Premiere Japan Weekend

05 September 08

Over the weekend of 26-28 September BAFTA celebrated the very best in contemporary Japanese Cinema.

For the fourth consecutive year, Bafta’s Premiere Japan 08 weekend showcased some of the best and most recent films to come out of Japan.

Selected, once again, by celebrated East Asian cinema critic Tony Rayns and film scholar and critic Alexander Jacoby, Premiere Japan 08 screened a series of six films not yet released in the UK.

Throughout the film festival, cinema-goers tried their hand at origami (paper folding), attended kimono dressing workshops and discovered the art of sumi-e (ink painting). Everyone experienced a flavour of Japan through an exciting series of workshops and demonstrations.

Thanks

Premiere Japan was organised by the Embassy of Japan and supported by the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, Japan Airlines and the Japan National Tourist Organisation.

Programme

FRIDAY 26 SEPTEMBER

Premiere Japan Opening Night

18:30 | Drinks reception & welcome
19:30 | Screening: After School (アフタースクール) - see below for details
20:50 | Q&A with Director Uchida Kenji and Dr Rayna Denison (UEA)

SATURDAY 27 SEPTEMBER

Sisterhood 地球でたったふたり

Uchida Eiji, 内田英治
2008 | 118 MINS | 2.30pm

Premiere Japan: Sisterhood Teenage stepsisters Yui and Ai form a close bond as a result of the neglect and abuse from their respective parents. Fearing separation from each other when their parents plan to divorce, they run away together to Tokyo and, in order to survive steal a briefcase which they later discover belongs to the yakuza. This puts them in great danger. Tanida, a kind-hearted yakuza member, comes to their rescue and becomes the protective and loving parent figure they never had. But for how long will he be able to save them from harm?

Dai Nippon-jin - Big Man Japan 大日本人

Matsumoto Hitoshi, 松本人志
2007 | 114 MINS | 5.00pm

Premiere Japan: Big Man Japan Japan’s principal superhero, Dai Nippon-jin, is going through a tough time. Estranged from his wife and weighed down by money troubles, our hero lives alone in a rundown house in Tokyo. Now his biggest problem is how to restore his image following a backlash from the public. This is a surreal mockumentary which features astounding special effects combined with ‘real life’ action sequences in a directorial debut from veteran comedian Matsumoto Hitoshi.

After School アフタースクール

Uchida Kenji, 内田けんじ
2007 | 102 MINS | 7.30pm

Premiere Japan: After School Kitazawa, a shifty detective, is employed by a complete stranger to investigate the relationship between an office employee called Kimura and a mysterious woman. A suspicious Kitazawa thinks he is offered too much money for what seems like a straight-forward case and so tricks Kimura’s friend and former classmate, Jinno, into tracking down the pair together. Following up his successful film debut A Stranger of Mine in 2005, Uchida Kenji directs his own screenplay in this polished caper which shows the unforeseen events that can happen ‘after school’.

SUNDAY 28 SEPTEMBER

Dog in a Sidecar サイドカーに犬

Negishi Kichitaro, 根岸吉太郎
2007 | 94 MINS | 2.30pm

Premiere Japan: Dog in a Sidecar Kaoru, a 30-year old estate agent, reminisces about one remarkable summer of her childhood in the 1980’s. After her mother leaves home, young Kaoru’s world is turned upside down and she is puzzled even more with the arrival of her father’s new girlfriend, the free-spirited and independent Yoko. Though the complete opposite of her mother, Kaoru grows to like Yoko and Yoko reciprocates by inviting Kaoru to share their summer holidays together: a heart-warming and moving drama.

Fine, Totally Fine 全然大丈夫

Fujita Yohsuke, 藤田容介
2008 | 110 MINS | 5.00pm

Premiere Japan: Fine Toatally Fine "Life is more fun when you’re an idiot". Teruo and Hisanobu are old friends from childhood who share a love of frightening people with gruesome pranks. They start spending less time together, however, when, nearing thirty, Hisanobu decides he should be doing something more with his life and Teruo tries to focus on his dreams of building the world’s scariest haunted house. Their friendship is tested even further when the clumsy but captivating Akari enters their lives unexpectedly: a quirky and well-crafted comedy.

Tokyo Sonata トウキョウソナタ

Kurosawa Kiyoshi, 黒沢清
2008 | 119 MINS | 7.30pm

Premiere Japan: Tokyo Sonata A father who keeps his redundancy a secret from his family; a son who plans to enlist in the American army; a younger son who surreptitiously takes piano lessons; a mother who is bored with her daily life and is struggling to keep the family together: this is a sensitive film depicting the discord and disintegration of a modern Japanese family. It won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival.