­Expect more than a hundred screenings of fifteen films over ten venues across five key cities for JFF | EIGASAI 2018!

The Japanese Film Festival | EIGASAI will officially kick off with the encore screenings of CHIHAYAFURU Part 1 (ちはやふる 上の句), CHIHAYAFURU Part 2 (ちはやふる 下の句) and the Philippine premiere screening of CHIHAYAFURU Part 3 (ちはやふる 結び) on July 4 at Greenbelt 1 Cinema 2.

The film festival’s opening night will be held on the same day at the Greenbelt 5 Gallery and will be graced by film director Nori Koizumi. He is also scheduled to give Director’s Talks after the screenings on July 6 (Ateneo de Manila University) and July 7 (Greenbelt 1 Cinema 2).

A karuta (Japanese card game as featured in the CHIHAYAFURU film series) demonstration wion July 4 and 5, an hour prior to the CHIHAYAFURU Part 1 & Part 2 screenings at the Ateneo de Manila University.

The 21st Japanese Film Festival | EIGASAI will run from July 4 to August 26, 2018.

A celebration of collaboration and diversity

This year’s JFF | EIGASAI will run together with three Japan Foundation projects namely EYES for Embracing Diversity; Oriza Hirata’s Manila Notes; and the Spirit of Budo: the History of Japan’s Martial Arts.

• Best Film awardee at the 30th Tokyo International Film Festival’s Independent Japanese Cinema category, Of Love and Law, will be screened during the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival this August, allied festival of JFF | EIGASAI. Director Hikaru Toda will be present at its Philippine premiere on August 4 at CCP.
• There will also be a special screening and panel discussion on issues surrounding LGBTQ, minorities, and the importance of inclusion on August 5 at Cinematheque Centre Manila. This is in collaboration with a project of the Japan Foundation Asia Center: EYES for Embracing Diversity, geared towards practitioners, researchers, and educators in the Southeast Asian regions and Japan who have been striving to create a diverse and inclusive society. This is co-organized by the Philippine LGBT Chamber of Commerce (PLCC), led by Brian Tenorio, 2017 EYES Fellow and the Founder and Chair of the PLCC, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines.
• The Philippine version of award-winning play Tokyo Notes by Oriza Hirata, Manila Notes, is staged as Tanghalang Pilipino’s third play for its 32nd season, which opens on November 30, 2018.
• Playwright-director Oriza Hirata will give a one-time special talk during the screening of When the Curtain Rises on August 17 at CCP Dream Theater. He will discuss the film, the fascination of acting and theater performance, and will also introduce the Manila Notes project.
• Akira Kurosawa’s Seven Samurai will be screened at the UP Film Institute leg of EIGASAI, to coincide with The Spirit of Budo: The History of Japan’s Martial Arts exhibition which will be held at the National Museum of the Philippines from July 21 to September 26.

21st JFF | EIGASAI line up

CHIHAYAFURU Part.3 / ちはやふる 結び | CHIHAYAFURU Part.2 / ちはやふる 下の句 | CHIHAYAFURU Part.1 / ちはやふる 上の句

2018 (part 3), 2016 | Feature | Rated PG | 128 min (part 3), 103 min (part 2), 111 min (part 1)

A wonderful story about friends brought together by their passion for the traditional Japanese card game of Karuta. Determined to be the best, Chihaya forms a competitive Karuta club with Taichi to prove that the game is more than just about old customs and to hopefully reunite with their estranged friend Arata.

Film Festivals, Awards (1 &2): 2016 – Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, World Fantastic Blue; Fantasia International Film Festival.

Of Love & Law

2017| Documentary | Rated PG | 94 min
Kazu and Fumi are an openly gay couple who run a law office together in downtown Osaka. They met 15 years ago, and are inseparable in work at in their private lives, but their relationship is not recognized by the law. They both dream of being parents. One day, they find themselves caring for a boy with no place to go.

Film Festivals, Awards: 2017 Tokyo International Film Festival, Japanese Cinema Splash, Best Picture Award.

SEVEN SAMURAI / 七人の侍

1954| Drama| Rated PG | 207 min | Monochrome
The masterpiece samurai period film by master filmmaker Kurosawa Akira. In the Warring States Period, peasants terrorized by bandit attacks decide to hire samurai to protect their village. Kambe (Shimura Takashi) assembles a group of samurai, and joined by the thug, Kikuchiyo (Mifune Toshiro), the seven men stake their lives to stand up against the bandits through a variety tactics.

When the Curtain Rises / 幕が上がる

2015 | Drama, Feature | Rated G | 119 min
An adaptation of Hirata Oriza’s play by “Bayside Shakedown” series director Motohiro Katsuyuki. The members of idol group Momoiro Clover Z star as high school students who grow through their involvement in a lowly drama club.

Let’s Go, JETS! From Small Town Girls to U.S.Champions?! / チア☆ダン ～女子高生がチアダンスで全米制覇しちゃったホントの話～

2017 | Comedy, Drama, Children/Family, Feature | Rated G | 121 min

Film adaptation based on the true story of the Fukui Commercial High School cheerleading team’s victory at the U.S. Championship. High school girls pour their hearts and souls into cheer dance.

Rudolf the Black Cat / ルドルフとイッパイアッテナ

2016 | Animation | Rated G | 89 min

“Rudolf and Ippai-attena,” a masterpiece of children’s literature, is now a 3D computer graphics animation movie. A tale of cats, their friendship, adventures, encounters and farewells.

SURVIVAL FAMILY / サバイバルファミリー

2017 | Feature | Rated PG | 117 min

In this drama, a family scrambles about in an effort to survive a world without any electrical power. Waterboys director, Yaguchi Shinobu, writes and directs this film from his own original concept.

HONNOUJI HOTEL / 本能寺ホテル

2017 | Feature | Rated PG | 119 min

The “Honnoji Incident”, the most puzzling affair in Japan’s history, is the subject of this mystery. It portrays a woman who, under strange circumstances, travels back to the Warring States Period just prior to the incident and her encounter with military commander, Oda Nobunaga.

Memoirs of a Murderer / 22年目の告白－私が殺人犯です－

2017 | Feature | Rated R16 | 117 min

Twenty-two years after the murders, the perpetrator suddenly comes forward. Sonezaki Masato (Fujiwara Tatsuya) shows up at the press conference with an defiant smile and a book confessing to his crimes in hand.

Tora-san of Goto / 五島のトラさん

2016 | Documentary | Rated PG | 114 min

A documentary shot from 1993 and over 22 years chronicled a large family who make their living as udon noodle makers on the Goto Archipelago in Nagasaki Prefecture.

Film Festivals, Awards: 22nd Shanghai TV Festival, Magnolia Award for Best Documentary.

TORI GIRL / トリガール！

2017 | Feature | Rated G | 98 min

The film adaptation of Nakamura Ko’s novel “Torigirl” which depicts the youthfulness of university students who stake everything on a flight contest held once every year on Biwa Lake in Shiga Prefecture.

ReLIFE / リライフ

2017 | Drama, Romance, Feature | Rated G | 119 min

Twenty-seven-year-old Kaizaki Arata (Nakagawa Taishi) is unemployed after quitting his company job in just five months after something happens to him at work. One day, a mysterious man named Yoake Ryo (Chiba Yudai) invites him to participate in a social reintegration program called “ReLIFE” that involves taking medicine that will make him look 10 years younger and living as a high school student for one year only.

Daytime Shooting Star / ひるなかの流星

2017 | Romance, Feature | Rated PG | 119 min

An adaptation of Yamamori Mika’s identically titled comic which depicts the three-way relationship between a student, a classmate, and a teacher. In the director’s chair is Shinjo Takehiko who has directed Beyond the Memories, Your Lie in April, among other teen romance films.

Admission

Tickets for EIGASAI Ayala Cinema screenings are available for P100 each, via sureseats.com or the ticketing booth, starting June 24.

Screening at other EIGASAI festival venues are FREE on first come first serve basis.

Screening Schedule

Note: screening schedule as of June 14, 2018; arranged by show dates; subject to change without prior notice.

Greenbelt 1 Cinema 2, Makati

Ateneo de Manila University

SM City Davao Cinema 4

Ateneo de Naga University Alingal Hall

SM Naga Cinema

Cultural Center of the Philippines

Cinematheque Center Manila

SM City Bacolod Cinema

UP Film Institute, UP Diliman

Ayala Center Cebu Cinema

Dear reader, which film will you watch first? Don’t forget to follow the official JFF | EIGASAI Facebook page for updates and use the hashtags #eigasaiph #jffeigasai2018 when posting on social media. See you at the cinemas! 🙂