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In a city that’s home to an endless array of overlapping film festivals (not a complaint!), Japan Cuts continues to merit special attention every July. Produced in partnership with — and hosted by — New York’s Japan Society, Japan Cuts is not only North America’s largest and most high-profile festival dedicated to Japanese film, it’s also perhaps the most well-curated, as the titles programmed across the slate’s various sections collect into a vividly comprehensive snapshot of the country’s cinematic landscape.

Case in point: The 2024 lineup runs the gamut from lavish samurai epics like Takashi Kitano’s “Kubi” and kaiju masterpieces like Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s “Shin Godzilla” (presented here in its new black-and-white edition) to sensitive festival darlings like San Sebastían breakout “Great Absence” and the Berlinale-minted “The Box Man.” It highlights major auteurs like “Tetsuo the Iron Man” director Shinya Tsukamoto (whose “Shadow of Fire...

This year’s Pia Film Festival (Pff) announced the awards for 2023. Out of 557 submissions, 22 films were initially selected, which then competed for the main awards. The jury consisted of Yuya Ishii (film director), Kei Ishikawa (film director), Nami Kishida (writer), Mizue Kunizami (producer), Keiko Satsuki (illustrator)

The winners were:

Grand Prize: Retake (Kota Nakano)

Runner-up Award: Fureru (Kyosuke Takada)

Special Jury Prize: Urabon-e (Ryo Teranishi), Torikago (Ryo Tachibana), Reversible (Shinomichi Ishida)

Entertainment Award (Horipro prize): Perfect Young Lady (Ryuhei Watanabe)

Audience Award: Ja Mata (Taichi Ishikawa)

Cinema Fan Award (Pia Eiga Seikatsu prize): Ido sure Kioku Sochi Ten (Sota Takahashi)

Gemstone Award (Nikkatsu prize): Flowering (Isora Iwakiri)

The Japan P.E.N Club Award: Flowering (Isora Iwakiri)

Retake...

A poignant, thought-provoking short-film ‘Retake’ produced by Applause Entertainment is officially selected for its American premiere at the New York Indian Film Festival. Written and directed by the talented Shweta Basu Prasad, the film tells the story of a 60-year-old artist who attends the funeral of his mentor and meets his former lover and friend, leading him to question his life choices and artistic pursuits.

The short film will be screened on 13th May in the Shorts A (Narrative) category at 12:15 Pm at Village East by Angelika New York. Starring the iconic Anupam Kher, Zarina Wahab, and Danish Husain, the short film is an introspective story that explores themes of love, loss and contemplation.

Don’t miss the American premiere of Shweta Basu Prasad’s directorial debut ‘Retake’ at the New York Indian Film Festival. The short film boasts contributions from award-winning professionals such as Aarti Bajaj as editor,...

One can only hope director Nick Corporon's shorts (I've seen two) and his feature debut, Retake, are not autobiographical. All of his male characters are semi-despondent romantics. They find true love, lose true love, or are confronted by a world ready to quash them if they don't assume heteronormative stances or watch Vin Diesel films .

In the poignantly wise, 13-minute "Barbie Boy" (2014), seven-year-old Bobby (Trent Carlton) learns from his dad that boys don't play with Barbie and Ken dolls in public or nearly anywhere else. It doesn't even matter if Bobby just allows the plastic couple to scuba dive in the kitchen sink, smooch in their Dream House, or go out for lattés; the testosterone-fueled world will frown on such carryings-on and possibly do worse than frown. So will the blond-tressed lad stand up to societal pressure and grow up to be Alexander Mc Queen? Or will the little...

One can only hope director Nick Corporon's shorts (I've seen two) and his feature debut, Retake, are not autobiographical. All of his male characters are semi-despondent romantics. They find true love, lose true love, or are confronted by a world ready to quash them if they don't assume heteronormative stances or watch Vin Diesel films .

In the poignantly wise, 13-minute "Barbie Boy" (2014), seven-year-old Bobby (Trent Carlton) learns from his dad that boys don't play with Barbie and Ken dolls in public or nearly anywhere else. It doesn't even matter if Bobby just allows the plastic couple to scuba dive in the kitchen sink, smooch in their Dream House, or go out for lattés; the testosterone-fueled world will frown on such carryings-on and possibly do worse than frown. So will the blond-tressed lad stand up to societal pressure and grow up to be Alexander Mc Queen? Or will the little...

What if you could bring an old memory to life and relive your past? The new queer road drama “Retake” explores that concept in depth as it chronicles the relationship between a businessman and a hustler who playacts a long lost lover. In the film, Jonathan (Tuc Watkins) flies into San Francisco and hires a young hustler (Devon Graye) to accompany him on a road trip to the Grand Canyon, but with one catch: he must role-play as someone named “Brandon.” Though “Brandon” soon comes to realize he’s recreating someone from Jonathan’s past, he soon feels a strange connection with his client and begins to shed his own identity to play the part. Watch an exclusive prologue short film “Passenger” that explores the backstory of the hustler character as he works the streets of San Francisco.

Read More: Support Indie Lgbt Cinema: “Retake”

The film is written and directed by Nick Corporon.

Plus: Robert De Niro in line for Fslc Chaplin Award; and more…

Marcos Carnevale collected the career Precious Gems Award on Sunday as the four-day Gems festival ended under the auspices of the Miami International Film Festival.

Carnevale, the director of such films as Inseparables, Elsa y Fred and Corazón de León, took part in an on-stage conversation looking back on his work.

The Gems Audience prize went to Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake.

Robert De Niro will receive the Film Society Of Lincoln Center’s Chaplin Award on May 8, 2017, and take part in a career tribute. De Niro stars in The Comedian, which will premiere at AFI Fest on November 11 and opens in North America through Sony Pictures Classics.Aisling Walsh’s Maudie has won the 35th Vancouver International Film Festival’s Super Channel People’s Choice Award. Ken Loach’s I, Daniel Blake won the Viff Most Popular International Feature, Yann Arthus-Bertrand’s [link...

Robert De Niro will receive the Film Society Of Lincoln Center’s Chaplin Award on May 8, 2017, and take part in a career tribute.“De Niro has long been such a legendary presence that one can overlook the remarkably fine-tuned craft and quality he has brought to his roles over his multi-decade career,” said Lesli Klainberg, executive director of the Film Society Of Lincoln Center.“If you watch his performances, from Mean Streets and The Godfather Part II to

Robert De Niro will receive the Film Society Of Lincoln Center’s Chaplin Award on May 8, 2017, and take part in a career tribute.

“De Niro has long been such a legendary presence that one can overlook the remarkably fine-tuned craft and quality he has brought to his roles over his multi-decade career,” said Lesli Klainberg, executive director of the Film Society Of Lincoln Center.

“If you watch his performances, from Mean Streets and The Godfather Part II to [link...

Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.

– Exclusive: Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American distribution rights to Nick Corporon’s debut feature film, “Retake.” The film follows “a handsome businessman [who] hires a prostitute to role-play as his long-lost love. What follows is a road trip full of manipulation and mystery as both men near their final destination.” The film premiered in 2016 at Frameline, and went on to play ImageOut, Reel Q, Seattle Twist, Reel Affirmations and Outfest. It stars Tuc Watkins and Devon Graye.

Breaking Glass is planning a theatrical premiere in Los Angeles followed by an On Demand and DVD release early in the first quarter of 2017.

– Strand Releasing has acquired all U.S. rights to Portuguese director Joao Pedro Rodrigues’ “The Ornithologist,...