Hey Toronto! Hey Montreal! Hey World! Help The Japan Relief Effort with Fundraising and Good Cinema

Kurt Halfyard, Contributing Writer; Toronto, Canada

March 23 2011, 9:06 AM

With the death toll rising, rolling black-outs and the cost of all this disaster carnage edging closer and closer to half-a-trillion dollars, you certainly do not need ScreenAnarchy to echo the sentiment that the people of Japan are suffering from one of the larger natural disasters in recorded history. But we can certainly pass one of many ways that you can help! Enthusiasts of Japanese cinema in Montreal and Toronto are having fundraisers (March 26 and April 5th, respectively) in which you get some quality Japanese cinema on the big screen and your $$$ will go to a good cause.

Fantasia presents the Solidarity with Japan Fundraiser

Saturday March 26th 2011, from 4pm (box-office will open at 3pm)

Hall Theatre - Concordia University

1455 de Maisonneuve West

Contribution per film: 10$ or more

This evening is meant as a celebration of Japanese popular culture and of its cinema, with films of different flavours where cheerfulness and humour prevail. The minimal contribution will be of 10$ per film and 100% of the revenues will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami Fund. Donors of 20$ and more will get a receipt for tax credits. The showcased films are Satoshi Miki's ADRIFT IN TOKYO, at 4 pm: A walking trip through a rarely filmed Tokyo, coming across singular characters. A beautiful and touching love letter to this city where charm, absurd humour and emotion meet. Tetsuya Nakashima's KAMIKAZE GIRLS at 7 pm: The improbable friendship between two young women and an incursion in the universe of Lolitas, a fashion trend ingrained in Japan's youth. Finally, Gen Sekiguchi's SURVIVE STYLE 5+ at 9:30 pm: Five bizarre stories with eccentric characters that intersect, made-in-Japan entertainment at its very best, unconventional, mad, over-the-top fun! Before each screening, DJ XL5 will pay tribute to Japanese pop culture with three blocks of trailers, videos and excerpts from Japanese films.

The Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow presents FINE TOTALLY FINE

Tuesday, April 5 · 7:00pm

The Revue Cinema

400 Roncesvalles Avenue, Toronto

Tickets are $8.00 at the Door.

The Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow is proud to present the Toronto Premiere of Yosuke Fujita's comedy FINE TOTALLY FINE 100% proceeds from this screening will go directly to SUPPORT JAPAN - GAMBARE/ JustGiving, a relief fund created by Yuko Shiomaki, the president of PICTURES DEPT. (Thanks to Pictures Dept. and Third Window Films for making this event possible.)

Those not local to Toronto or Montreal can still help by making an online donation to the Canadian Red Cross.