Japanese Film Screenings at the Bloor Cinema

JAPANESE FILM SCREENINGS 2008
Award-Winning Films from Japan
at the BLOOR CINEMA

November 26 - 29

The Japan Foundation presents four free screenings of recent Japanese films at the Bloor Cinema. Films include a stop motion puppet animation, a crime drama, a drama set in Okinawa and a comedy from cult favourite Takashi Miike. See www.bloorcinema.com or www.jftor.org for more information.

Films:
-Wednesday, November 26, 7:00 pm BOOK OF THE DEAD
-Friday, November 28, 7:00 pm SHANGRI-LA
-Saturday, November 29, 4:30 pm BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT
-Saturday, November 29, 7:00 pm HALF A CONFESSION

Location: BLOOR CINEMA, 506 Bloor Street West. Toronto, ON

Admission: FREE. No ticket or reservation is required. Please arrive early to ensure seating.


Wednesday, November 26, 7:00 pm
THE BOOK OF THE DEAD
Dir: Kihachiro Kawamoto
Japan, 2005

A stop motion puppet animation film set in a time when Buddhism was first being introduced to Japan, The Book of the Dead tells the story of Princess Iratsume, a devoted Buddhist who encounters the ghost of Otsu, a long-dead prince with a legendary connection to one of her ancestors. Winner of the Excellence Prize for Animation, 2006 Japan Media Arts Festival. In Japanese with English subtitles. 70 min. (PG)


Friday, November 28, 7:00 pm
SHANGRI-LA
Dir: Takashi Miike
Japan, 2002

Umemoto (Yu Tokui), the owner of a small printing company, loses everything when his largest customer, Uwazoko-ya, goes bankrupt and defaults on their debts. Umemoto ends up at an orderly homeless people's community called Shangri-La where, under the guidance of an ex-assassin known as the Village Chief (Sho Aikawa), he and the people of Shangri-la decide to seek revenge against the Uwazoko-ya organization. In Japanese with English subtitles. 104 min. (PG)


Saturday, November 29, 4:30 pm
BREATHE IN, BREATHE OUT
Dir: Tetsuo Shinohara
Japan, 2004

Hinami (Karina) applies for a part-time job cutting sugarcane on a plantation in Okinawa. She finds herself working with four other young men and women under the supervision of the experienced Yutaka (Nao Omori). Their task is to harvest all 70,000 sugar cane plants by the end of March, but the demanding physical labor and Yutaka's leadership soon cause problems. In Japanese with English subtitles. 123 min. (PG)


Saturday, November 29, 7:00 pm
HALF A CONFESSION
Dir: Kiyoshi Sasabe
Japan, 2004

Former police detective Soichiro (Akira Terao) turns himself in to the police and confesses to the murder of his wife (Mieko Harada), explaining that the shock of their son's death brought about the onset of Alzheimer's disease in his wife, leading her to ask him to end her suffering. However, he refuses to explain his movements in the two days between his wife's death and his surrender. Winner of Best Film and Best Actor, 2005 Japan Academy Awards. In Japanese with English subtitles. 122 min. (PG)


Supported by the Consulate-General of Japan in Toronto

In celebration of the 80th Anniversary of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and Canada
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