One of our favourite festivals has returned for another year! The Japan Society in New York brings back JAPAN CUTS for its 17th season, running in-person from 10 to 21 July 2024.
This year’s JAPAN CUTS is no exception, with sharply contemporary films, the emerging next generation of filmmakers and classics like Gakuryu Ishii’s August in the Water. There are five International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, four US premieres, two East Coast premieres and seven New York premieres.
You can find the full program and buy tickets on their official site. Here’s a couple of films we are keen to see.
Blue Imagine
One of the things we love about JAPAN CUTS is that it showcases new voices. Actor Urara Matsubayashi makes her directorial debut with a much-needed look at sexual violence in the Japanese film industry. Starring Mayu Yamaguchi as an actress dealing with the aftermath of an assault, and moves into a communal space for abused women.
Rei
Toshiko Tanaka is best known as an actor in films like Love Exposure and Sunk Into the Womb. In this film, he is writer/director/producer/editor/actor alongside Takara Suzuki (TV’s Real-Fake) as a photographer finding a connection with someone, moving from Tokyo to Hokkaido. The festival description promises “staggering internal mindscapes” and I am all in based on that alone.
KUBI
There’s really only two things you need to know about this film to hook you in. It’s produced, directed, written, edited and starring the one and only Takeshi Kitano. If that’s not enough, it’s also an epic samurai saga (based on Kitano’s own book) that tells the tale of the 1582 Honnoji Incident in which the samurai warlord Oda Nobunaga is betrayed.
Cha-Cha
The fourth installment of the “(not) HEROINE” series, a project that focuses on up-and-coming actresses and next-generation directors, Mai Sakai directs former Nogizaka46 idol Marika Ito in this female-focused, screwball comedy.
All the Long Nights
Director Sho Miyake’s And Your Bird Can Sing was one of the thoroughly enjoyable films from Japanese film festivals a few years back, and this new film — based on Maiko Seo’s book of the same name — follows a pair of individuals with debilitating conditions encouraging each other into more outgoing lives.
Shin Godzilla: Orthochromatic
It truly is the year of Godzilla. Between the Oscar-winning success of Godzilla Minus One and the Hollywood blockbuster Godzilla X Kong, the festival offers the chance to see the film that kicked off the franchise’s Reiwa Era. Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s Shin Godzilla is re-issued in a black-and-white version to pay tribute to 70 years of Tokyo getting stomped by an analogy for nuclear disasters and government bureaucracy.
The Making of a Japanese
Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s documentary was shot over the course of a single scholastic year in in Tokyo suburb Tsukado, one of Japan’s largest public elementary schools. Taking a snapshot of the education system, this is sure to be a fascinating look at some of the foundational building blocks of contemporary Japanese society.
BONUS: Shorts Programs
If you have followed our coverage of JAPAN CUTS over the last few years, it will come as absolutely no surprise that we heartily endorse the short film programs. Some of the slices include new animation from Akihiro Nishino (Poupelle of Chimney Town) in BOTTLE GEORGE, the international premiere of Mayu Nakamura’s HAIL MARY and NEZUMIKOZO JIROKICHI, legendary anime director Rintaro’s (Metropolis, X/1999, Galaxy Express 999) first new work in over a decade.
