A YAKUZA thriller, a boy who meets a dancing Jesus, samurai warriors, a romcom, and anime - Galway is in for a feast of Japanese film throughout April.
The 11th Japanese Film Festival will see some of the best new Japanese cinema screened in The Eye (April 7 – 11 ) and in the Pálás (April 12 -15 ). A particular highlight will be the Irish premieres of two new anima films - the family film, Penguin Highway, the first full-length feature from Studio Colorido, and the moving romantic drama, I Want To Eat Your Pancreas.
The festival will also screen the brilliant yakuza thriller The Blood of Wolves, which recently picked up four Japan Academy Prizes; crowd-pleasing family drama, Born Bone Born, centred around the Okinawan custom of senkotsu (bone washing ceremony ); and the romcom Tremble All You Want, boasting an outstanding central performance from Mayu Matsuoka.
One of the most original of all the films to be screened is Jesus, from first-time director Hiroshi Okuyama, focusing on a lonely boy’s experiences when a miniature, dancing Jesus Christ shows up unexpectedly. Acclaimed director Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo ) returns with the brutal but thoughtful samurai thriller, Killing. Galway Film Society will co-host screenings of the quirky drama Mori - The Artist’s Habitat, about the artist Morikazu Kumagai on April 14 and 15.
For more information see www.jff.ie
