Film Festival: Shape of Life
2018/2/12
Consulate General of Japan in Kolkata and the Japan Foundation organized a Japanese Film Festival in collaboration with Nandan, West Bengal Film Centre, I & CA Department, Government of West Bengal on 10 and 11 February 2018 at Nandan II.
A selection of four Japanese films, portraying the importance of relationships between people, with English subtitles were screened, which received good applause from the audience.
A selection of four Japanese films, portraying the importance of relationships between people, with English subtitles were screened, which received good applause from the audience.
Inauguration Ceremony
Inauguration Ceremony took place on 10 February 2018 at 4:00 PM.
Mr. Goutam Ghose, Award Winning Film Director, kindly graced the occasion as Chief Guest. He spoke highly of Japanese contribution to film making by introducing high tech equipment and recollected some fond memories when Japanese films were used to be screened in the theatres of Kolkata during his college days.
Mr. Masayuki Taga, Consul General of Japan in Kolkata, thanked Mr. Ghose for his enlightening speech and the Nandan authorities for providing the venue for organizing the festival. Mr. Taga also hoped that the film lovers of Kolkata will enjoy the films and deepen their understanding of Japan through movies.
Mr. Goutam Ghose, Award Winning Film Director, kindly graced the occasion as Chief Guest. He spoke highly of Japanese contribution to film making by introducing high tech equipment and recollected some fond memories when Japanese films were used to be screened in the theatres of Kolkata during his college days.
Mr. Masayuki Taga, Consul General of Japan in Kolkata, thanked Mr. Ghose for his enlightening speech and the Nandan authorities for providing the venue for organizing the festival. Mr. Taga also hoped that the film lovers of Kolkata will enjoy the films and deepen their understanding of Japan through movies.
Synopsis and Screening Schedule
10 Feb 2018 | Saturday | 4:00 PM (post inauguration)
Pecoross' Mother and Her Days
Runtime: 113 min
Release Date: 16 November 2013
Director: Azuma Morisaki
Cast: Ryo Iwamatsu as Yoichi
Harue Akagi as Mitsue
Kiwako Harada as Mitsue
Plot: Veteran director Azuma Morisaki's adaptation of Yuichi Okano's essay manga following the daily life of a nebbish son and his dementia-stricken mother. Its talented cast includes Iwamatsu Ryo, Harada Kiwako, and 89-year-old Akagi Harue in her first starring role in a film.
Divorcee Yuichi (Iwamatsu) is a company employee who devotes himself to his manga and musical endeavors. When his mother Mitsue (Akagi) develops dementia, he reluctantly decides to place her in a nursing home. As Mitsue spends time with its idiosyncratic inhabitants, her memories gradually lead her to retrace her past.
Runtime: 113 minRelease Date: 16 November 2013
Director: Azuma Morisaki
Cast: Ryo Iwamatsu as Yoichi
Harue Akagi as Mitsue
Kiwako Harada as Mitsue
Plot: Veteran director Azuma Morisaki's adaptation of Yuichi Okano's essay manga following the daily life of a nebbish son and his dementia-stricken mother. Its talented cast includes Iwamatsu Ryo, Harada Kiwako, and 89-year-old Akagi Harue in her first starring role in a film.
Divorcee Yuichi (Iwamatsu) is a company employee who devotes himself to his manga and musical endeavors. When his mother Mitsue (Akagi) develops dementia, he reluctantly decides to place her in a nursing home. As Mitsue spends time with its idiosyncratic inhabitants, her memories gradually lead her to retrace her past.
(c)"Pecoross' Mother and Her Days" production committee
10 Feb 2018 | Saturday | 6:30 PM
Being Good
Runtime: 121 min
Release Date: 27 June 2015
Director: Mipo O
Cast: Kengo Kora as Tadashi Okano
Machiko Ono as Masami Mizuki
Chizuru Ikewaki as Yoko Omiya
Runtime: 121 min
Release Date: 27 June 2015
Director: Mipo O
Cast: Kengo Kora as Tadashi Okano
Machiko Ono as Masami Mizuki
Chizuru Ikewaki as Yoko Omiya
Plot: Live action drama adaptation of Hatsue Nakawaki's same-titled novel. Director Mipo O won the award for Best Director at the 38th Montreal World Film Festival for The Light Shines Only There. The film won the NETPAC Award at the 37th Moscow International Film Festival.
Okano (Kengo Kora) is a rookie elementary school teacher stressed out because his students won't listen to him. Meanwhile, Masami (Machiko Ono) is in anguish as she continues abusing her own daughter. The lives of people dealing with their own troubles intertwine and they discover hope anew.
(c)2015 "Being Good" Film Partners
11 Feb 2018 | Sunday | 4:00 PM
All Around Us
Runtime: 140 min
Release Date: 7 June 2008
Director: Ryosuke Hashiguchi
Cast: Tae Kimura as Shoko Sato
Lily Frankie as Kanao Sato
Mitsuko Baisho as Namiko Yoshida
Susumu Terajima as Kazutoshi Yoshida
Plot: The latest by Ryosuke Hashiguchi after six years since Hush! which was officially entered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes International Film Festival. The title refers to one's "immediate surroundings". The film is ambitious as it looks at the immediate surroundings of ordinary people who live in a corner of a city whilst it also captures the historical background including the emotional crises which prevailed in Japan from 1990s onwards.
Punctilious Shoko (Tae Kimura), who works for a publishing company, marries free-wheeling Kanao (Lily Frankie) who drifts with the currents. On advice from his senior, Kanao takes up a job as a courtroom sketch artist. Trials of gruesome cases take place in the courtroom, such as the stabbing of elementary school pupils and indiscriminate mass murder by a cult group. Shoko, in the meantime, gradually suffers a nervous breakdown after losing her first baby soon after its birth. Kanao is flustered with her state but tries somehow to accept it. The story concludes with the suggestion that the two finally attain happiness together.
Runtime: 140 minRelease Date: 7 June 2008
Director: Ryosuke Hashiguchi
Cast: Tae Kimura as Shoko Sato
Lily Frankie as Kanao Sato
Mitsuko Baisho as Namiko Yoshida
Susumu Terajima as Kazutoshi Yoshida
Plot: The latest by Ryosuke Hashiguchi after six years since Hush! which was officially entered in the Directors' Fortnight at Cannes International Film Festival. The title refers to one's "immediate surroundings". The film is ambitious as it looks at the immediate surroundings of ordinary people who live in a corner of a city whilst it also captures the historical background including the emotional crises which prevailed in Japan from 1990s onwards.
Punctilious Shoko (Tae Kimura), who works for a publishing company, marries free-wheeling Kanao (Lily Frankie) who drifts with the currents. On advice from his senior, Kanao takes up a job as a courtroom sketch artist. Trials of gruesome cases take place in the courtroom, such as the stabbing of elementary school pupils and indiscriminate mass murder by a cult group. Shoko, in the meantime, gradually suffers a nervous breakdown after losing her first baby soon after its birth. Kanao is flustered with her state but tries somehow to accept it. The story concludes with the suggestion that the two finally attain happiness together.
(c)"All Around Us" Producers
11 Feb 2018 | Sunday | 6:30 PM
Sketches of Kaitan City
Runtime: 152 min
Release Date: 18 December 2010
Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
Cast: Mitsuki Tanimura as Honami Igawa
Pistol Takehara as Sota Igawa
Masaka Miura as Hiroshi Hagiya
Kaoru Kobayashi as Ryuzo Higa
Runtime: 152 min
Release Date: 18 December 2010
Director: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
Cast: Mitsuki Tanimura as Honami Igawa
Pistol Takehara as Sota Igawa
Masaka Miura as Hiroshi Hagiya
Kaoru Kobayashi as Ryuzo Higa
Plot: Winner of the Lino Brocka Grand Prize and the award for Best Actor (ensemble cast) at the 12th Cinemanila International Film Festival, this film features several protagonists and storylines, played out by professional actors and residents of Hakodate, the city on which the original short story was modeled. Director Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, who boasts a number of international film awards, such as from the Berlin International Film Festival, depicts the bittersweet events in the lives of people in Hakodate, a regional city connected by a streetcar network. A laid-off man (Pistol Takehara) and his younger sister (Mitsuki Tanimura) go up a mountain to see the first sunrise of the year. Meanwhile, Haruo (Ryo Kase) has inherited his family's gas business, but things aren't going well in his new endeavor and he becomes increasingly frustrated.
(c)2010 Yasushi Sato/"Sketches of Kaitan City" Production Committee