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The interview was conducted through the good offices of Total Stage Produce Inc.

Isao Yukisada is a prominent Japanese film director, screenwriter, and producer, born in 1968, in Kumamoto, Japan. He began his filmmaking career after studying at School of Imaging Technology in Japan (Toho Kakuen) where he developed his craft. Before stepping into the role of a director, Yukisada worked as an assistant director under Shunji Iwai, a highly respected filmmaker known for his poetic, emotionally rich films such as ‘Love Letter’ (1995) and ‘Swallowtail Butterfly’ (1996). His time working with Iwai helped him gain valuable insights into visual storytelling, pacing, and emotionally resonant character development, which would later become a hallmark of his own directing style.

Yukisada made his directorial debut with ‘Open House‘, a romantic drama about a woman navigating complex emotional relationships. The film was a relatively low-profile start to his career but set the foundation for his future works,...

by Tiago Carneiro

Back in the 90s, Shunji Iwai had already established himself as a master of romance, but “Swallowtail Butterfly” redefined his craft and solidified him as a versatile filmmaker, showcasing his impressive ability to transcend genres. This film seamlessly blends a myriad of genres into a cohesive, all-encompassing tale of cinematic chaos. It is a science-fiction film, but also a musical at times, and a western, an action-thriller, a noir crime story, an entrancing mystery, a hilarious comedy, and a heartfelt coming-of-age drama. This may sound like the messy work of a madman, and it is, but in the best way.

Genres are twisted into something unique and collide with each other to form a surreal narrative that fully immerses the viewer into its intricate world-building and array of likeable characters. Shunji Iwai goes insane behind the camera and inside the editing room, making the film feel like...

Shunji Iwai always thrived in the portrayal of youths in various transitional stages of their life, with a significant part of his filmography focusing on this topic. “April Story” is another testament to the fact, although in a much tamer fashion than the majority of his work, which did not forbid it, however, from winning the audience award in Busan in 1998.

“April Story” is screening at Fantasia International Film Festival

Uzuki Nireno is a genuine country bumpkin from northern Hokkaido, who has just moved to Tokyo to study in the university. Adapting however, is not particularly easy, and the girl finds herself, either helping when not needed, interacting with men who seem anything but normal, and being pushed by a quirky girl in her classroom, the only one who wants to hang with her, into joining an air fishing club, presided by Fukatsu, an equally quirky young man. As time passes,...

“Love Letter” marks the theatrical debut of Shunji Iwai’s filmmaking career, the director of such critically acclaimed pictures as “Picnic” (1996), “Swallowtail Butterfly” (1996), and “All About Lily Chou-Chou” (2001). It became an immediate hit in the Japanese box-office. Additionally, it was one of the first Japanese productions to be shown in South Korean cinemas since the end of World War II. Among its many prizes, the film won three Japanese Academy Awards in 1996.

Hiroko Watanabe (Miho Nakayama) is a woman living in the city of Kobe. Two years earlier, her fiancé Itsuki Fujii (Takashi Kashiwabara) died in a mountain climbing accident. Still in depression and grief, Hiroko writes a letter to her dead fiancé and sends it to the address she found in his old high-school yearbook. However, it was the wrong Itsuki Fujii she found. The mail reaches Otaru, a northern town far away from Kobe, and...

Strange news comes from the land of the rising sun. There has been movement in the Bandage film camp. Seems like Kitamura got caught selling Meiji Gummy Choco’s to the fat kids and got himself kicked out. There are new faces!

First, there is a new director for the project. Music producer Takeshi Kobayashi will helm his first fictional motion picture. He doesn’t have much of a resume on film making but he has proven his chops in the music world. He did the music for the movie’s scriptwriter Shunji Iwai’s Swallowtail [1996] and All About Lily Chou-Chou [2001]. They are both producing Eriko Kitagawa’s Harufuwei/Halfway due out in February 2009. So they have a good working relationship at least.

Second, Kat-tun member Jin Akanishi makes his silver screen debut with the starring role in the movie. Akanishi has had plenty of television roles the last nine...