| 19/02/2010 | Festivals | Germany |
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Nippon Connection – Preview on the Festival Program
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| Posted by Tia Reljic | |
Frankfurt/Main  April 14-18, 2010 The preparations for the 10th anniversary of Nippon Connection Film Festival are moving into high gear. From April 14-18, 2010, more than 150 new short and feature films from Japan accompanied by a wide cultural program will again find their way to Frankfurt. Once more, the biggest festival for Japanese cinema worldwide will show what has recently moved the screens in Japan. We can already announce the first highlights of this year’s film and cultural programs. With THE BLOOD OF REBIRTH, directing talent Toshiaki TOYODA (BLUE SPRING, 9 SOULS) has delivered a restless film filled with power of expression. His latest work takes on several elements from his earlier films and not only demonstrates the wide repertoire of styles but also the special sense for music that this impressing director is endowed with. Dynamic as usual we find Takashi MIIKE (ICHI THE KILLER, SUKIYAKI WESTERN DJANGO), whose remarkably high artistic output still does not ebb down. In his manga adaptation CROWS II, school gangs clash continually in wild fights and leave the audience no rest. Miwa NISHIKAWA’s (WILD BERRIES, SWAY) DEAR DOCTOR is an unpretentious, intelligently narrated portrait of an impostor, caring for the old as a doctor in the countryside, but disappearing suddenly. In OH, MY BUDDHA, a coming of age-story set in the Japan of the seventies, star actor Tomorowo TAGUCHI (TETSUO, GOHATTO) not only acts in front of the camera, but has also taken a seat on the director’s chair for the second time. In the same way, Koji YAKUSHO, likewise ranked among Japan’s top actors after various roles in prize-winning films such as THE EEL, SHALL WE DANCE? or BABEL, has brilliantly mastered the task of working in front and behind the camera in his directing debut TOAD’S OIL. In his film, he combines elements of tragedy and comedy and presents an unusual approach to the sensitive topic of dying. With ZERO FOCUS, a suspense drama set in post-war Japan, Isshin INUDOU (LA MAISON DE HIMIKO), winner of the Nippon Cinema Award 2007, again participates in the contest for our audience award. The latest production from Michael Arias (TEKKON KONKREET), HEAVEN’S DOOR, is a Japanese remake of the Til Schweiger film KNOCKIN‘ ON HEAVEN’S DOOR. The genre of Japanese animation film will also be present again at Nippon Connection. In CHOCOLATE UNDERGROUND by Takayuki HAMANA, a group of children sided with underground fighters rebels against a fascist military regime that causes despair by prohibiting the consumption of chocolate. For the sixth time, all premiere films in the Nippon Cinema program are eligible for the Nippon Cinema Award, endowed with 2,000 Euros and sponsored by Bankhaus Metzler. ................................................................ Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival April 14-18, 2010 Frankfurt/Main www.nipponconnection.com Locations: Students’ House/Bockenheim Campus (festival center), Orfeos Erben Cinema, Mal Seh‘n Cinema, Galerie Station/Künstlerhaus Mousonturm. Press contact: Petra Palmer, mobile phone: +49 (0)172 236 2886 Dennis Vetter, mobile phone: +49 (0)176 641 022 20 |