Wednesday, October 03, 2018, 17:00 - 21:30
Traveling toward redemption and transformation
Special Screening of "Pigeon (from Reflections)", "Journey" and Q&A
in Collaboration with TIFF Special Panel featuring
directors Isao Yukisada and Daishi Matsunaga,
TIFF Director Takeo Hisamatsu, Japan Foundation President Hiroyasu Ando,
and Japan Now advisor Kohei Ando
Wednesday, October 3
TIFF Asian Three-Fold Mirror (ATFM) 2018 panel: 5:00 - 5:50 pm*
Asian Three-Fold Mirror (ATFM) screenings: 6:00 - 7:40 pm*
Q&A session: 7:50 - 8:30 pm
*Please note early start time
"Pigeon" (from "Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections")
In Japanese with English subtitles
Japan, 2016 42 minutes
Directed by: Isao Yukisada
Starring: Masahiko Tsugawa, Sharifah Amani, Masatoshi Nagase
"Journey" from Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018
In Chinese, Japanese, Burmese, Indonesian with English subtitles
Japan, 2018 83 minutes
Directed by: Degena Yun, Daishi Matsunaga and Edwin
Starring: Nicholas Saputra, Chen Jin, Zhe Gong, Hiroki Hasegawa,
Nandar Myat Aung, Agni Pratistha, Oka Antara
The Film Committee is pleased to once again welcome our friends from the Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), along with directors Isao Yukisada and Daishi Matsunaga, who have participated in the Japan Foundation Asia Center-TIFF omnibus film project Asian Three-Fold Mirror. Joining them to discuss his role as producer of the omnibus, as well as highlights of this year's 31st TIFF, is Festival Director Takeo Hisamatsu and Japan Now advisor Kohei Ando.
Yukisada and Matsunaga will also appear for a Q&A session following our special screening of Yukisada's film for "Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections" and sneak preview screening of "Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018: Journey." The Yukisada film, "Pigeon," stars the great actor Masahiko Tsugawa, who died in early August.
Hisamatsu will also discuss the importance of this co-production project for the film festival and the new initiatives being unveiled for TIFF 31.
The 31st TIFF will run from October 25 - November 3 in Roppongi, Hibiya and several other locations. "Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018: Journey" will world premiere at TIFF before being theatrically released from November 9 to 15 at three theaters in Japan, immediately following the theatrical release of the first Asian Mirror omnibus from October 12-18.
"Pigeon" (from "Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections")
"Journey" from Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018
Films courtesy of JFAC (The Japan Foundation Asia Center)-
TIFF (Tokyo International Film Festival)
For more: http://asian3mirror.jfac.jp/en/
"Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2016: Reflections"
The first of the omnibus film series, "Reflections" brought together directors Brillante Ma Mendoza (Philippines), Isao Yukisada (Japan) and Sotho Kulikar (Cambodia), who produced segments reflecting on the theme of "Living Together in Asia."
Yukisada's "Pigeon" is the story of an ailing Japanese man (Masahiko Tsugawa) who lives in a spacious house in Penang, Malaysia, and keeps pigeons on the roof. With the help of unlikely ally Yasmin, he is finally able to visit the beach where his brothers were killed during the war.
"Asian Three-Fold Mirror 2018: Journey"
The second Asian Mirror omnibus in the ongoing JFAC-TIFF project unites three accomplished Asian filmmakers, Degena Yun (China), Daishi Matsunaga (Japan) and Edwin (Indonesia), under the common theme "journey."
Yun's "The Sea" is a road movie about a mother and daughter traveling together from Beijing to the sea, obviously not enjoying the trip - or each other - at all. But gradually the viewer understands where they're going and why, and the film provokes an unexpected emotional response.
Matsunaga's film "Hekishu" is set in Yangon, Myanmar, where a Japanese engineer (Hasegawa) has gone to assist in the building of the new rapid-transit system. He rides the rails and soon realizes that the new trains will displace many of the locals, who run stalls just beside the tracks. He grapples with his role in modernizing the city, while recognizing that with great change, comes loss.
In Edwin's Tokyo-set "Variable No. 3," an Indonesian couple stay at a guesthouse run by a mysterious man who first peeps on them, and then offers to provide training to improve their relationship. Known for his surrealistic touches, Edwin's film morphs from creepy to oddly sensuous.
GUESTS:
Director ISAO YUKISADA made his feature film debut with "Sunflower" (2000), which won the FIPRESCI Award at the Busan International Film Festival. His 2001 follow-up, "Go," won numerous awards, including the Japan Academy Prize. He has cemented his status as a hitmaker with the box-office hits "Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World" (2004), "Year One in the North" (2005), "Closed Note" (2007), "Parade" (2010), "Pink and Gray" (2016) and other films. He released "River's Edge" earlier this year.
Writer-director DAISHI MATSUNAGA started his career as an actor and then moved into directing in a variety of media. His widely acclaimed documentary, "Pyuupiru" (2011), was featured in numerous international film festivals and his first narrative film, "Pieta in the Toilet" (2015), was a smash hit. "Ototoki", a documentary about legendary Japanese rock band The Yellow Monkey, was released in November 2017 and screened at the 22nd Busan International Film Festival and the 30th TIFF. His latest film, "Hanalei Bay", is based on a Haruki Murakami short story, and will be released in Japan in October 2018.
TAKEO HISAMATSU has spent nearly 40 years in the film industry and has served in many capacities, including as an executive managing director of Shochiku Co., Ltd. and deputy general manager of Warner Bros. Pictures Japan. In 2015, he established My Way Movies, where he serves as president. Over the past several years, Hisamatsu has produced such renowned Japanese films as "Unforgiven" (2013, directed by Lee Sang-il), "Rurouni Kenshin" (2012, Keishi Ohtomo), "Air Doll" (2009) and "Still Walking" (2008), both by Hirokazu Kore-eda, and "All Around Us" (2008, Ryosuke Hashiguchi). Hisamatsu was named Festival Director of TIFF in 2017.
KOHEI ANDO is a professor emeritus at Waseda University, a filmmaker and the TIFF Japan Now programming advisor since 2015. He began making films under Shuji Terayama and continued creating short art films during a 30-year career with TBS. He has received many awards for his work, from such festivals as Oberhausen, Hawaii and Montreux, and was a pioneer in high-vision filmmaking. Ando's work is in collections at major museums and film libraries in Paris, New York, Los Angeles, London and Tokyo, and he has been the focus of two French retrospectives.
The Asian Three-Fold Mirror (ATFM) project brings together three talented directors from Japan and other Asian countries to co-create a series of omnibus films with a common theme. The three directors bring their own perspectives in depicting various characters and their lives in Asia to create a "three-fold mirror" that reflects each country, society and culture. The aim of this project is to generate discovery, understanding, and empathy among all Asian neighbors, and to explore the many Asian identities and ways of life.
The Japan Foundation Asia Center (JFAC) established in April 2014, is a division within the Japan Foundation that conducts and supports collaborative initiatives with its Asian-primarily ASEAN-counterparts. By interacting and working together in Japanese-language education, arts and culture, sports and grassroots and intellectual exchange, the Asia Center aspires to develop a sense of kinship and coexistence as neighboring inhabitants of Asia.
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) started in 1985 as Japan's first major film festival and is the only Japanese festival accredited by the International Federation of Film Producers Associations (FIAPF). Celebrating its 31st anniversary in 2018, TIFF continues to seek out excellent films from around the world and brings them to Tokyo, where filmmakers and film fans can enjoy them, meet emerging filmmakers, and be inspired.
Please make your reservations at the FCCJ Reception Desk (3211-3161) or register below. You may attend the Q&A session without attending the screening, but you will not have seating priority. All film screenings are private, noncommercial events primarily for FCCJ members and their guests.
- Karen Severns, Film Committee
