Special documentary screening followed by a Q&A session with director Toshikuni Doi and subjects Kimiko Nezu and Nobuo Dohi

TRUE TO MYSELF ("Watashi" wo Ikiru)
Japan,2010 138 minutes
Director: Toshikuni Doi
Featuring: Kimiko Nezu, Miwako Sato, Nobuo Dohi
Film courtesy of Urayasu Documentary Office and Sleepin'

In Japanese with English subtitles

On January 16 and 30, rulings will be handed down by the Supreme Court of Japan and the Tokyo District Court that may have a profound impact on education in this country, not to mention the constitutionally guaranteed rights to freedom of thought and speech. The Supreme Court ruling will mark the final verdict in the case of economics teacher Kimiko Nezu vs. the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Board of Education, concerning her refusal to stand during the 40 seconds of Kimigayo, Japan's national anthem, when it was played in her school. Nezu has endured a series of high-profile court cases, been suspended, forcibly transferred and punished 10 times in her campaign against what she - and many other teachers - consider to be unfair policies that force both educators and students to mindlessly obey authority.

Nezu appeared at the FCCJ with the film "Against Coercion" in 2007; she is returning with a new documentary that delves more deeply into her backstory, teaching policies and protracted human rights campaign, as well as those of two other brave crusaders for educators' rights: Miwako Sato, a music teacher who was punished for wearing a blue ribbon to express her opposition to the compulsory display of the Hinomaru (national flag) during her school's graduation ceremony; and high school principal Nobuo Dohi, who protested the silencing of faculty members at teacher meetings, giving all power to the principal, who is expected to comply unquestioningly with the Board of Education's policies and directives.

Toshikuni Doi's "True to Myself" depicts not only the struggles as these three unlikely heroes stand firm in the power of their convictions despite repeated punishment and even career immolation, but also their triumphs as educators who promote individual freedoms. Whatever the courts finally decide, this eye-opening documentary makes it clear that Japan's democratic principles cannot endure a return to the style of nationalistic education that preceded WWII.

For more on the film (in Japanese), see:
http://www.doi-toshikuni.net/j/ikiru/

Toshikuni Doi is a veteran freelance journalist and filmmaker who has been covering stories from Palestine since 1985. He has produced documentaries such as "Al-Faluja, April 2004" for TV broadcast, and published books on Palestinian and Israeli issues. His 2009 documentary "Breaking the Silence" (Chinmoku wo Yaburu), part of a four-part series, was named Best Educational Documentary by Kinema Jumpo. He is now at work on a film about 3/11 in Iidate.

Home economics teacher Kimiko Nezu has been subjected to repeated disciplinary actions by the Tokyo Metropolitan Board of Education over freedom, democracy and human rights issues, as symbolized by the Japanese flag, anthem, comfort women issues and gender discrimination. She received the Yoko Tada Human Rights Award in 2006.

Nobuo Dohi, a graduate of the University of Tokyo, served as principal of Mitaka High School, where his contract was not renewed after he opposed policies that gave him absolute powers over his faculty. He appealed to the Tokyo District Court for damages and published books on the issue of freedom of speech. He is now a visiting instructor at Hosei and Rissho universities.

Please make your seating reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161) or http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7160. All movie screenings are private, noncommercial events restricted to FCCJ members and their guests.

Karen Severns, Edwin Karmiol, Movie Committee

Sneak preview screening followed by a Q&A session with director Shuichi Okita and actor Kanji Furutachi

THE WOODSMAN AND THE RAIN (Kitsutsuki to Ame)
Japan, 2011 128 minutes
Director: Shuichi Okita
Writers: Shuichi Okita, Fumio Moriya
Producers: Tadaatsu Shundo, Miyuki Sato, Ujikatsu Omori
Cast: Koji Yakusho, Shun Oguri, Kengo Kora, Asami Usuda, Kanji Furutachi
and Tsutomu Yamazaki

Film courtesy of Kadokawa Pictures

In Japanese with English subtitles

When a film crew arrives in a tranquil village in the mountains to shoot a movie, taciturn Katsu (Yakusho), a 60-year-old lumberjack, finds himself unwittingly roped into assisting the production. While frustrated by the crew's demands, he is especially irritated by the spineless 25-year-old Koichi (Oguri), who can't seem to do anything right and appears to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. But an unlikely friendship begins to develop between the two, and when Katsu discovers that Koichi is actually the film's first-time director, he paves the way for an unusual collaboration between the villagers and the film crew. Although his relationship with his own son, also named Koichi (Kora), remains strained, Katsu's relationship with the rookie director helps restore the latter's self-confidence, and reminds Katsu, a recent widower, that life can actually be a lot of fun.

Winner of the Special Jury Prize at the 2011 Tokyo International Film Festival, "The Woodsman and the Rain" is one of the most charming films ever made about the team effort required in filmmaking - thus making it easy to draw comparisons between director Shuichi Okita and the struggling young director in his film. Whatever he may once have had in common with Koichi, Okita directs his two popular stars, Koji Yakusho ("Admiral Yamamoto") and Shun Oguri ("Crows Zero") like a master, and their enjoyment is evident in their relaxed, droll performances.

Please join the Movie Committee for this sneak preview of "The Woodsman and the Rain" ahead of the film's opening on February 11.

For more on the film, see: http://kitsutsuki-rain.jp/

Writer-director Shuichi Okita studied film at the Nihon University College of Art. His short film "Pots and Friends" (2002), won the Grand Prize at the Mito Short Film Festival. His first feature, "The Wonderful World," was released in 2006. After writing and directing TV dramas, he directed his second feature, "The Chef of the South Polar"(2009), which enjoyed a long theatrical run in Japan and earned him wide acclaim overseas as well.

Kanji Furutachi studied with Uta Hagen, Carol Rosenfeld and others at the famed HB Studio in New York before returning to Japan and working with the Seinendan and Sample theater companies. He has appeared in all of Okita's films, as well as in Ryosuke Hashiguchi's "All Around Us" (2008), Yoichi Higashi's "Wandering Home" (2010) and Nobuhiro Yamashita's "My Back Page" (2010), which we screened last year at FCCJ. He was also the star of Koji Fukada's 2010 "Hospitalite," winner of the Japan Eyes section of the Tokyo International Film Festival, which has been widely distributed overseas.

Prior to the screening, please join Mr. Okita and Mr. Furutachi for a glass of wine and light snacks at our Meet the Filmmakers Cocktail Party, from 6:00 ? 6:45 pm. The cocktail party is 1,260 Yen (incl. tax). Space is limited to the first thirty (30) people to sign up at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161). Cancellations received after noon on the day of the screening will be charged in full.

You may attend the screening without attending the cocktail party. Please make your seating reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161) or http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7146
All movie screenings are private, noncommercial events restricted to FCCJ members and their guests.
Karen Severns, Edwin Karmiol, Movie Committee

Featuring a Q&A session with producer Taka Ichise and director Keizo Izuta

JAPAN’S WILDLIFE: THE UNTOLD STORY (Nihon Retto: Ikimonotachi no Monogatari)
Japan 2012 95 minutes
Directed by: Keizo Izuta
Producer: Taka Ichise
Narration: Masaki Aiba (ARASHI), Masami Nagasawa, Hitomi Kuroki, Gori (Garage Sale)

Film courtesy of Toho

In Japanese with English subtitles

The mastermind behind Japan’s J-Horror films apparently has a warm-and-fuzzy side: Taka Ichise, who scared us silly with the likes of “The Ring” and “The Grudge,” has been working for two years with NHK nature director Keizo Izuta and 30 seasoned videographers to capture the hidden lives of creatures of the wild and the deep　- and these are guaranteed to charm, not terrify. “Japan’s Wildlife: The Untold Story” is a beautifully lensed journey from Hokkaido to Okinawa Prefecture, spanning 3,500 km and bridging subarctic and subtropical habitats in its search for insight. Aided by special camera lenses that sometimes allow them to get within one centimeter of their subjects, the filmmakers are able to obtain incredible scenes of family intimacy, and sometimes, tragedy.

Unlike animal documentaries produced overseas, which tend to focus on the grandeur of presentation, “Japan’s Wildlife” follows a variety of species in their mundane - and sometimes, their extraordinary - daily struggles. We see the dramatic birth and subsequent separation of a mother monkey from her child on the Shimokita Peninsula; the unique friendship that bonds the monkeys and deer of Yakushima; the often hilarious lives of Mt. Rokko’s wild boars; the brown bears of Shiretoko Peninsula; the earless seals of the Northern Sea; and the red foxes of the Kushiro wetland. From this extensive footage emerge emotional tales of maternal love, from birth to the eventual, inevitable moment of separation.

Please join the Movie Committee for this sneak preview of “Japan’s Wildlife: The Untold Story,” which opens in theaters on February 4.

For more on the film (in Japanese), see:
http://www.nihon-rettou.jp/

Taka Ichise, president of Oz and Ozla, is a producer, writer and director with dozens of successful horror films on his resume. Following the global acclaim of Hideo Nakata’s “Ring” and Joji Iida’s “Spiral” in 1998, Ichise launched J-Horror, one of the most profitable, most imitated film genres of all time. It came to encompass sequels and English-language remakes of “Ring” as well as of Takashi Shimizu’s “Juon: The Grudge,” and included Nakata's “Dark Water” (2002) and Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Retribution” (2007). Ichise has just produced Shimizu’s latest, the English-language “7500” in Los Angeles, where he spends half his time.

Director Keizo Izuta began his career at NHK in 1989. He has served as director or SFX director on a range of science and nature programming since 1994, including many international coproductions. For the 1999 “Diving with the Great Whales,” he also shot footage alongside famed cameramen Mitsuaki Iwago and Ikuo Nakamura. His work includes the long-running series “Miracle Planet,” “Mountainous Sky Caves” (2006) and “The World After Dinosaurs” in 2010. In 2005, Izuta’s “Miracle Planet II” received the Best Scientific Adventure Award at the Jules Verne Film Festival in Paris. In 2007, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for “Dinosaurs vs. Mammals.”

Please make your seating reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161) or http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7129.

All movie screenings are private, noncommercial events restricted to FCCJ members and their guests.

Karen Severns, Edwin Karmiol, Movie Committee

SPECIAL SNEAK PREVIEW SCREENING of ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO: The Untold Story of the Pacific War
Featuring a Q&A session with star Koji Yakusho, director Izuru Narushima and producer Shohei Kotaki

SATURDAY, DECEMBER 10
12:00 luncheon
13:00 Q&A session
14:15 screening

ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO: The Untold Story of the Pacific War
(Rengo Kantai Shirei Chokan: Yamamoto Isoroku)
Japan 2011 140 minutes

Directed by: Izuru Narushima
Written by: Hiro Hasegawa and Kenzaburo Iida
Produced by: Shohei Kotaki
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Hiroshi Tamaki, Teruyuki Kagawa, Akira Emoto, Toshiro Yanagiba,
Hiroshi Abe, Eisaku Yoshida, Kippei Shiina, Mitsugoro Bando, Mieko Harada

Film courtesy of Toei

In Japanese with English subtitles

Please join the Movie Committee for this very special sneak preview screening and luncheon, featuring a Q&A with acclaimed actor Koji Yakusho, who is making his first-ever appearance at FCCJ.

A big-budget year-end spectacular from venerable Toei Studios, featuring an all-star lineup of Japan's finest actors, "Admiral Yamamoto" promises to reveal "the truth" about the Pacific war, after 70 years of obfuscation. A far cry from the patriotic propaganda films that Japanese studios churned out in the late 1960s - including the original "Admiral Yamamoto," in which Toshiro Mifune played the eponymous character — this thrilling revisionist update features Koji Yakusho as Isoruku Yamamoto, widely remembered today as the architect of Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Yet Yamamoto had deep misgivings about his country's direction, and desperately tried to avert war before eventually firing the first salvo. Yamamoto's decisiveness, his resolve in fighting to protect the lives of his men, and his shouldering of responsibility made him a rare leader in Japan's history, and Yakusho's depiction is sure to revive interest in this inspirational figure with today's younger audiences.

The film begins in 1939, when the pending military treaty between Japan, Nazi Germany and fascist Italy has seriously damaged Sino-Japanese relations. A trio of brave men — Admiral Isoroku, the Secretary of the Navy and the Adjutant General - dares to voice opposition to the pact since it would march Japan inexorably toward war with America. The Tripartite Treaty is shelved, but a few months later, the Nazis invade Poland and World War II breaks out in Europe. Japan has no choice: the military alliance is signed and Admiral Yamamoto, now commanding 400,000 men, must devise a strategy for his country's survival.

"Admiral Yamamoto" opens in theaters across Japan on December 23.

Celebrated actor Koji Yakusho charmed the world with his lead performance in "Shall We Dance" (1996). He then starred in "Cure" and Cannes Palm D'or winner "The Eel," both in 1997, and "Eureka" (2001), among many other films. He has won prizes at a range of international film festivals, and was the subject of a special tribute in 2008 at the Deauville Asia Film Festival. His supporting roles in "Memoirs of a Geisha" (2005) and "Babel" (2006) won him even wider acclaim, and his recent performance in Takashi Miike's 2010 hit "Thirteen Assassins" confirms that he is a national treasure. Mr,Yakusho also directs, making his debut in 2009 with the delightful "Toad’s Oil."

Director Izuru Narushima worked as assistant director to leading directors such as Shinji Somai, and has penned scripts for other directors, including the 2009 hit "Climber’s High." He made his directorial debut with the 2004 "The Hunter and the Hunted," followed by "Fly, Daddy, Fly" (2005), "Midnight Eagle" (2007) "Love Fight" (2008), the acclaimed "A Lone Scalpel" (2010) and earlier this year, "The Rebirth."

Producer Shohei Kotaki has produced a range of successful films, including "First Love" in 2000, "Koko ni Irukoto" (2001), "Aegis" (2005) and this year's "Ogawa no Hotori." He was also the executive producer of "Wasabi" in 2001.

The luncheon is limited to the first sixty (60) people to sign up at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161). Luncheon Menu
: Sauteed Salmon with Marinated Cucumber & Capers, Carrots and Green Vegetables, Seasonal Salad, Bread, Coffee or Tea. The charge for members/non-members is 1,700/2,600 yen : non-members may pay in cash. Reservations canceled less than 24 hours in advance will be charged in full. Reservations and cancellations are not complete without confirmation.

You may attend the Q&A and and/or screening without attending the luncheon, but you will not have seating priority. Please reserve in advance, still & TV cameras inclusive. Please make your reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161)or http://www.fccj.or.jp/node/7073.

All movie screenings are private, noncommercial events restricted to FCCJ members and their guests.

Karen Severns, Edwin Karmiol, Movie Committee