The Japanese Film Festival Ireland returns to Galway for its 15th edition this week, with a line-up highlighting the best of that country’s cinema.
Ireland’s only truly national film festival will showcase over a dozen films at the Pálás and Eye cinemas from Thursday April 11, to Friday April 19. Screenings are also taking place in Dublin, Cork, Dundalk, Limerick, Sligo, Waterford, Wexford and Bray.
The Galway leg of the festival kicks off this evening, April 11, in Pálás, with a screening of Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus - the stunning final concert film from the late, great composer and musician.
Other highlights screening at Pálás include the powerful dramas Ichiko and Great Absence and the coming-of-age fantasy anime Lonely Castle in the Mirror, while horror fans won’t want to miss the wild slasher-comedy Love Will Tear Us Apart.
Those looking for an insight into a unique aspect of Japanese culture should check out the charming comedy-drama Yudo: The Way of the Bath, a delightful celebration of Japan’s tradition of community bathhouses. Galway audiences will also have a chance to see Typhoon Club, Shinji Somai’s classic high school drama that’s now widely regarded as one of the very best Japanese films of the 1980s.
From Monday, April 15, the festival moves to Eye Cinema for a further five evenings of screenings. Movies aptly begin with Mondays: See You "This" Week!, a very funny, time-loop comedy about a group of office workers who find themselves repeating the same week from hell over and over again.
The screenings in Eye also include Ripples, a fascinating, black comedy about a woman who has to deal with the unexpected return of her estranged husband. Shadow of Fire is a haunting post-war film from acclaimed filmmaker Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo, Fires on the Plain, Killing ). The programme in Eye also includes the enchanting anime Komada: A Whisky Family, which follows a group of enthusiasts trying to recreate a distillery’s most famous creation; and the award-winning drama Egoist, a beautifully observed romantic drama about the burgeoning romance between a successful magazine editor and his personal trainer.
More movie information is available at www.jff.ie and tickets on sale via Pálás and Eye Cinema’s respective box offices and websites.
