28TH RAINBOW REEL TOKYO INTERNATIONAL LESBIAN & GAY FILM FESTIVAL

Japan's LGBTQ+ Festival Is Back in Tokyo — and Osaka

Venue(s): Cinemart Shinjuku, Cinemart Shinsaibashi
July 16 (Fri) – 22 (Thur), 2021: Cinemart Shinjuku; July 23 (Fri) – 29 (Thur), 2021: Cinemart Shinsaibashi https://rainbowreeltokyo.com/2021web/en/schedule_en/
Language: All non-English films have English subtitles.
Official website: rainbowreeltokyo.com/2021web/en/
Theater website: www.cinemart.co.jp/theater/shinjuku/
Theater website: www.cinemart.co.jp/theater/shinsaibashi/
Tariff: General: ￥1,700, Students: ￥1,500, Repeater/senior: ￥1,200, Handicapped: ￥1,000, Elementary: ¥700
Advance tickets: Visit theater site for details.

Title: 第29回レインボー・リール東京　～東京国際レズビアン＆ゲイ映画祭 (Dai 29 kai Rainbow Reel Tokyo –Tokyo Kokusai Lesbian & Gay Eigasai)

The 29th Rainbow Reel Tokyo International Lesbian and Gay Film Festival roars back after Covid forced its cancelation in 2020, with a week’s run in Tokyo before moving down to Osaka for the first time in 21 years. Despite its compact selection — 14 films, eight of them shorts — RRT features some of the best new LGBTQ+ cinema from Japan and elsewhere, and continues to be the nation’s premiere showcase for underrepresented voices.

RRT’s summer-festival atmosphere also complements the screenings every year, as it brings minority communities in Japan together for celebration and debate, education and encouragement. This year’s LGBTQ+ milestones include the Sapporo District Court’s March ruling that it is unconstitutional not to allow same-sex marriage, and the May submission to the Diet of a bill to ban discrimination against members of the LGBTQ+ community.

But Japan still ranks second-to-last, ahead of Turkey, in gay and transgender rights in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 wealthy and middle-income countries. And it’s the only member of the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations that hasn’t legalized same-sex marriage.

But Japan ranks second-to-last, only ahead of Turkey, in gay and transgender rights in the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), a group of 38 wealthy and middle-income countries.

It’s the only member of in the Group of Seven (G7) industrialized nations that hasn’t legalized same-sex marriage.

In his welcome message, RRT Committee Director Hideki Miyazawa noted, “Last year even our film festival couldn’t escape the influence of Covid-19 and our important event had to take a year off. I believe a lot of people were disappointed by this, as we were, but that’s how difficult times go. Even amongst all this, the world naturally keeps on turning and we have to keep on living. Living, laughing, crying, being angry. We love people and it doesn’t matter if they are gay or straight. That doesn’t stop, even when there is a virus.”

This year’s 14-film main lineup features just one Japanese-language films with English subtitles, but we encourage you to explore all the films, in all their diversity and range. Of the eight titles in Queer APAC 2021, the annual program introducing new short films from the Asia-Pacific region, six will screen online.

Being 『であること』
Director: Moe Wada
2020|Japan|94min|Japanese, English © EpocL

The Japanese representative in the feature lineup is Moe Wada’s Being, a documentary portrait of Momoko Nishiyama and her quest to understand the true meaning of diversity. Nishiyama, who is a certified intimacy coordinator (specializing in sex/nude scenes in films and TV shows), a qualification that’s not yet widely known in Japan, decides to meet people who have been categorized as LGBTQ and ask them some candid questions.

Among her nine interviewees are a journalist, an office worker, several performers and even a Buddhist monk /makeup artist, and they provide opinions and insights on such issues as the use of the word ‘minority,’ categorization, their feelings of acceptance/otherness, the challenges of equality and the very essence of diversity.

As Nishiyama explains, “What became most important while we were making this film was having various people who had various opinions towards, for example, gay people. There is a diversity by which gender too cannot be simply marked off. However, I believe that the answer is each person simply being themselves. If we can personally see that way of living and do away with the categories that we were unconsciously divided into, then I think that many things will become much freer. I focused on listening carefully to as many people as I could. Then, I myself started to believe in the poetic strength and beauty of the word Being.”

Among the non-Japanese films in the lineup is this true gem from Hong Kong, Suk Suk. One of the most internationally celebrated LGBTQ+ titles last year, it tells the story of a married cab driver on the verge of retirement and his chance meeting with a retired single father. Before long, the men realize they are soulmates and suppressed emotions are unleashed ... despite knowing they will face many struggles. Told with sensitivity, grace and gentle humor, this is one of the most moving films about aging and homosexuality in recent memory.

Cinemart Shinjuku

Cinemart Shinsaibashi

Tokyo Filmgoer makes every effort to provide the correct theater showtimes, but schedules are subject to change.
Please be sure to check with the theater before going.