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In his feature fiction debut “Happyend“, Neo Sora lets teenagers played by Hayato Kurihara, Hidaka Yukito, Ayumu Nakajima, Makiko Watanabe and Shiro Sano clash over their political beliefs in a story set up in a near future where politics and products get advertised in the sky, and surveillance becomes a constituent part of highschoolers’ reality.

We took the opportunity to speak with the Japanese director during his short stay in Vienna, where he attended both screenings of the movie at the Viennale. Neo Sora spoke to us about the genesis of “Happyend” and why he considers it to be the first movie in his career. We also spoke about monster earthquakes, what kind of other danger they bring along, and why speaking up about racism and environmental catastrophes should happen today rather than tomorrow.

Since its world premiere in Venice, “Happyend” has been on quite an international journey.

Yeah, it...

Although he became instantly famous with his documentary about his father, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus”, it seems that Neo Sora has a lot more to give, as his feature debut, “HappyEnd”, which has already made a significant festival run, is brilliant.

HappyEnd is screening at Hawai’i International Film Festival

In a slightly futuristic setting, where advertisements and news are being broadcasted on the sky and on buildings, and smartphones are used as tracking devices, with the police implementing face-recognition by snapping photos of people, we meet our two main protagonists. Yuta and Kou are best friends, running the music club in their highschool, and as the movie begins, they are trying to get into an underground Dj set, eventually tricking their way into it, since they are still underage. Soon, the police arrive and the difference between the two friends becomes painfully apparent. Since Kou is Zainichi Korean, the police ask for his papers,...

Japanese director Neo Sora is no catastrophist: the vision of dystopia he puts forth in his coolly compelling first fiction feature “Happyend” is chilling precisely because it won’t take some thunderous armageddon to bring it about. Instead, in a near future that’s barely a stone’s throw from now, beset by many of our present predicaments and a sense of impending but not quite imminent apocalypse, his teenage heroes come of age as kids have always done. It’s just that here, there is the added poignancy of experiencing the end of the beginning of life amid what might just be the beginning of the end of the world.

In tomorrow’s Tokyo, where the concrete curves and high-rise skylines have a slightly denatured air (perhaps because the film was largely shot in Kobe) a high-school principal (Shiro Sano) is distressed to discover his beloved sports car has...

Pull out your copy of the latest septic tank health and safety regulations, because Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s masterfully unsettling and thought-provoking triumph “Evil Does Not Exist” will soon be streaming at home.

The Criterion Channel will exclusively premiere “Evil Does Not Exist” in a live streaming event this Sunday September 22 at 8:00 p.m. Et/5:00 p.m. Et. Then the film will live on the Criterion Channel as its exclusive streaming home starting October 1.

This is the latest of several live streaming events the Criterion Channel has hosted, with previous ones including Janus Films’ pickup “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” directed by Neo Sora, and Sideshow and Janus’s “The Beast,” directed by Bertrand Bonello. The live streams are a novel way of making a film’s streaming premiere an event unto itself and is one of several innovations the Criterion Channel has rolled out over the past year, such as...

Early on in “Happyend,” writer/director Neo Sora’s assured first narrative feature following his revelatory documentary about his late father, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” we see a group of youths running into the silent streets of Tokyo after police shut down an underground party. Things could have been dire had it not been for two of them creating a distraction so they could all escape, yet they yell out in excitement as they hurl themselves into the darkness of the night before everything stops and they’re all frozen in time.

Accompanied by Lia Ouyang Rusli’s stellar score, the title card gently appears then quickly disappears. It’s as if we’re getting a fleeting snapshot of youthful joy we already feel is coming to an end. Their world is getting bigger just as it does smaller as they must face down adulthood while grappling with the growing repression all around them.

Metrograph Pictures has acquired North American rights for Neo Sora’s surveillance drama Happyend from Magnify, following its world premiere at Venice Film Festival.

Set in a near-future Tokyo, the film centres on two high-schoolers who pull a prank that leads to increased surveillance at their school. The cast is led by Hayato Kurihara and Yukito Hidaka.

Following its premiere in the Horizons section of Venice, the feature will play Toronto, Busan and New York Film Festival. Metrograph Pictures will release the film theatrically in 2025.

The Japan-us co-production marks the feature fiction debut of Sora, who was at Venice in 2023 with documentary Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,...

Now halfway through the lineup, enthusiasm for the competition titles at the Venice Film Festival has only increased, with La Biennale all stars like Brady Corbet and Pedro Almodóvar earning what keeps being reported as record-breakingly long standing ovations.

To be fair, IndieWire was at both the premiere of “The Brutalist” the previous day, where there was even an exuberant round of applause during the intermission for the 215-minute film, and at the first public screening of “The Room Next Door,” where fans stood so long embracing the Spanish auteur’s English language feature debut that he stayed at the foot of the Sala Grande theater stairs to sign some autographs.

In terms of which film is most contention for the Golden Lion, “The Brutalist” likely still has the edge for how it aligns with the perceived criteria this year’s competition jury is bringing. Corbet’s film is more ambitious,...

Exclusive: The trailer for Neo Sora’s debut fiction feature Happyend has been unveiled, ahead of its world premiere in the Venice Film Festival’s Orizzonti competition.

Magnify, formerly known as Magnolia Pictures International, is handling global sales for the Japanese-language title, excluding Japan and Singapore. Japanese distributor Bitters End, which previously repped Parasite and Drive My Car, will release the film in Japan on October 4.

Happyend follows best friends Yuta and Kou, who are about to graduate high school in a near-future Tokyo where the threat of a catastrophic earthquake pervades daily life. One night, they pull a prank on their principal, which leads to a surveillance system being installed in the school. Between the oppressive security system and a darkening national political situation, Kou feels increasingly frustrated with the world while Yuta seems completely unaware, testing the resilience of their friendship.

The trailer opens with an earthquake warning ringing through the streets,...

Lion And Cubs

Indian superstar Shah Rukh Khan, who was recently in Locarno for a celebration, has teamed up with his sons Aryan Khan and AbRam as the voice cast of the Hindi-language version of Disney’s upcoming feature film “Mufasa: The Lion.”

The film is directed by Barry Jenkins and tells the story of the unlikely rise of the beloved king of the Pride Lands, while also introducing an orphaned cub called Mufasa, a sympathetic lion named Taka—the heir to a royal bloodline—and their expansive journey alongside an extraordinary group of misfits. The film has original songs by Lin-Manuel Miranda and an English voice cast of Aaron Pierre as Mufasa, Donald Glover as Simba and Braelyn Rankins as Young Mufasa.

The film will reach Indian theatres on Dec.20 in English, Hindi, Tamil and Telugu versions.

Watch the trailer here:

Format Duo

Nippon TV has finalized a deal...

Magnify has acquired global and U.S. sales rights to Neo Sora’s near-futuristic film “Happyend” ahead of its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival. The movie will play in the Horizons section and is being handled by Magnify outside of Japan and Singapore.

Set in a near-future Tokyo, “Happyend” revolves around two rabble-rousing best friends who are about to graduate high school while threats of a catastrophic earthquake looms. One night, they pull a prank on their principal, which leads to a surveillance system being installed in their school. Stuck between the oppressive security system and a darkening national political situation, the two respond in contrasting ways.

The movie marks Neo Sora’s fictionh feature debut. His previous credits include “Ryuichi Sakamoto/Opus” which premiered at Venice and was picked by Janus for North America, and short films, such as “The Chicken” which premiered in Locarno, among others.

“Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” director Neo Sora’s posthumous documentary about Japanese musical luminary Ryuichi Sakamoto, will premiere online as a live event on The Criterion Channel.

On Sunday, June 30 at 5 p.m. Pt/ 8 p.m. Est, Criterion will broadcast the film live via its streaming service. Following the premiere, the concert doc will stream exclusively on the Criterion Channel beginning July 1.

Featuring Sakamoto’s final recorded concert before his death in March 2023, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” first premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2023. Sora, Sakamoto’s son, shot the film in black and white, capturing 20 selections personally selected by his father from across his 45-year musical career, from “Tong Poo” (from Yellow Magic Orchestra’s 1978 debut album) to his themes for the films “Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence” and “The Last Emperor” to “20220302 – Sarabande” from his final solo studio album “12.”

“A document of Sakamoto’s final performance before his death from cancer last March,...

The American Cinematheque is kicking off a robust new Los Angeles nonfiction film festival dubbed This Is Not a Fiction, running from April 10-18. The festival opens with docuseries “Thank You, Good Night: The Bon Jovi Story,” with Jon Bon Jovi in-person at the Aero Theatre for the L.A. premiere screening.

The event will include in-person tributes to distinguished documentary filmmakers including Barbara Kopple, Joe Berlinger, Brett Morgen, Bill Morrison, Kirsten Johnson, Terry Zwigoff, Jeff Tremaine and Véréna Paravel and Lucien Castaing-Taylor, as well as a virtual Q&a with Frederick Wiseman.

Other premieres will include “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” “Power,” “Strong Island,” “Catching Fire: The Story of Anita Pallenberg,” a restoration of “Lumumba: Death of a Prophet” and “Incident,” plus special presentations of Morgan Neville’s “Steve! (Martin) A Documentary in 2 Pieces” and “Girls State.” A celebration of the 15th anniversary of “30 for 30” will feature a panel...

“Kung Fu Panda 4” (Universal) and “Dune: Part Two” (Warner Bros.) came in a close #1-#2 this weekend, with the DreamWorks Animation title edging out Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi adaptation by just under $1 million ($30 million to $29.1 million). The two films, in their second and third weekends respectively, are positioned to exceed their most optimistic pre-release projections.

Going against last year’s trend of disappointing franchise results, the two sequels made up about two thirds of the weekend’s $90 million total. With little help from other new releases, this fell just short of last year’s $92 million. It reduced the year’s deficit to nine percent.

“Dune” joined WB’s “Wonka” as the second film to pass the domestic $200 million total since last July. By next weekend, it will surpass that film’s $218 million gross.

How high could it go? Pre-release, the most optimistic hopes were perhaps $250 million — $150 million more than the first “Dune,...

Directed by Neo Sora, “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus” records the final performance of its namesake composer and musician prior to his death from cancer in March 2023. Per Sora, Sakamoto’s son, “Opus” is less a documentary than a concert film, capturing 20 tracks — electronic, orchestral, and everything in between — from his multifaceted career as they’re played on the piano in crisp black and white, in lighting that transitions from night to day and back to night.

As he explains, it was no small task to chronicle what he knew could be his father’s last artistic gift to the world. But when speaking about the film, Sora maintains a studied objectivity that focuses more on the process of making it than the feelings behind it — much less about his father in general. Even as a fan of Sakamoto’s since the days of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Last Emperor,” it’s...

Oscar-winning composer Ryuichi Sakamoto gave his final performance in Japan knowing he was about to pass away. Now, the iconic composer’s legacy is captured in documentary “Ryuichi Sakamoto: Opus,” directed by his son Neo Sora.

Sakamoto collaborated with auteurs like Luca Guadagnino and also scored Leonardo DiCaprio’s Oscar-winning turn in “The Revenant.” On March 28, 2023, Sakamoto died after a years-long battle with cancer. Despite retiring from live performances, Sakamoto returned to the stage one final time in late 2022 to play 20 pieces presented in a curated order. The first footage of the film includes Sakamoto performing the score of Bernardo Bertolucci’s “The Sheltering Sky,” among other pieces.

“Opus” was filmed at the Nhk Broadcast Center’s 509 Studio, which Sakamoto said had the “finest acoustics in Japan.” Cinematographer Bill Kirstein shot the film using three 4K cameras, with Sakamoto first recording his pieces on an iPhone from his home to...

Janus Films has released the trailer for “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus,” a documentary celebrating the composer’s life.

Sakamoto put on one final performance in late 2022, which was captured in a concert film featuring just him and his piano. He curated and sequenced the 20 pieces himself, with the selection spanning his entire career. This includes his pop-star period with Yellow Magic Orchestra, his scores for filmmaker Bernardo Bertolucci and his final album, “12.”

His son Neo Sora directed the film, which was executive produced by Jeremy Thomas. “Ryuichi Sakamoto | Opus” will open on March 15 in New York at Lincoln Center, with a national rollout to follow.

Watch the full trailer below.

Oscar-Nominated Short Film ‘The Last Repair Shop’ To Make Television Debut

The Oscar-nominated short film “The Last Repair Shop” will make its television debut on ABC owned television stations and select affiliate stations on Saturday, Feb. 17. It will also be...

Equal numbers of Chinese and Japanese titles adorn the main competition section of the Toyo International Film Festival, which was announced on Wednesday – three each.

Among the Chinese films is “Snow Leopard,” the last feature by the late Pema Tseden, and “Dwelling by the West Lake,” directed by Gu Xiaogang, the surprisingly inexperienced joint recipient of this year’s Kurosawa Award.

The full competition with 15 titles, set to play between Oct. 23 and Nov. 1, includes the world premiere of Russian director Alexei German Jr.’s “Air” and Filipino director Sheron Dayoc’s “The Gospel of the Beast.”

The trio from Japan are: “(Ab)Normal Desire,” by Kishi Yoshiyuki; “A Foggy Paradise,” by Kotsijui Yohei; and “Who Were We,” by Tomina Tetsuya.

The festival’s gala selection appears designed for entertainment pleasure. In addition to the previously-announced “Perfect Days” and “Godzilla Minus One,” set as the festival’s opening and closing films,...