Japanese Film Festival 2018

Hannah Playhouse, 12 Cambridge Terrace, Te Aro, Wellington
Saturday 27 & Sunday 28 October 2018

The Japanese Film Festival is held annually, in order to encourage the growth of Japanese culture and understanding in New Zealand. Each year, we try to give the people of New Zealand some insight into the culture, customs, and traditions of Japan, alongside what is popular with Japan's society today, through film. Flyer

27 OCT 2:30pm

Yoko the Cherry Blossom 陽光桜

©GRAND KAFE PICTURES 2015

Directed by Gen TAKAHASHI Rating PG

Official Site http://www.movie-yoko.com (In Japanese)

Film Festival, Award
2015 Montreal World Film Festival, Focus On World Cinema
2015 St. Louis International Film Festival, Hawaii International Film Festival

Story
The inspiring true story of a rural Japanese high school teacher's lifelong quest to create the very first artificially pollinated hybrid cherry blossom, to fulfill a promise he made to his beloved students before they were sent off to the battlefields to fight in World War II.

Tickets available at this website from 5 October
NOTE: Bookings via Hannah Playhouse's online booking form will incur a $3.50 charge. For booking tickets free of charge, please attend Hannah Playhouse's Box Office between the hours of 12pm to 2pm, Monday to Friday.

27 OCT 5:00pm

Golden Orchestra オケ老人!

Directed by Toru HOSOKAWA Rating G

Official Site http://oke-rojin.com (In Japanese)

Story
Chizuru is a newly-hired high school teacher in the town of Umegaoka. Hoping to utilise her experience as a violinist, she joins a local amateur orchestra, only to find it’s full of senior citizens who can hardly play a note. Chizuru is too polite to tell a group which has welcomed her with open arms that she mistook the orchestra for another with a similar name. Ultimately, she winds up being the orchestra’s conductor but soon the Umegaoka Philharmonic, her original target, gives her an opportunity to join them...

27 OCT 7:30pm

Close-Knit 彼らが本気で編むときは

Directed by Naoko OGIGAMI Rating M

Film Festival, Award
2017 Berlin International Film Festival, Panorama Special, Teddy Award (Special Jury Award), Panorama Audience Award (Fiction Film - 2nd place)
2017 Beijing International Film Festival
2017 New York Asian Film Festival, Audience Award

Story
Rinko is a transgender woman with a heart of gold. Her boyfriend Makio was captivated by her heart and accepts her for who she is. Then a lonely girl named Tomo suddenly appears in their life... This is the story of 60 heartwarming days in the life of these three individuals who each find their own happiness amid the blooming cherry blossoms of spring.

28 OCT 11:00am

TEIICHI -Battle of Supreme High- 帝一の國

Directed by Akira NAGAI Rating M

Official Site http://teiichi.jp (In Japanese)

Film Festival, Award
2017 Udine Far East Film Festival, Fantasia International Film Festival, JAPAN CUTS, Japan Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur and in Australia, Asian Pop-Up Cinema, Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival

Story
The 800 elite students of the top private school in Japan - Kaitei High School - represent the sharpest young minds in the country. Kaitei's alumni have powerful connections in the political and financial world, and its top student -- the student council president -- is all but promised a future cabinet position. At the beginning of the new school year in April, ambitious freshman Teiichi Akaba joins the ranks of Kaitei elites as the top student from his graduating class. His dream is to “become the prime minister and create his own kingdom.” But in order to realize this dream, he absolutely must become student council president.

28 OCT 1:30pm

Survival Family サバイバルファミリー

Directed by Shinobu YAGUCHI Rating PG

Film Festival, Award
2017 International Film Festival & Awards・Macao
2017 Jeonju International Film Festival, Shanghai International Film Festival

Story
The Suzukis are an average household living in Tokyo. When the mother tries to make conversation, the father is focused on the TV, the son on listening to music, and the daughter on her smartphone - a typical family, together but divided. One day, the Suzuki household encounters a crisis! They awake to find all electrical appliances have stopped! They assume it's just their house, but soon find out the outage has occurred everywhere, and not just in appliances, but also in trains, cars, gas, and water systems. There are no phones or trains to ride to work. They think they can put up with it for the day, but another day passes, and yet another. It's then the father, Yoshiyuki, makes the decision of a lifetime: “We're going to escape from Tokyo!”

Tickets available at this website from 5 October.
NOTE: Bookings via Hannah Playhouse's online booking form will incur a $3.50 charge. For booking tickets free of charge, please attend Hannah Playhouse's Box Office between the hours of 12pm to 2pm, Monday to Friday. LINK: http://www.hannahplayhouse.org.nz/hannah-box-office/

28 OCT 4:00pm

Where I belong しゃぼん玉

Directed by Shinji AZUMA Rating PG

Official Site http://www.shabondama.jp (In Japanese)

Film Festival, Award
2017 Catholic Film Festival

Story
Abandoned by his parents as a child, Shoto Izumi survives as a street urchin, stealing and purse-snatching. He has grown up a thief and mugger preying upon defenceless women and the elderly. While on the run from the police, he ends up in a village deep in the mountains of Miyazaki prefecture. There, he helps an elderly woman named Suma and ends up staying at her home. A change gradually begins to take root in his turbulent psyche.
Based on the best-selling novel, Shabon-dama (Soap Bubbles) by Naoki Prize winning author, Asa Nonami.

Sponsors & Cooperation

The Japanese Film Festival is also held at other cities. Click the links below for more details.
AUCKLAND 22-23 November
CHRISTCHURCH 6-8 November