The Toronto Japanese Film Festival Kicks Off June 8th With Joe Odagiri In Attendence!

Good news for Canadian fans of Japanese film as the Toronto Japanese Film Festival just seems to improve every year. The 2017 edition kicks off June 8th with an impressive lineup of films and iconic star Joe Odagiri in attendence as a guest. Here are all the details!

TORONTO JAPANESE FILM FESTIVAL ANNOUNCES NEW FILMS AND GUESTS – EXPANDS SCHEDULE

The Toronto Japanese Film Festival 2017 is pleased to announce that we will be expanding to accommodate additional films and guests. Our new dates are June 8- 28.

We are excited to announce that actor Joe Odagiri will be joining us for the screenings of 2 of his films: HER LOVE BOILS BATHWATER and OVER THE FENCE. The award-winning actor is one of Japan’s most popular and talented performers.

Closing Night

MUMON-THE LAND OF STEALTH  忍びの国

Director Yoshihiro Nakamura North American Premiere

A spectacular Ninja vs. Samurai battle epic based on Ryo Wada’s popular novel Shinobi no Kuni. Warlord Nobunaga Oda’s campaign to pacify and unify the Japan under his rule faces one terrifying obstacle, the ninja stealth warriors of Iga Province led by their deadliest warrior Mumon. Starring Satoshi Ohno, Satomi Ishihara, Jun Kunimura, Yusuke Iseya.

Director Yoshihiro Nakamura will be in attendance to introduce and take questions

FLOWER AND SWORD 花戦さ

Director Tetsuo Shinohara International Premiere

A battle fought with flowers rather than swords? In the late 16th century, Hideyoshi Toyotomi takes power as the warring Sengoku period draws to a close. Under the new shogun’s strict rule, the monk Senko Ikenobo tries to bring peace to the people through ikebana flower arrangement. He bonds with another monk and politician Rikyu, innovator of the Japanese tea ceremony. When Hideyoshi orders Rikyo to commit hara-kiri, Senko issues a challenge to the ruler.

Combining the most sophisticated elements of Japanese culture with political intrigue, history and a healthy dash of humour, The Flower and the Sword is something entirely unique and wholly entertaining!

Starring Mansai Nomura, Kiichi Nakai, Kamejiro Ichikawa, Koichi Sato, Kuranosuke Sasaki

SCOOP!

Director: Hitoshi Ohne North American Premiere

In this hit suspense comedy, once respected photojournalist Shizuka has fallen on hard times and now makes a living as a paparazzo chasing celebrity scandals. Together with straight-laced, novice reporter Nobi as his partner they find themselves on the verge of one of the greatest scoops in Japan’s history, the stakes - and danger levels – spike and Shizuka and Nobi’s relationship is tested in an intense and thrilling climax. Starring Masaharu Fukuyama, Fumi Nikaido, Yo Yoshida, Lily Franky.

I AM A HERO          アイアムアヒーロー                           

Director Shinsuke Sato Canadian Premiere

A mysterious virus suddenly spreads throughout Japan causing widespread panic as victims assume superhuman strength and a zombie-like rage to kill. Cowardly manga artist Hideo and infected high school student Hiromi flee Tokyo, finding themselves at the base of Mount Fuji where they and a rag-tag crew of unarmed survivors must battle the zombie hordes. Thrilling, often hilarious and bloody great fun. 18+ Starring Yo Oizumi, Kasumi Arimura, Masami Nagasawa.

HIRUGAO – LOVE AFFAIRS IN THE AFTERNOON  昼顔

Director: Hiroshi Nishitani North American Premiere

Three years ago Sawa lost everything – her family, friends and career - after an illicit affair with a married teacher, Yuichiro. The ostracism triggered by the incident drove her to move to another city under a different name. But fate brings Sawa and Yuichiro together and their grand, tragic passion once again flairs. Starring Aya Ueto, Takumi Saitô.

IN THIS CORNER OF THE WORLD  この世界の片隅に

Director: Sunao Katabuchi Canadian Premiere

Winner Japanese Academy Award for Best Animated Film  of the Year A young woman named Suzu moves to the small town of Kure to marry a young clerk from the local naval base in 1944. Through tough wartime conditions she cares for her family until the intense bombings finally reach Kure with devastating effect. Suzu's life is shattered but through perseverance and courage she manages to continue to live life to the fullest.  An indelible, dream-like masterpiece.

SHIN GODZILLA  シンゴジラ

Directors: Hideaki Anno, Shinji Higuchi

Winner of 7 Japanese Academy Awards including Best Film of the Year. Godzilla is back and bigger in the 29th film in the popular series. A crack team of misfit scientists must confront insurmountable political and bureaucratic red tape to save Japan and its people from Godzilla, an indestructible 300 foot creature that can unleash firestorms or cut skyscrapers in half with an intense heat beam. When the American military orders a nuclear attack on Tokyo to contain the beast, the deadly countdown is on....   Combines pointed social satire, an all-star cast and awesome effects. Starring Hiroki Hasegawa and Satomi Ishihara.

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Previously announced films are:

Opening Night Screening

FUELED – THE MAN CALLED PIRATE   

海賊とよばれた男

Director: Takashi Yamazaki  Canadian Premiere

The team who created The Eternal Zero returns with an epic story of Japan’s post-war rebuilding.

Based on a true story, oil company president Tetsuzo Kunioka believes Japanese resurgence must be fueled by oil not coal. With a workforce decimated by the war, and foreign governments sealing oil transportation routes, a desperate Tetsuzo risks international incident by commandeering a large scale oil tanker and sending a secret mission to Iran, earning himself the moniker “pirate.”  A thrilling epic adventure and study of the Japanese spirit of resiliency featuring an all-star cast.

Director Takashi Yamazaki will be in attendance to introduce and take questions.

SATOSHI – A MOVE FOR TOMORROW  聖の青春

Director: Yoshitaka Mori  Canadian Premiere

This powerful drama takes place in the world of professional shogi (Japanese chess). It is the true story of shogi master Satoshi Murayama, and his rivalry with Yoshiharu Habu, the greatest shogi genius of the century. Satoshi died of an intractable disease at age 29 but devoted his life to fighting not only the disease but also his rivals, feverishly pursuing the highest title, at risk to his life.

A genuinely touching portrait of a driven genius who knows time is running out as well as the mentors and friend who supported him.  Winner of much critical acclaim in Japan, where it the was closing night film at the Tokyo International Film Festival. Kenichi Matsuyama portrays Satoshi with startling intensity and physically transformed himself for the role.

Director Yoshitaka Mori will be in attendance to introduce and take questions.

WHAT’S FOR DINNER, MOM? ママごはんまだ

Director Mitsuhito Shiraha Canadian Premiere

Two sisters Tae and Yo return home to their old house which is soon to be torn down. Clearing up the family mementos, Tae finds a red box full of recipes and letters written by their mother who died 20 years ago. In these recipes and letters, she finds out how her mother had struggled in her life due to relocation from Japan to Taiwan, the death of her Taiwanese husband, and a battle with cancer. Tae travels to Taiwan to trace her mother's past, reminiscing about the dishes she made for the family.

Based on the essays by Tae Hitoto who was born and grew up in Taiwan and moved to Japan while a teenager, the film is a love-letter to mothers and great home cooking. Starring Haruka Kinami, Izumi Kujimoto, Michiko Kawai

Director Mitsuhiro Shirawa will be in attendance to introduce and take questions.

HER LOVE BOILS BATHWATER  湯を沸かすほどの熱い愛

Director: Ryota Nakano  Canadian Premiere

Winner of the Kochi Film Awards for Best Film and Female Lead and Supporting Performances.

Futaba is a loving but strict mother whose world is shaken when she discovers that she has terminal cancer and only has a few months left to live. Before she dies, she needs to make sure everyone she loves will be okay. She must find her husband, who disappeared a year ago, so they can reopen the family bathhouse. She must also make sure her daughter Azumi will be able to stand on her own two feet. It is a hard time for the family members, but through the hardship their ties becomes stronger. An impossibly moving and well-acted story of betrayal, shifting family dynamics, forgiveness, death and love. Starring Rie Miyazawa and Joe Odagiri. Actor Joe Odagiri will be in attendance.

OVER THE FENCE　オーバー・フェンス  

Director: Nobuhiro Yamashita Canadian Premiere

Shiraiwa, recently divorced and Shiraiwa, recently divorced and struggling, moves to Hakodate where he takes carpentry lessons at a vocational school. He meets an eccentric hostess, Satoshi, who seems to like him immediately.  A peculiar relationship is initiated between them, as she borders on the manic and he is filled with self-pity. In the meantime, he and his classmates are also training for a baseball match between schools. This tale of hard-found hope and tentative romance swept the Tama Movie Awards, taking Best Picture and Best Lead Male and Female Performances. Starring Joe Odagiri and Yu Aoi.

Actor Joe Odagiri will be in attendance.

THE HONNOUJI HOTEL   本能寺ホテル

Director: Masayuki Suzuki  North American Premiere

Mayuko is a young woman at a crossroads; between jobs and engaged to the wrong guy, she decides to take a holiday in a quaint hotel in Kyoto’s historic quarter. The mysterious concierge leads her to an elevator which opens not on her floor but in the 16th century court of Oda Nobunaga, one of Japan’s most important historical figures, on the night before his final battle and overthrow. Should she help and change history? Can the wise Nobunaga help her through her own crisis?

This box-office hit mixes history, comedy, samurai action and features charismatic performances from some of Japan’s favourite stars.

BIRTHDAY WISHES

バースデーカード

Director: Yasuhiro Yoshida North American Premiere

Shy, vulnerable Noriko loses her mother Yoshie to illness when she is only 10-years-old. As she grows up and must deal with the realities of adulthood, she agonizes over relationships with friends, love and marriage. But Yoshie continues to prove a gentle guiding hand in her daughter’s life in the form of letters, written before her death, that arrive on Noriko’s doorstep once a year.

This beautiful, heartwarming film celebrates the unbreakable bond between mother and daughter.

SAMURAI HUSTLE RETURNS 　超高速参勤交代リターンズ

Director: Katsuhide Motoki Canadian Premiere

During the Edo Period, it was mandatory for feudal lords to perform expensive procession marches, called Sankin Kotai  to pay respect to the shogun. Penniless country bumpkins Lord Naito of Yunagawa and his samurai have just managed to complete their ritual visit. After surviving the journey, and even finding a wife, Naito has every reason to celebrate. But news of their villages being ravaged by rebels prompt the men to swiftly return home to Yunagawa in order to save their land. They must hike up their kimonos and sprint all the way home in 2 days! When their old nemesis, Lord Nobutoki, reappears it becomes clear they stand to lose more than just farmland. Will Naito and his crew be able to thwart the treacherous Nobutoki’s plans and protect their villagers?

Preceded by demonstration by Kyoto-based ninja stuntwoman Chirhiro Tanaka

RAGE 怒り

Director:  Sang-il Lee  TIFF ENCORE SCREENING

Director Sang-il Lee assembles an all-star cast for this riveting improvisation on the burden of trust.

        In Tokyo, a grisly murder takes place; scrawled on a crime scene wall is the word “ikari” (rage). A year passes with the perpetrator still at large.  In three seemingly unrelated stories, set in Tokyo, Okinawa and Chiba, enigmatic strangers enter the lives of characters who soon begin to suspect the murderer is now in their midst. In each case terrible truths are revealed.

                Lee confidently weaves the three stories into a tightly paced, seamless narrative, building to – with the help of Ryuichi Sakamoto’s soaring score – an emotionally devastating crescendo.

GUKOROKU – TRACES OF SIN  愚行録

Director: Kei Ishikawa  North American Premiere

In this intense psychological thriller, Tanaka is going through a tough time trying to support his younger sister Mitsuko, recently arrested and on hold in jail. An investigative reporter, he immerses himself in a story about a shocking murder case gone cold. The “perfect” family – successful businessman, beautiful wife and adorable child – were brutally murdered a year ago and the case remains unsolved.

Tanaka interviews their friends and acquaintances, and as stories of their true nature unfold, he begins to discover that the family was not as ideal as believed. The interviewees themselves unveil their own hidden natures, revealing a disturbing portrait of social elitism.

Gripping performances, a tight,  unpredictable narrative and stunning photography  highlight this adaptation of Tokuro Nukui’s Naoki Award-winning novel “Gukoroku.”

CHIHAYAFURU PARTS 1 AND 2    ちはやふる

Director: Norihiro Koizumi  Toronto Premiere

Chihaya, Taichi and Arata are childhood friends, bound by their passion for competitive karuta (a traditional Japanese card game based on classic poetry). After Arata moves to the country, Taichi parted ways with the game, but Chihaya continues to play, hoping they’ll be reunited at the national championships. As they enter high school, the bubbly Chihaya convinces reluctant Taichi to start a competitive karuta club. Full of youthful energy and enthusiasm, they start to recruit new members to play the mentally and physically demanding card game…

Part II follows Chihaya’s team, after the thrilling Tokyo karuta tournament, as they challenge for the national championship,,,

These fast-paced, exciting films are filled with friendship, determination and beautiful kimomo.

HIMEANOLE ヒメアノール

Director:  Keisuke Yoshida  Canadian Premiere

A sad-sack window washer and his buddy fall for the same girl in a café and so begins a gentle, quirky tale of romantic competition. But lurking in the shadows is another competitor for her affection – a psychotic killer with a backstory and a connection neither of them can fathom. What starts out as a charming romantic comedy, soon takes a deranged turn into a shockingly dark and violent thriller. Keisuke Yoshida’s critically acclaimed film – with its adorably funny first half and disturbing blood-soaked nightmare of a second act, must be seen to be believed.

THE ONDEKOZA      ザ鬼太鼓座

Director: Tai Kato  North American Premiere

Thirty-five years after its heralded premiere and subsequent disappearance from public view, the musical masterpiece The Ondekoza returned at the 2016 Venice International Film Festival. The film tells story of the co-founding members of Ondekoza, a group of young musician, living communally in Sado Island, who created the Japanese traditional taiko drumming style that has since become internationally famous. Members went on to form the legendary Kodo Drummers of Japan.

Hosted by Kiyoshi Nagata and the Nagata Shachu Taiko Group

SURVIVAL FAMILY    サバイバルファミリー

Director: Shinobu Yaguchi  Canadian Premiere

When an extended global electrical blackout occurs, the world grinds to a halt. Salaryman Yoshiyuki Suzuki decides to escape from Tokyo with his wife and two kids. Their hilarious and heartfelt journey teaches them independence and cooperation as the kids grow up and the parents learn the error of their rigid paternalistic ways. They must also face and array of challenges including furious rainstorms, rabid dogs and runaway poultry! This feel-good family-friendly, disaster comedy –  the latest for the director of Wood Job!, Swing Girls and Water Boys – is guaranteed to pleased.

RUDOLF THE BLACK CAT    ルドルフとイッパイアッテナ

Director: Mikinori Sakakibara, Kunihiko Yuyama Canadian Premiere

This fun-filled family film introduces us to the secret life of cats.  Naïve stay-at-home cat Rudolf leads a quiet, happy life in rural Gifu Prefecture but secretly longs to roam the streets of his little neighbourhood. Unfortunately, one day his thirst for adventure finds him lost miles away in downtown Tokyo. With help from a street cat known as Ippaiattena, Rudolf quickly discovers that he has a lot to learn about the world.

Will Rudolf ever be able to find his way home? Join us as we follow Rudolf’s heart-warming journey of friendship and discovery as he learns to stand on his own four paws. An exciting and fun introduction to all things Japanese from a cat’s perspective.

WHAT A WONDERFUL FAMILY!  家族はつらいよ

Director: Yoji Yamada  Toronto Premiere

In this fast-paced and whimsical comedy from the great Yoji Yamada, (Twilight Samurai, The Little House, Nagasaki – Memories of my Son), marital strife visits Tokyo’s loving but mildly dysfunctional Hirata family. Shuzo and Tomiko have been married for five decades but he still forgets her birthday every year. This year, as an after-thought, he offers to buy her a gift “as long as it is inexpensive.” Tomiko decides what she really wants is divorce! As family-wide panic sets in, their three adult children are forced to deal with their own relationship hang-ups and intergenerational miscommunication.

        Wise, very funny and emotionally engaging, Yamada again proves one of Japan’s finest and most consistent filmmakers.

DANCHI (The Projects)  団地

Director: Junji Sakamoto  Canadian Premiere

In the closely-knit environs of this typical Osaka housing project, there is little chance of hiding your personal business from the nosy neighbours. Hinako and Seiji have just moved in, following closure of their herbal medicine shop and are quietly rebuilding their lives after tragic loss. But when Seiji disappears, the apartment rumor mill churns; divorce, murder, dismemberment? As the story spins out of control,  a mysterious man puts in a tall order of natural remedies, and the truth turns out to be even more fantastic than gossip. This hilarious mix of clever dialogue, deadpan surrealism and heartwarming drama was co-recipient of the Tama Movie Award for Best Film of 2016.

MIDNIGHT DINER      深夜食堂

MIDNIGHT DINER 2    続・深夜食堂

Director: Joji Matsuoka  North American Premiere

Meishi-ya is a small diner located in a back alley in downtown Tokyo. The diner opens up after midnight and its menu consists of only four items and sake. However, the mysterious “master” can create just about anything at the specific request of his regular patrons.

As the nights pass, his often eccentric clientele deal with a variety of problems and gossip while enjoying the master’s meals. Will they ever discover the truth behind the abandoned funeral urn, inexplicably left behind at the diner? Why has the master taken the young homeless girl Michiru as a cook? Meanwhile Seiko, owner of the soba noodle restaurant across the street is pushing her reluctant son to take over the business. She then discovers he and one of her favourite customers are in love! When swindlers try to con a senior out of her life savings the Meishi-ya customers jump in to try to help. Yaro Abe’s long-running manga series has already spawned four seasons of TV drama in Japan and now two hit films. A gentle culinary drama that will stir both the heart and the taste buds.