From the 6th to 11th of October the fifth edition of Japannual will be showing 21 movies. The festival selection will not only give a reflection but also an outlook on the current cinematic landscape of Japan.
Starting with Miwa Nishikawa's “Under the Open Sky”, the Viennese-based Film Festival shows Koji Yakusho (“The Blood of Wolves” 2018) in his highly acclaimed role as reformed Yakuza. Hiroshi Abe (“Still Walking” 2008) and Min Tanaka (“Blade of the Immortal” 2017) take part in the historical biopic “Hokusai” by Hajime Hashimoto, in which Japanese art lovers can follow the rocky road of the man behind the famous scrolls. “Aristocrats” is one of the most-anticipated films from Asia this year and has already made its way to Rotterdam and Nippon Connection Film Festival. Based on Mariko Yamauchi's novel, director Yukiko Sode dissects the power plays of Tokyo's upper class portrayed by a strong cast of young female actresses led by Mugi Kadowaki (“The Farewell Song” 2019).
Another critics' choice of the program is Eiji Uchida's transgender drama “Midnight Swan”. The courageous plot and the devotional performance of former SMAP singer Tsuyoshi Kusanagi turned it into the big winner of this year's award season, pocketing not only the Blue Ribbon and Hochi Film Award, but also the price of the Japanese Film Academy and the Audience Award at Udine Far East Film Festival.
Japanese idol culture is tackled in the most recent Rikiya Imaizumi film named “In Those Days”. Male bonding over geek culture is the theme that gives space to an ensemble consisting of Tori Matsuzaka (“The Journalist” 2019), Taiga Nakano (“Taro the Fool” 2019), and Takashi Yamanaka (“Organ” 2019). The sociocultural topic is further emphasised by the screening of Takeshi Fukunaga's “Ainu Mosir” about the indigenous people of Hokkaido and Thomas Ash's undercover documentary “Ushiku”, which criticizes Japan's migration policy and reveals crude conditions in one of the countries most infamous detention centers.
After her visit in 2019, female director Momoko Fukada contributes two of her current productions to the festival. Besides the autobiographical “My Name is Yours” Japannual gained the rights to screen the world premiere of “Will I Be Single Forever”. The manga adaption evolves around the ideal conception of relationship and independence. The festival is round up by a special anime day presenting the newest developments from the genre including “Josee, the Tiger and the Fish”, “The Deer King”, and Studio 4°C's “Poupelle of Chimney Town”. As usual, a little retrospective is also part of the program. This year's focus is on the experimental shorts of Takashi Ito featuring five of his trippy foto series.
Other selection highlights are “Sasaki in My Mind”, “Love, Life, and Goldfish”, and the Korean-Japanese co-production “Asian Angel”.
