TOKYO FILMeX INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015

2015 Lineup Boasts Asia's Most Buzzed-about Films

Venue(s): Yurakucho Asahi Hall, Toho Cinemas Nichigeki
Nov. 21 to 29, 2015
Official website: filmex.net/2015en/
Tariff: General: ￥1,800, University students/supporters: ￥1,300
Advance tickets: ¥1,300 online. Go to http://filmex.net/2015en/program/, and click on the film details for each film; then click "Ticket" and access the "Tickebo" site.
Talk event: TBA

Title: 東京フィルメックス ( TOKYO FILMeX INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL )

Tokyo FILMeX is back with its 16^th year of cinematic catnip for its hugely devoted following of cinephiles, and it’s starting with a bang for fans of Japanese film. Or is that a whisper? The Opening Film is Sion Sono’s The Whispering Star, the first release from his new company, Sion Productions. Shot in Fukushima but set in outer space, the film’s main character is a humanoid robot deliverywoman (played by the director’s wife-muse, Megumi Kagurazaka) who drops off parcels around the galaxy and ponders the mystery of existence — until she arrives on a “whispering planet” where humans are in danger of dying if sounds over 30 decibels are made….

Although it begins with a Japanese film, this year’s Tokyo FILMeX lineup is, as always, heavier on non-local fare. Of its 33 screenings — almost all with English subtitles — 14 are in special Filmmaker in Focus sections, including two films featuring Oscar-winning French clown and filmmaker Pierre Etaix, three works by master Taiwanese director Hsaio-hsien Hou, and nine films by FILMeX favorite Ming-liang Tsai, including Afternoon, a 150-minute conversation between Tsai and his leading actor-muse Kang-sheng Lee.

The Competition section highlights 10 new works vying for the Grand and Special Jury Prizes, from Kazakhstan, Thailand, Sri Lanka, Nepal, the Philippines, Taiwan, China, Korea — and, hooray! — Japan. Back in FILMeX contention after his 2011 Tokyo Playboy Club, which marked his commercial film debut, Yosuke Okuda will world premiere his brilliantly titled The Dork, the Girl and the Douchebag, which seems to mix elements of An Affair to Remember with the director’s usual assortment of lowlifes: a bar hostess, a drug dealer, a yakuza and an ex-con. Okuda is back onscreen as well, and his is an enormously powerful presence.

Okuda’s chances will be judged by a Competition Jury comprising chairman Yong-kwan Lee, director of the Busan International Film Festival, actress/director Sylvia Chang, director Akihito Shiota (who will bring along two of his short films), critic Atsuko Saito and French distribution exec Gregory Gajos.

The Closing Film — which is, alas, not subtitled in English, but has a third act in English — is acclaimed Chinese director Zhangke Jia’s Mountains May Depart, which premiered in competition at Cannes this past May, and like Sono’s Whispering Star, also features a central performance by the director’s wife and muse (Zhao Tao). The China-Japan-France coproduction (FILMeX Programming Director Shozo Ichiyama has been a producer on most of Jia’s work) spans 26 years in one woman’s life, as she marries, divorces and then follows her son to Australia.

FILMeX will also be presenting nine new films in the Special Screenings section, including Iranian director Jafar Panahi’s Berlin Golden Bear-winning Taxi and Hong Kong helmer Johnnie To’s Office, a musical that reunites To with Yun Fat Chow and Silvia Chang, some 30 years after they first made a string of 1980s hits together.

Supported by “Beat” Takeshi Kitano’s office and overseen from the beginning by Festival Director Kanako Hayashi and Programming Director Shozo Ichiyama, the festival’s motto is “For the Bright Future of Cinema.” It has a student jury that bestows a popular award, conducts workshops to “educate and encourage the next generation,” and brings emerging filmmakers from all over Asia to participate in its Tokyo Talents pitching sessions, running concurrently with the festival, during which the next generation is mentored by famous filmmakers and other industry veterans.

 

 

FILMeX 2015 Schedule for Japanese Films (+Coproduction)

Nov. 21	The Whispering Star	ひそひそ星	Sion Sono	100 min
Nov. 22	The Dork, The Girl, The Douchebag	クズとブスとゲス	Yosuke Okuda	141 min
Nov. 24	Promise + Lifetime	約束/昼も夜も	Akihiko Shiota	15 + 69 min
Nov. 28	Mountains May Depart	山河故人	JIA Zhangke	125 min

TOKYO FILMeX INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2015
Yurakucho Asahi Hall and Toho Cinemas Nichigeki 1:

Shochiku 120 Special
Details on Tokyo Filmgoer: SHOCHIKU 120th ANNIVERSARY
Theater: Togeki Higashi Ginza