The annual Japanese Film Festival (JFF) is back!
Co-organised by the Singapore Film Society, Japan Creative Centre, Embassy of Japan in Singapore, and The Japan Foundation, the festival will be held from 18 January to 10 February 2019.
JFF will open with the hotly anticipated Japanese zombie horror comedy hit of the year, One Cut of the Dead.
The director, Shinichiro Ueda, will be attending the Festival to present his debut film and to have a post-screening dialogue session with the audience.
The film was a major box office sensation, successfully earning 250 times its working budget. It most recently won the Audience Choice at the Singapore International Film Festival.
Also attending the festival is director Wishing Chong, who will present his debut film Yakinuku Dragon and have a post-screening session with the audience.
The film is an adaption of Chong's acclaimed stage play of the same time. It focuses on the life of zainichi, who are ethnic Koreans trying to integrate into Japanese society.
The festival will also screen such award-winning films as Kiyoshi Kurosawa's Cannes entry Before We Vanish, Takahisa Zeze's The Lowlife, and Hiroshi Okuyama's Jesus, which recently won the New Director Award at the 2018 San Sebastian Film Festival.
JFF will also be presenting a retrospective of four Singaporean short films shot by Japanese cinematographer Hideho Urata. The films are Nicole Midori Woodford’s Permanent Resident, K. Rajagopal’s Race Course Road, Liao Jiekai’s Nocturne, and Boo Junfeng’s Parting.
Originally from Japan, Hideho Urata is a Singapore-based Cinematographer and a Senior Cinematography Lecturer at LASALLE College of the Arts. His recent collaboration with Yeo Siew Hua on the film A Land Imagined won the Golden Leopard at the 2018 Locarno International Film Festival.
Hideho Urata will also conduct a cinematography masterclass.
Ticket sales will start today on the following platforms:
Contemporary Cinema - Shaw Theatres Lido website (http://bit.ly/JFF2019)
Shorts - Singapore Film Society Peatix Page (http://bit.ly/JFFscape)
Ode to Ozu - THe Projector website (http://www.theprojector.sg/ozu)