Now in its 12th year, JAPAN CUTS continues to grow as the largest festival of contemporary Japanese cinema in North America. Bringing a wide range of the best and hardest-to-see films made in and around Japan today — from blockbusters, independent productions and anime, to documentaries, avant-garde works, short films, and new restorations — JAPAN CUTS is the place to experience Japan’s dynamic film culture in New York City. Like every year, this thrilling 10-day festival offers exclusive premieres, special guest filmmakers and stars, fun-filled parties, live music and more! Tickets are on-sale now!
The festival programmers Aiko Masubuchi, Kazu Watanabe and Joel Neville Andersonhave highlighted in a note that “perhaps most strikingly, the struggle for dignity and individual rights reverberates throughout the lineup—including LGBTQ advocacy (“Of Love & Law”), reparations for government abuse (“Sennan Asbestos Disaster”) or the plight of refugees (“Passage of Life”). Additionally, multiple films deal with the complexities of travel and cultural exchange (“Ramen Shop”, “TOURISM”, “Toward a Common Tenderness”), the disconnect between generations (“blank 13”, “Dream of Illumination”, “Side Job”) and the desire to imagine a different world (“Amiko”, “KUSHINA, what will you be”, “Night is Short”, “Walk On Girl|)”.
While the varying topics in these films hold regional and cultural specificity to Japan, it’s impossible not to connect them to what is going on in New York and beyond. Cinema allows for the visceral exchange of ideas, and a film festival like JAPAN CUTS provides unique opportunities for cross-cultural dialog and mutual understanding by linking filmmakers with audiences through screenings, Q&As and parties that celebrate artistic expression.
The Year’s Special Guests
- Kirin Kiki (“Mori”, “The Artist’s Habitat”, “Still Walking”) who will receive the CUT ABOVE Award for Outstanding Performance in Film
- Akio Fujimoto (“Passage of Life”)
- Kazuo Hara (”Sennan Asbestos Disaster”)
- Moët Hayami (“KUSHINA, what will you be”)
- Tomona Hirota (“KUSHINA, what will you be”, “YEAH”)
- Eric Khoo (“Ramen Shop”)
- Kazuyuki Kitaki (“Dream of Illumination”)
- Sachiko Kobayashi (”Sennan Asbestos Disaster”)
- Shunsuke Kubozuka (“Hanagatami”)
- Kaori Oda (“Toward a Common Tenderness”)
- Takumi Saitoh (“blank 1”, “Ramen Shop”)
- Shinsuke Sato (“BLEACH”)
- Thunder Sawada (“Dream of Illumination”)
- Yohei Suzuki (“YEAH”)
- Yuya Takagawa (“Dream of Illumination”)
- Hikaru Toda (“Of Love & Law”)
- Yoko Yamanaka (“Amiko”)
- Elisa Yanagi (“YEAH”)
- Keisuke Yoshida (“Thicker Than Water”)
- Nao Yoshigai (“Across the Water”, “Breathing House”, “Stories floating on the wind”)
Full Schedule
THURSDAY, JULY 19
Ramen Shop
FRIDAY, JULY 20
Of Love & Law
blank 13
Violence Voyager
SATURDAY, JULY 21
Born Bone Born
Dream of Illumination
Last Winter, We Parted
Passage of Life
Night is Short, Walk On Girl
SUNDAY, JULY 22
We Make Antiques!
Toward a Common Tenderness
Side Job
Sennan Asbestos Disaster
TUESDAY, JULY 24
Yocho (Foreboding)
Call Boy
WEDNESDAY, JULY 25
KUSHINA, what will you be
Radiance
THURSDAY, JULY 26
Mori, The Artist’s Habitat
FRIDAY, JULY 27
Still Walking
Empty Orchestras and the Speed of Your Voice
Abnormal Family
SATURDAY, JULY 28
Tremble All You Want
Thicker than Water
Outrage Coda
BLEACH
SUNDAY, JULY 29
Dear Etranger
Amiko
TOURISM
Hanagatami
