News

Serena Motola, Seiya Matsudo and Ray Shirakawa have joined Seasons, the upcoming debut feature from Anky Cyriaque (Love and I Had a Fight), with more Japanese actors due to be added.

A tale of love, life, death and destiny that spans continents and time, the screenplay is by Oscar-nominated writer Kalman Apple (Speed for Thespians), based on an original story by Cyriaque (Seasons of a Soul). Shooting is set to begin in fall 2025 on locations in New York, London, Vancouver and Nepal.

The story follows a couple destined to fall in love but kept apart by the machinations of a vengeful soul, and a 100-year odyssey through previous lifetimes for them to finally come together.

Talks are ongoing with two high-profile Hollywood actors, in addition to further Japanese talent, who will join Canadian singer and songwriter Kreesha Turner.

Cyriaque says he has been “nurturing the dream of Seasons for ten unforgettable years.

One of the most celebrated films of 2016, Ryota Nakano‘s second and last (until now) film won a number of awards, including ones for its female protagonists from the Japanese Academy, and was the official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

Her Love Boils Bathwater is streaming on Jff Theater

Futaba is a single mother struggling to make ends meet after her husband suddenly left her and the family’s bathhouse business went under. While coming to terms with her situation, she is dealt another blow when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Instead of succumbing to despair, though, Futaba decides to tie all loose ends in her life in the few months she has left. This includes changing her daughter’s Azumi, composition, making her brave and not afraid to face her own fears and also finding a suitable man for her; tracking down her estranged husband,...

On the occasion of his films, Her Love Boils Bathwater, A Long Goodbye and The Asadas screening at at Japan Society as part of Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux program, Ryota Nakano talks to Panos Kotzathanasis about him working on family dramas, how has changed through the years, the three movies in detail, working with Tsutomu Yamazaki and the late Yuko Takeuchi, Masashi Asada and other topics.

Presented by the Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan, and Japan Society

February 15-24, 2024 at Japan Society

and partner venues in NYC

New York, NY – Agency for Cultural Affairs, Government of Japan and Japan Society are proud to announce the eighth installment of the Aca Cinema Project film series – Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux – an ongoing initiative fostered by the Government of Japan to increase awareness and appreciation of Japanese films and filmmakers in the United States. The Aca Cinema Project has presented events in both New York and LA since 2021, and its upcoming edition will showcase over nine contemporary and classic films from February 15-24, 2024 all with the central theme of the modern family. The bonds of the Japanese family are often revered in the West, and this series will both celebrate these traditions as well as call into question their reality and relevance in our quickly changing modern world.

As part of the Aca Cinema Project––”an ongoing initiative fostered by the Government of Japan to increase awareness and appreciation of Japanese films and filmmakers in the United States”––Japan Society will run “Family Portrait: Japanese Family in Flux” from February 15-24. A mix of American premieres and repertory showings, this series puts “bonds of the Japanese family” front and center to “both celebrate these traditions as well as call into question their reality and relevance in our quickly changing modern world.”

U.S. premieres include Kazuyoshi Kumakiri’s Yoko, starring Rinko Kikuchi, and Keiko Tsuruoka’s Tsugaru Lacquer Girl. A special spotlight is given to Ryota Nakano, whose A Long Goodbye and exquisitely titled Her Love Boils Bathwater will be making New York debuts; his 2020 feature The Asadas also plays.

Repertory screenings will be held for Kohei Oguri’s Muddy River, Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Tokyo Sonata, Kore-eda’s Still Walking,...

One of the most celebrated films of 2016, Ryota Nakano’s second and last (until now) film won a number of awards, including ones for its female protagonists from the Japanese Academy, and was the official submission for the Best Foreign Language Film at the 90th Academy Awards.

Her Love Boils Bathwater is part of the 2019 Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme

Futaba is a single mother struggling to make ends meet after her husband suddenly left her and the family’s bathhouse business went under. While coming to terms with her situation, she is dealt another blow when she is diagnosed with terminal cancer. Instead of succumbing to despair, though, Futaba decides to tie all loose ends in her life in the few months she has left. This includes changing her daughter’s Azumi, composition, making her brave and not afraid to face her own fears and also finding a suitable...

“People Still Call It Love” Passion, Affection and Destruction in Japanese Cinema

UK – 2 February to 28 March 2019

Belfast – Bristol – Chester – Colchester – Derby – Dundee – Edinburgh – Exeter – Halifax – Inverness – Kendal – Leicester – Lewes – London – Manchester – Newcastle upon Tyne – Nottingham – Sheffield – Stirling

Love, in all its semblances and dimensions, is a state so universally experienced by humankind that it has provided a perpetual source of inspiration in the long history of global cinema. Japanese cinema is no different. Love and the associated feelings of passion, affection, and destruction, in equal measure have all been channelled into a pivotal driving force behind the rise of many Japanese filmmakers, crystallising in timeless works which form part of the nation’s artistic repertoire.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2019 features thoughtfully selected works, all focusing on this theme in one way or another. As the conventional binaries defining what it means to love continually give way to new understandings of this sweeping emotion,...

Yoshio Kato’s 3ft Ball & Souls won the audience award at Skip City film festival.

Japan’s Gaga Corporation is launching international sales on Yoshio Kato’s 3ft Ball & Souls at Filmart. The film made its world premiere last year at Skip City International D-Cinema Festival, where it won the audience award, and its international premiere at Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas.

It is the sophomore feature of TV series and commercials director Kato, whose directorial debut Plastic Crime also competed at Skip City in 2014. Kato wrote, directed, produced and fully financed 3ft Ball & Souls.

The film follows a depressed...