The Japan Academy Film Prize Association held the 47th edition of its awards ceremony on March 8, 2024. The nominees are selected by the Nippon Academy-Sho Association of industry professionals from the pool of film releases between January 1 and December 31, 2023 which must have screened in Tokyo cinemas.
Following its success at the recent Blue Ribbon Awards and leading with 12 nominations, Toho Studios' and Takashi Yamazaki's kaiju cinema masterpiece “Godzilla Minus One” takes top honours winning Picture of the Year and a slew of technical awards. Sakura Ando cements her place as one of Japan's top actresses securing both awards for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (for “Monster”) as well as Supporting Role (for “Godzilla Minus One”).
The full list of winners is described below.
Picture of the Year
Monster
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
September 1923
Perfect Days
Animation of the Year
Kitaro Tanjo – GeGeGe no...
Following its success at the recent Blue Ribbon Awards and leading with 12 nominations, Toho Studios' and Takashi Yamazaki's kaiju cinema masterpiece “Godzilla Minus One” takes top honours winning Picture of the Year and a slew of technical awards. Sakura Ando cements her place as one of Japan's top actresses securing both awards for Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role (for “Monster”) as well as Supporting Role (for “Godzilla Minus One”).
The full list of winners is described below.
Picture of the Year
Monster
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
September 1923
Perfect Days
Animation of the Year
Kitaro Tanjo – GeGeGe no...
- 3/12/2024
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
The 66th edition of the Blue Ribbon Awards, presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, has announced its winners on January 24, 2024. The nominees are selected from movies released in 2023. The trifecta wins for “Godzilla Minus One” come as no surprise, sweeping the Best Film, Best Actor and Best Supporting Actress categories. Yuya Ishii picks up the Best Director award for both his movies “The Moon” and “Masked Hearts”.
Best Film
Masked Hearts
Ichiko
Egoist
Monster
The Dry Spell
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
(Ab)normal Desire
The Moon
One Last Bloom
Perfect Days
Bad Lands
September 1923
Do Unto Others
As Long as We Both Shall Live
Best Director
Yuya Ishii – The Moon, Masked Hearts
Hirokazu Koreeda – Monster
Daishi Matsunaga – Egoist
Takashi Yamazaki – Godzilla Minus One
Yoji Yamada – Mom, Is That You?!
Best Actor
Goro Inagaki – (Ab)normal Desire
Ryunosuke Kamiki – Godzilla Minus One, We're Broke, My Lord!
Best Film
Masked Hearts
Ichiko
Egoist
Monster
The Dry Spell
Godzilla Minus One
Mom, Is That You?!
(Ab)normal Desire
The Moon
One Last Bloom
Perfect Days
Bad Lands
September 1923
Do Unto Others
As Long as We Both Shall Live
Best Director
Yuya Ishii – The Moon, Masked Hearts
Hirokazu Koreeda – Monster
Daishi Matsunaga – Egoist
Takashi Yamazaki – Godzilla Minus One
Yoji Yamada – Mom, Is That You?!
Best Actor
Goro Inagaki – (Ab)normal Desire
Ryunosuke Kamiki – Godzilla Minus One, We're Broke, My Lord!
- 1/25/2024
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
A woman buries her anger deep under a lake of serenity only to discover that every small action or decision can set off a chain of reverberating ripples, in the latest movie from director Naoko Ogigami, aptly named “Ripples” (波紋 Hamon). Her trademark quirky comedy style and unique perspective are still here, but this time her narrative voice is a notch more dramatic.
Ripples is screening at Five Flavours
A prologue set in the aftermath of a fictional eco-disaster, introduces the Sudo family living in a tranquil suburban neighbourhood. Yoriko Sudo (Mariko Tsutsui) is a woman in her 50s, defined by her roles of wife of a salaryman, mother of a disaffected young man and reluctant carer of Osamu's bedridden – but well able to fondle her – father. Water is scarce, as probably contaminated after the earthquake, and bottled water has become a precious good. One ordinary day, Yoriko calls everybody...
Ripples is screening at Five Flavours
A prologue set in the aftermath of a fictional eco-disaster, introduces the Sudo family living in a tranquil suburban neighbourhood. Yoriko Sudo (Mariko Tsutsui) is a woman in her 50s, defined by her roles of wife of a salaryman, mother of a disaffected young man and reluctant carer of Osamu's bedridden – but well able to fondle her – father. Water is scarce, as probably contaminated after the earthquake, and bottled water has become a precious good. One ordinary day, Yoriko calls everybody...
- 11/15/2023
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Following decades in television and film, including stints as a producer, screenwriter and documentary filmmaker, Yoshiyuki Kishi made his feature directorial debut in 2016, aged 52, with Double Life, attracting some international festival attention.
He returned the following year with the ambitious Wilderness, based on the only novel by Shuji Terayama. Released in two parts a few weeks apart in Japan, with a combined running time of more than five hours, Wilderness portrayed two very different social outcasts on their journey to becoming professional boxers, against the backdrop of a socially disintegrating Japan. It landed Masaki Suda best actor at the Japan Academy Awards, and Korea’s Yang Ik-june best supporting actor at the Asian Film Awards.
Kishi’s latest, (Ab)normal Desire, is almost certainly his most challenging and complex work to date. Selected in competition at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival and starring Yui Aragaki, Goro Inagaki,...
He returned the following year with the ambitious Wilderness, based on the only novel by Shuji Terayama. Released in two parts a few weeks apart in Japan, with a combined running time of more than five hours, Wilderness portrayed two very different social outcasts on their journey to becoming professional boxers, against the backdrop of a socially disintegrating Japan. It landed Masaki Suda best actor at the Japan Academy Awards, and Korea’s Yang Ik-june best supporting actor at the Asian Film Awards.
Kishi’s latest, (Ab)normal Desire, is almost certainly his most challenging and complex work to date. Selected in competition at this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival and starring Yui Aragaki, Goro Inagaki,...
- 10/28/2023
- by Gavin J Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
“The Quiet Yakuza,” is one of two late additions made by Japanese indie sales firm Free Stone Productions to its slate of films being pitched at Tiffcom, the film rights market attached to the Tokyo International Film Festival.
Directed by Yamaguchi Kento, the two-part-film is adapted from the highly popular manga “Shizukanaru Don – Yakuza Side Story” by Nitta Tatsuo, which runs to 108 volumes and has sold nearly 50 million copies.
It sees Ito Kentaro as Shizuya, the only son of the Shinsen Group, the largest yakuza group in Kanto,. However, Shizuya has zero interest in the yakuza and wants to be a regular civilian. He is perfectly happy working at a design company, living a simple, puritan life and lusting after his colleague Akino. His ordinary life is threatened by a crisis within the Shinsen Group.
The two films were released one week apart in May. Despite both parts having been distributed in Japan,...
Directed by Yamaguchi Kento, the two-part-film is adapted from the highly popular manga “Shizukanaru Don – Yakuza Side Story” by Nitta Tatsuo, which runs to 108 volumes and has sold nearly 50 million copies.
It sees Ito Kentaro as Shizuya, the only son of the Shinsen Group, the largest yakuza group in Kanto,. However, Shizuya has zero interest in the yakuza and wants to be a regular civilian. He is perfectly happy working at a design company, living a simple, puritan life and lusting after his colleague Akino. His ordinary life is threatened by a crisis within the Shinsen Group.
The two films were released one week apart in May. Despite both parts having been distributed in Japan,...
- 10/22/2023
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Key Asian territories have picked up the drama.
Japan’s Free Stone Productions has secured a brace of deals on Yuya Ishii’s The Moon, following its world premiere in competition at Busan International Film Festival this week.
The film has been acquired for distribution in Taiwan (SkyDigi) and Korea (Media Castle) during the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm), which runs parallel to the festival. It is set to be released in Japan by Star Sands on October 13.
The story follows a writer named Yoko who takes a job at a nursing home, where she witnesses elderly and disabled residents...
Japan’s Free Stone Productions has secured a brace of deals on Yuya Ishii’s The Moon, following its world premiere in competition at Busan International Film Festival this week.
The film has been acquired for distribution in Taiwan (SkyDigi) and Korea (Media Castle) during the Asian Contents & Film Market (Acfm), which runs parallel to the festival. It is set to be released in Japan by Star Sands on October 13.
The story follows a writer named Yoko who takes a job at a nursing home, where she witnesses elderly and disabled residents...
- 10/8/2023
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Yuya Ishii has been the mastermind behind a number of films we cherish particularly here in Asian Movie Pulse, with “The Great Passage” especially featuring frequently in some of our ‘best of’ lists. Recently, however, and particularly since “The Asian Angel”, Ishii seems to have lost some of his edge, which he apparently tries to find once more with “The Moon”, a rather ambitious project.
The Moon is screening at Busan International Film Festival
Yoko Dojima once wrote a novel about the 2011 Earthquake, which brought her fame and even a much younger and rather handsome husband, Shohei, who calls her maestra and is an animator. Currently, though, she has not been able to produce anything new, which is why, along with the financial issues the couple faces, she agrees on taking on a job as caretaker at a facility for the severely disabled, which is located deep in the forest.
The Moon is screening at Busan International Film Festival
Yoko Dojima once wrote a novel about the 2011 Earthquake, which brought her fame and even a much younger and rather handsome husband, Shohei, who calls her maestra and is an animator. Currently, though, she has not been able to produce anything new, which is why, along with the financial issues the couple faces, she agrees on taking on a job as caretaker at a facility for the severely disabled, which is located deep in the forest.
- 10/7/2023
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
A grief-stricken author attempts to reconnect with society by taking a job at a nursing home for the severely disabled in Yuya Ishii’s compelling drama The Moon, inspired by a real-life Japanese tragedy and adapted from the novel by Yo Hemmi. Rie Miyazawa (Pale Moon) is sensational in the lead role, but is surrounded by an equally impressive ensemble that includes Joe Odagiri (Adrift in Tokyo), Fumi Nikaido (Why Don't You Play in Hell?), and Hayato Isomura (Tokyo Revengers). Yoko (Miyazawa) and her husband Shohei (Odagiri) are battling to keep their marriage on course following the death of their infant son due to a congenital heart disease. Yoko previously found success as a writer, publishing a celebrated novel about the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake. Since...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
[Read the whole post on screenanarchy.com...]...
- 10/6/2023
- Screen Anarchy
Absence haunts the streets of Masaya Takahashi’s Maebashi City: as absent as the rains are during the apex of summer is the nurturing essence of humanity. Parched of comfort and joy, the inhabitants, so jaded by circumstance and experience, find their ability to thrive has diminished beyond comprehension; instead, fear from just a knock on the door flourishes where little else can. Yet there exists a responsibility to keep up appearances so those whose innocence remains intact are not doomed to follow those same footsteps. Based on Mitsuru Kawabayashi’s 1990 novel of the same name, Takahashi’s ‘Dry Spell’ explores the insurmountable hardships of growing older amidst the harsh realities of a world plundering itself of human decency. Thirty years after the novel’s publication, its examination of poverty, especially amongst children, remains as true and as poignant as ever.
Dry Spell is screening at Camera Japan
Bearing the...
Dry Spell is screening at Camera Japan
Bearing the...
- 10/2/2023
- by JC Cansdale-Cook
- AsianMoviePulse
A woman buries her anger deep under a lake of serenity only to discover that every small action or decision can set off a chain of reverberating ripples, in the latest movie from director Naoko Ogigami, aptly named “Ripples” (波紋 Hamon). Her trademark quirky comedy style and unique perspective are still here, but this time her narrative voice is a notch more dramatic.
Ripples is screening at Camera Japan
A prologue set in the aftermath of a fictional eco-disaster, introduces the Sudo family living in a tranquil suburban neighbourhood. Yoriko Sudo (Mariko Tsutsui) is a woman in her 50s, defined by her roles of wife of a salaryman, mother of a disaffected young man and reluctant carer of Osamu’s bedridden – but well able to fondle her – father. Water is scarce, as probably contaminated after the earthquake, and bottled water has become a precious good. One ordinary day, Yoriko calls...
Ripples is screening at Camera Japan
A prologue set in the aftermath of a fictional eco-disaster, introduces the Sudo family living in a tranquil suburban neighbourhood. Yoriko Sudo (Mariko Tsutsui) is a woman in her 50s, defined by her roles of wife of a salaryman, mother of a disaffected young man and reluctant carer of Osamu’s bedridden – but well able to fondle her – father. Water is scarce, as probably contaminated after the earthquake, and bottled water has become a precious good. One ordinary day, Yoriko calls...
- 10/1/2023
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
It’s official: Netflix has renewed its hit Japanese sci-fi thriller drama Alice in Borderland for a third season. Fans of the show noticed late Wednesday that Netflix had unceremoniously dropped a teaser for a third season, leading to online speculation that more episodes of the live-action show were officially in the works. At the Apos entertainment and media industry conference in Bali, Indonesia, Netflix’s vice president of content in Asia Pacific, Minyoung Kim, made the news official by announcing the renewal during a keynote talk from the stage.
Following its second season debut in December 2022, Alice in Borderland became Netflix Japan’s most-watched title ever, even including anime titles. It shot up to the Top 10 in over 90 countries, claiming the No. 1 spot in 17 of them, and clocked 200 million viewing hours worldwide.
With Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya reprising their roles as Arisu and Usagi in Season 3, Netflix says...
Following its second season debut in December 2022, Alice in Borderland became Netflix Japan’s most-watched title ever, even including anime titles. It shot up to the Top 10 in over 90 countries, claiming the No. 1 spot in 17 of them, and clocked 200 million viewing hours worldwide.
With Kento Yamazaki and Tao Tsuchiya reprising their roles as Arisu and Usagi in Season 3, Netflix says...
- 9/28/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
In Plan 75, Japan suffers two existential crises: the very real economic and societal strains of its aging population and, worse yet, a severe loss of empathy. It’s set in an alternative present where older people are at best ostracised from society; at worst they’re targets of violent hate crimes. Grasping for a solution, or perhaps eyeing a nefarious opportunity, the government introduces a voluntary euthanasia program.
The director of this engrossing, chilling, depressingly plausible dystopia is Chie Hayakawa, a first-time filmmaker from Tokyo who got a special mention from Rossy de Palma’s Un Certain Regard jury in Cannes last summer. Expanding on her 2018 short of the same name, Plan 75 is both compelling and overstuffed. Hayakawa splits her story into four perspectives, though I’d wager any two might have done the trick. The best protagonist is Michi (Chieko Baisho), a seemingly single and childless woman of 81 who,...
The director of this engrossing, chilling, depressingly plausible dystopia is Chie Hayakawa, a first-time filmmaker from Tokyo who got a special mention from Rossy de Palma’s Un Certain Regard jury in Cannes last summer. Expanding on her 2018 short of the same name, Plan 75 is both compelling and overstuffed. Hayakawa splits her story into four perspectives, though I’d wager any two might have done the trick. The best protagonist is Michi (Chieko Baisho), a seemingly single and childless woman of 81 who,...
- 4/21/2023
- by Rory O'Connor
- The Film Stage
On July 26, 2016, a 26-year-old ex-employee of a Japanese care home for intellectually and mentally disabled people broke into his former place of work and stabbed 19 defenseless patients to death in their beds. Believing his massacre to be a kind of mercy for his victims — and a noble sacrifice for the benefit of the entire nation — the killer wrote that he envisioned “a world where a person with multiple disabilities can be euthanized, with an agreement from their guardians, when it is difficult for the person to carry out household and social activities.”
The killer claimed that doing so was a necessary step to protect the economy of the world’s most rapidly aging country; an economy that’s stressed even further by the highest life expectancy of any country on Earth, and crushes its young people under the financial burden of paying for that longevity in the face of Japan’s strained pension funds.
The killer claimed that doing so was a necessary step to protect the economy of the world’s most rapidly aging country; an economy that’s stressed even further by the highest life expectancy of any country on Earth, and crushes its young people under the financial burden of paying for that longevity in the face of Japan’s strained pension funds.
- 4/19/2023
- by David Ehrlich
- Indiewire
"We're all alone in life." KimStim has announced an official US release date for this indie from Japan titled Plan 75, marking the feature directorial debut of filmmaker Chie Hayakawa. It premiered in the Un Certain Regard section at last year's 2022 Cannes Film Festival, and stopped by Busan, Karlovy Vary, and Toronto. In a near dystopian future, Japan's government launches "Plan 75", a program encouraging the elderly to terminate their own lives to better handle its rapidly aging population. In Chie Hayakawa's remarkable and sensitive film, the lives of three ordinary citizens intersect in this new reality. "On the surface, the plan and its hawkers exude a kindness that serves as the film's chilling vision of bureaucratic indifference and our increasing loss of interconnectedness. However, Hayakawa's view is far from grim, as these characters soon learn to fully reckon with their own lives and what it truly means to live.
- 3/15/2023
- by Alex Billington
- firstshowing.net
One of the prestigious national cinema awards in Japan presented by the Association of Tokyo Film Journalists, the 65th edition of the Blue Ribbon Awards announced its winners on February 24, 2023. The nominees are selected from movies released in 2022 within the Tokyo Metropolitan Area. Leading with 6 nominations, A Man by Kei Ishikawa, wins Best Film while Plan 75 by Chie Hayakawa picks up Best Director and Best Actress for Chieko Baisho. The full list of winners is described below.
Best Film
A Man
Kingdom 2: To Distant Lands
Small, Slow But Steady
Missing
Silent Parade
Dr Coto’s Clinic
Plan 75
Motherhood
Fragments of the Last Will
Wandering
A Man Best Director
Kei Ishikawa – A Man
Shinzo Katayama – Missing
Takahisa Zeze – Tombi: Father and Son; Fragments of the Last Will
Chie Hayakawa – Plan 75
Ryuichi Hiroki – 2 Women, Motherhood; Phases of the Moon
Best Actor
Sadao Abe – Lesson in Murder; I am...
Best Film
A Man
Kingdom 2: To Distant Lands
Small, Slow But Steady
Missing
Silent Parade
Dr Coto’s Clinic
Plan 75
Motherhood
Fragments of the Last Will
Wandering
A Man Best Director
Kei Ishikawa – A Man
Shinzo Katayama – Missing
Takahisa Zeze – Tombi: Father and Son; Fragments of the Last Will
Chie Hayakawa – Plan 75
Ryuichi Hiroki – 2 Women, Motherhood; Phases of the Moon
Best Actor
Sadao Abe – Lesson in Murder; I am...
- 2/28/2023
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Further titles include Rodrigo Sorogoyen’s ’The Beasts’ and Chie Hayakawa’s debut ‘Plan 75’.
Venice titles including Fyzal Boulifa’s Morocco-set drama The Damned Don’t Cry and Penelope Cruz-starring melodrama L’Immensità are among the prestige international titles on UK-Ireland distributor Curzon’s 2023 slate.
The line-up represents filmmakers from Italy, Spain, Japan, France and the UK.
“The past year has been a difficult one for international film in the UK,” said Louisa Dent, Curzon Film managing director, “but we remain absolutely committed to championing the best cinema from around the world.”
UK filmmaker Boulifa’s second feature, after debut Lynn + Lucy,...
Venice titles including Fyzal Boulifa’s Morocco-set drama The Damned Don’t Cry and Penelope Cruz-starring melodrama L’Immensità are among the prestige international titles on UK-Ireland distributor Curzon’s 2023 slate.
The line-up represents filmmakers from Italy, Spain, Japan, France and the UK.
“The past year has been a difficult one for international film in the UK,” said Louisa Dent, Curzon Film managing director, “but we remain absolutely committed to championing the best cinema from around the world.”
UK filmmaker Boulifa’s second feature, after debut Lynn + Lucy,...
- 12/20/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
While announcing the film before its premiere in Cannes, Salle Debussy, Thierry Frémaux and Pierre Lescure reminded the audience that Chie Hayakawa’s debut feature “Plan 75” was the first Japanese film to be competing in this selection in a very long time. The first screening took place in a packed theatre, and in the presence of the filmmaker and her team, with high expectations from a movie which steps in the domain of unpleasant, and those were mostly met.
“Plan 75“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia...
“Plan 75“ is screening at Thessaloniki International Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia...
- 11/10/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Japan Society and the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, are excited to announce the East Coast Premiere of Japan’s submission for Best International Feature Film at the 95th Academy Awards, Plan 75 as the closing title for its Aca Cinema Project The Female Gaze: Women Filmmakers from Japan Cuts and Beyond lineup. The debut film from director Chie Hayakawa, Plan 75 premiered as part of this year’s Cannes’ Un Certain Regard selection, garnering the Caméra d’Or Special Mention Prize. A runaway independent success in Japan, the film imagines a near future in which Japan’s aging crisis has hit critical levels, resulting in a government initiative that encourages the elderly to voluntarily surrender their lives for the greater good.
In addition, we will also host a Panel Discussion Women in Film at 4pm on Saturday, November 19th, moderated by Joel Neville Anderson and featuring talents including...
In addition, we will also host a Panel Discussion Women in Film at 4pm on Saturday, November 19th, moderated by Joel Neville Anderson and featuring talents including...
- 11/3/2022
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Who can forget Jonathan Swift’s “A Modest Proposal,” that cheeky work of early-18th-century satire in which the author had the nerve to suggest cannibalism as a means of keeping Ireland’s unwanted kids “from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to the publick”? In “Plan 75,” debuting director Chie Hayakawa floats an equally extreme idea of her own without so much as a glimmer of irony, and the suggestion is upsetting enough that the public will likely still be citing it decades down the road. Set in near-future Japan, where it’s a surplus of seniors — versus an abundance of babies — that’s causing trouble, this chilling social drama takes its name from a hypothetical new legislation whereby an overtaxed government offers its elderly citizens an incentive to euthanize.
Candidates, who must be at least 75 years of age, will be offered a...
Candidates, who must be at least 75 years of age, will be offered a...
- 10/14/2022
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Exclusive: Paris-based Urban Sales has sold Japanese director Chie Hayakawa’s dystopian drama Plan 75 to KimStim for North America, in addition to several other territories. The film won a Camera d’Or Special Mention when it premiered in Un Certain Regard at Cannes this year, and is also Japan’s submission to the Best International Feature category of the Oscars.
In a second round of deals, Urban also sold the film to South Korea (Challan), Spain (Adso), Switzerland (First Hand Films), Indonesia (Falcon Pictures) and Thailand (Sahamongkol Film) while Spafax and Encore acquired worldwide inflight rights.
It was previously sold to France (Eurozoom), Italy (Tucker Film), China (Dddream), Benelux (September Films), Philippines (Tba Studios), Taiwan (Sky Digi) and Singapore (Lighthouse Film Distribution).
Since Cannes, the film has played at festivals including Karlovy Vary and Toronto and will receive a double U.S. premiere at Chicago and Mill Valley film festivals.
In a second round of deals, Urban also sold the film to South Korea (Challan), Spain (Adso), Switzerland (First Hand Films), Indonesia (Falcon Pictures) and Thailand (Sahamongkol Film) while Spafax and Encore acquired worldwide inflight rights.
It was previously sold to France (Eurozoom), Italy (Tucker Film), China (Dddream), Benelux (September Films), Philippines (Tba Studios), Taiwan (Sky Digi) and Singapore (Lighthouse Film Distribution).
Since Cannes, the film has played at festivals including Karlovy Vary and Toronto and will receive a double U.S. premiere at Chicago and Mill Valley film festivals.
- 10/10/2022
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
The twisted competition at the center of "Alice in Borderland" is back, and it looks like the games aren't done just yet. A "super teaser trailer" for season 2 of the popular show, which is based on the manga series of the same name by Haro Aso, was revealed during Netflix's Tudum fan event, and it looks like we're in for another wild ride.
The teaser shows the return of protagonists Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) after that massive cliffhanger at the end of the last season. After completing a number of increasingly deadly challenges, they learned to their dismay that there are even more coming as the games enter a second phase. We also get our first look at some of the other contestants roped into the games, as well as shots of the sadistic gamemaster Mira (Riisa Naka), who looks to be a more menacing presence this season.
The teaser shows the return of protagonists Arisu (Kento Yamazaki) and Usagi (Tao Tsuchiya) after that massive cliffhanger at the end of the last season. After completing a number of increasingly deadly challenges, they learned to their dismay that there are even more coming as the games enter a second phase. We also get our first look at some of the other contestants roped into the games, as well as shots of the sadistic gamemaster Mira (Riisa Naka), who looks to be a more menacing presence this season.
- 9/24/2022
- by Erin Brady
- Slash Film
Exclusive: Manila-based Tba Studios has acquired Philippines theatrical rights to award-winning drama Plan 75, which is Japan’s submission for the best international feature category of the Academy Awards.
The Japanese-language film has a strong connection to the Philippines. It features Filipina actress Stefanie Arriane in the cast, while US-Filipino company Fusee is one of the producers, with Wilfredo C. Manalang, George Sommerrock and Alicia Catubay-Watt taking producer credits, and Alemberg Ang of the Philippines’ Daluyong Studios on board as co-producer.
The film was produced by Japan’s Loaded Films, Happinet Phantom Studios and Dongyu Club, with France’s Urban Factory, Fusee and Ang. Urban Sales is handling international sales outside of the co-production territories. Fusee retained Philippines rights.
Written and directed by acclaimed short film director Chie Hayakawa, the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes film festival, where it won the Camera d’Or special mention.
The Japanese-language film has a strong connection to the Philippines. It features Filipina actress Stefanie Arriane in the cast, while US-Filipino company Fusee is one of the producers, with Wilfredo C. Manalang, George Sommerrock and Alicia Catubay-Watt taking producer credits, and Alemberg Ang of the Philippines’ Daluyong Studios on board as co-producer.
The film was produced by Japan’s Loaded Films, Happinet Phantom Studios and Dongyu Club, with France’s Urban Factory, Fusee and Ang. Urban Sales is handling international sales outside of the co-production territories. Fusee retained Philippines rights.
Written and directed by acclaimed short film director Chie Hayakawa, the film premiered in the Un Certain Regard section of this year’s Cannes film festival, where it won the Camera d’Or special mention.
- 9/23/2022
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/5/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Keep track of all the submissions for best international feature at the 2023 Academy Awards.
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
Entries for the 2023 Oscar for best international feature are underway, and Screen is profiling each one on this page.
Scroll down for profiles of each Oscar entry
An international feature film is defined as a feature-length motion picture produced outside the US with a predominantly (more than 50) non-English dialogue track and can include animated and documentary features.
Submitted films must have been released theatrically in their respective countries between January 1, 2022 and November 30, 2022. The deadline for submissions to the Academy is October 3, 2022.
A shortlist of 15 finalists is...
- 9/2/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
Following the unexpected and quite significant success of “Midnight Swan”, which took home the Best Film and Best Actor Awards for Tsuyoshi Kusanagi by the Japanese Academy, it was expected that Eiji Uchida would find access to the highest echelons of the local movie industry, as the presence of Hiroshi Abe and the overall production quality of “Offbeat Cops” highlights.
Offbeat Cops is screening on New York Asian Film Festival
Tsukasa Naruse is a workaholic detective working on homicide cases, who, as the movie begins, is researching a group of conmen who rob old people after giving them a call posing as the police to discover if they hide money in their houses. His methods, however, are not exactly by the book, as his new partner, young Shota Sakamoto soon discovers. At the same time, his obsession with his job has led him to a divorce and a daughter, Noriko,...
Offbeat Cops is screening on New York Asian Film Festival
Tsukasa Naruse is a workaholic detective working on homicide cases, who, as the movie begins, is researching a group of conmen who rob old people after giving them a call posing as the police to discover if they hide money in their houses. His methods, however, are not exactly by the book, as his new partner, young Shota Sakamoto soon discovers. At the same time, his obsession with his job has led him to a divorce and a daughter, Noriko,...
- 7/23/2022
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
“Plan 75,” Hayakawa Chie’s Japanese dystopian drama which world premiered at Cannes’ Un Certain Regard, has been sold in a raft of territories by Urban Sales.
The movie is set in Japan, in a near future where a government program called Plan 75 encourages senior citizens to be voluntarily euthanized in order to remedy the aging society. The film weaves the stories of an elderly woman who isn’t able to live independently, a pragmatic Plan 75 salesman and a young Filipino caregiver. “Plan 75” stars Chieko Baisho (“Howl’s Moving Castle”) and Hayato Isomura, among others.
Urban Sales has closed deals on the promising debut feature to Italy (Tucker Film), China (Dddream), Benelux (September Films), Taiwan (Sky Digi) and Singapore (Lighthouse Film Distribution).
Happinet will handle the Japanese release of “Plan 75” in mid-June. Eurozoom will distribute it in France in the fall. “Plan 75” was produced by Loaded Films,...
The movie is set in Japan, in a near future where a government program called Plan 75 encourages senior citizens to be voluntarily euthanized in order to remedy the aging society. The film weaves the stories of an elderly woman who isn’t able to live independently, a pragmatic Plan 75 salesman and a young Filipino caregiver. “Plan 75” stars Chieko Baisho (“Howl’s Moving Castle”) and Hayato Isomura, among others.
Urban Sales has closed deals on the promising debut feature to Italy (Tucker Film), China (Dddream), Benelux (September Films), Taiwan (Sky Digi) and Singapore (Lighthouse Film Distribution).
Happinet will handle the Japanese release of “Plan 75” in mid-June. Eurozoom will distribute it in France in the fall. “Plan 75” was produced by Loaded Films,...
- 5/27/2022
- by Elsa Keslassy
- Variety Film + TV
While announcing the film before its premiere in Cannes, Salle Debussy, Thierry Frémaux and Pierre Lescure reminded the audience that Chie Hayakawa’s debut feature “Plan 75” was the first Japanese film to be competing in this selection in a very long time. The first screening took place in a packed theatre, and in the presence of the filmmaker and her team, with high expectations from a movie which steps in the domain of unpleasant, and those were mostly met.
“Plan 75” screened at Cannes Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia of...
“Plan 75” screened at Cannes Film Festival
In her strong debut, Hayakawa sets the story in a near, dystopian future in which the Japanese government takes a concrete step to beat ‘the surplus of old citizens’. The propaganda machinery motivates them to enter the so called Plan 75 project, using embelished words for something that is simply supposed to end their lives. Painted as a well-meant act of euthanasia of...
- 5/23/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Two men and a woman begin to live together on an uninhabited island. They refer to one man as Operator (Hayato Isomura), the other man as Chairman, and the woman as Vice-Chairman. The three individuals belong to the religious organization Smiley Life Center and they wear t-shirts with smiley faces. They envision themselves going to the “land of comfort” and participate in the “program of a solitary island” to get there. The Operator, Chairman, and Vice-Chairman receive unusual missions from the Smiley Life Center. Their missions involve performing morning mediations, recalling the pervious night’s dreams, and performing telepathy experiments. The three also manage to survive with only a small amount of food that is delivered. All of this is for them to purify themselves from the stains of the world like sexual desire, excessive appetite, and material want. This process is necessary for them to go to the land of comfort,...
- 5/14/2022
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
Dystopian drama revolves around an imaginary Japanese government-backed euthanasia strategy aimed at senior citizens
Screen can exclusively reveal a first trailer for Japanese director Chie Hayakawa’s dystopian drama Plan 75 ahead of its world premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard this month.
Celebrated actress Chieko Baishô plays an elderly woman who signs up for a government initiative encouraging senior citizens to be voluntarily euthanised to counter the challenges of a super-aged society.
Rising Japanese actor Hayato Isomura plays a young salesman whose job is to sell the so-called plan 75.
The work expands on Hayakawa’s short of the...
Screen can exclusively reveal a first trailer for Japanese director Chie Hayakawa’s dystopian drama Plan 75 ahead of its world premiere in Cannes Un Certain Regard this month.
Celebrated actress Chieko Baishô plays an elderly woman who signs up for a government initiative encouraging senior citizens to be voluntarily euthanised to counter the challenges of a super-aged society.
Rising Japanese actor Hayato Isomura plays a young salesman whose job is to sell the so-called plan 75.
The work expands on Hayakawa’s short of the...
- 5/12/2022
- by Screen staff
- ScreenDaily
After taking on the live-action adaptation of “Gintama”, the director of “Hk: Forbidden Super Hero” was bound to continue in the same, commercially successful path, this time dealing with another iconic manga,”Kyo kara Ore wa!!”. The initial story revolves around two high school students, Takashi Mitsuhashi and Shinji Ito, who meet each other at a salon, and when they realize they are transferring to the same new school, decide to reinvent themselves, and become the greatest delinquents in Japan.
“From Today, It’s My Turn!!” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
In the particular story, Takashi finds himself antagonizing Katsutoshi Imai, another rather strong delinquent who has a thing for his sister, Riko. At the same time, another school full of thugs temporarily transfers to their own, and soon take over through their own two leaders, giant Shigehiro Otake and knife wielding Eiji Yanagi, who even force the...
“From Today, It’s My Turn!!” is screening at Toronto Japanese Film Festival
In the particular story, Takashi finds himself antagonizing Katsutoshi Imai, another rather strong delinquent who has a thing for his sister, Riko. At the same time, another school full of thugs temporarily transfers to their own, and soon take over through their own two leaders, giant Shigehiro Otake and knife wielding Eiji Yanagi, who even force the...
- 6/9/2021
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
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