The Osaka Asian Film Festival has announced the first pieces of its 2022 program. Opening night film YANAGAWA and closing film MISS OSAKA will bookend the hybrid festival, running through March online and onsite in Osaka.
Zhang Lu’s YANAGAWA, which he shot on location in China and Japan, is described as a cross-border drama addressing issues of East Asian identity, shared history, and mortality. It follows two brothers brother Li Dong (Zhang Luyi) who has received terrible news: stage four cancer. Without telling his fiery older brother Li Chun (Xin Baiqing), Dong suggests the two leave Beijing and take a trip to Yanagawa, the “Venice of Japan.” There they find Liu Chuan (Ni Ni), the woman the two brothers both loved 20 years previously before she disappeared.
Then the festival closes out with the Japanese premiere of Daniel Dencik’s MISS OSAKA, the first ever Danish-Norwegian-Japanese co-production. Shot on location in the mist-wreathed forests of Norway and the neon-lit streets of Osaka, the film is about a young woman searching for an identity. It features an international cast that is led by rising European stars Victoria Carmen Sonne and Mikkel Boe Følsgaard (A Royal Affair) as well as major Japanese talent Moriyama Mirai (We Couldn’t Become Adults), Abe Junko (Samurai Marathon) and Minami Kaho (Oh Lucy!)
As one of the first major Asian film festivals of the calendar year, there’s a lot to get excited about. As the host of the JAPAN CUTS award for indie films, and a competition stream that includes the Grand Prix and Most Promising Talent Award, Osaka is the place to keep an eye out for some of the hot tickets for the year.
The full line-up will be announced next week.
OSAKA ASIAN FILM FESTIVAL 2022
Dates & Venues:
March 10 – 20
Umeda Burg 7, Cine Libre Umeda, ABC Hall, and the National Museum of Art, Osaka
OAFF Online with a special lineup will be held from March 3 – 21. Their official site has all the details.
