ultra rich heiress named Reiko Hosho who hid her status to work as a rookie police officer by day. Sakurai played her perfectionist butler Kageyama who offered helpful advice delivered with his own unique brand of brutal honesty.

The movie version will be largely the same, just on a larger scale. Shooting will take place mostly aboard the “SuperStar Virgo”, the largest luxury liner in Asia.

In the movie, Reiko boards her family’s luxury cruise ship, the “Princess Reiko”, along with Kageyama and embarks on a vacation to Singapore. While on-board, a murder occurs and the two...

Directed by: Yoji Yamada

Written by: Yoji Yamada

Starring: Hiroyuki Sanada, Rie Miyazawa

Genre: Drama

Year: 2002

In mid-19th century Japan, petty samurai Seibei Iguchi slaves in a lowly profession as an accountant, peaceably performing his menial duties to provide for his two precious daughters and his senile mother. Condescendingly dubbed the “twilight samurai” by his coworkers for his pension for calling it a night after a hard day’s work, Seibei’s unkempt appearance and deplorable hygiene is his most external sacrifice in the name of family. Having lost his wife to consumption a few years before, Seibei has fashioned a domestic life more copacetic with his placid personality than with the false glory of the waning samurai way. That is until a former childhood friend (and unrequited love), Tomoe, incurs the wrath of her alcoholic lout of an ex-husband. Sensing that she needs protection, Seibei dispatches the abuser...

The legendary Disney animation producer Don Hahn discusses the studio's latest film in their long tradition of making nature documentaries

The Walt Disney Company has had a long tradition of making award-winning documentaries about the wonders of nature. Beginning in the late '1940s and continuing through to the early '60s, the films were the brainchild of company founder Walt Disney and often won Oscars for best documentary like '1953s The living Desert, '1954s The Vanishing Prairie and '1958s White Wilderness. The company's interest in the documentaries dissipated in the '60s with the growth of their animation department and the addition of their popular live-action films. However in 2008 the company announced the creation of DisneyNature, an independent film label that would continue the company's tradition of making big screen nature documentaries. It began with last year's Earth, a film that explores our own planet, and...