The Yomiuri Shimbun

OSAKA--The Osaka Asian Film Festival 2009 will be held from Friday to March 22 to show recent acclaimed Asian films and also this year's winner of the Academy Award for Best Motion Picture, the India-set "Slumdog Millionaire."

Eleven films from such rising cinema powers as Thailand, Philippines, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia will be shown Friday through Monday at ABC Hall in Fukushima Ward. Eight of the films will be having their national premiers in Japan, and the remaining three will be getting their first screenings in the Kansai region.

Among the films are "Chocolate" (2008 Thailand), a kung-fu action flick using no computer graphics effects or equipment and directed by Prachya Pinkaew, which will be shown at the opening event Friday; and "If You Are the One" (2008 China), a romantic comedy that became a big hit earlier this year in China, directed by Feng Xiaogang, on Monday.

Two more Thai films--"Handle Me with Care" (2008), written and directed by Kongdej Jaturanrasmee, and "Love of Siam" (2007), directed by relative newcomer Chookiat Sakveerakul, who wrote the screenplay for "Chocolate"--will also be shown.

The former is a surprising road movie concerning the love life of an unusual young man, while the latter film focuses on the friendship and soul searching of young people in Siam Square in Bangkok.

Also featured are "Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly" (2008 Indonesia), directed by Edwin and awarded the International Critics' Prize at the 2009 International Film Festival Rotterdam, and "100" (2008 Philippines), directed by Chris Martinez, which won the Audience Award at the 2008 Pusan International Film Festival.

All the films have English subtitles, except "Chocolate" and "A Letter from Elsewhere," a Japanese film directed by Natsuki Seta. Tickets for each show are 1,000 yen in advance and 1,200 yen at the door.

A number of directors and producers, including the three Thai directors and Martinez, will speak before or after their films are screened.

They will also speak at a symposium March 16 with independent film directors.

The Asian Meeting Osaka will be held as part of the festival at Cine Nouveau in Nishi Ward on March 14, showing independent films, followed by a symposium. At the Osaka Museum of History in Chuo Ward, March 21-22, Japanese films, including "Tokyo Sonata" directed by Kiyoshi Kurosawa, and "Slumdog Millionaire," a 2008 British film that won eight Oscars last month, will be shown.
(Mar. 12, 2009)
The Festival website : http://www.oaff.jp/english/schedule/index.html


A letter from Elsewhere
http://j-pitch.jp/english/jfdb/title/1246


Tokyo Sonata


http://www.tokyosonatamovie.com/

SYNOPSIS
Set in contemporary Tokyo, TOKYO SONATA is a story of an ordinary Japanese family of four. The father, Ryuhei Sasaki, like any other Japanese businessman, is faithfully devoted to his work. His wife, Megumi, left on her own to manage the house, struggles to retain a bond with her oldest son in college, Takashi, and the youngest, Kenji, a sensitive boy in elementary school. From the exterior the family is seemingly normal, save for the tiny schisms that exist within.

The quiet unraveling of the family begins when Ryuhei loses his job unexpectedly. Facing completely unfamiliar circumstances, he decides not to tell his family and begins his lonely sojourn into the world of the secretly unemployed. Along with many other businessmen who save face by concealing their shameful reality from family and friends, Ryuhei begins to depart each day for work, when, in fact, he kills time in libraries and parks. His lies and torment go unnoticed by Takashi, who becomes increasingly despondent and alienated from his family, and Megumi, who can no longer summon the will to keep her family together.

Meanwhile, Kenji’s journey begins to mirror his father’s solitary plight. While Ryuhei vehemently refuses to allow Kenji to play the piano, he nevertheless finds a way to take clandestine piano lessons by using his school lunch money for lesson fees. What began as lies created as means to survive in a society increasingly unable to communicate, gradually lead the family into unforeseeable destruction.

In the hands of world famous director Kiyoshi Kurosawa, known for his thrillers and movies of suspense, this story probes the dark side of human nature and the social problems that confront contemporary Japan. Kurosawa’s portrayal of the breakdown and redemption of Japan’s “ordinary family” is every bit as gripping as his previous works.


DIRECTOR’S STATEMENT
This film portrays a very ordinary family in modern Japan. I started from a point where lies, suspicion and a complete breakdown of communication already have established themselves within the family. Without a doubt, this is “modern” and this is also “Japan.” However, I would like to show a glimmer of hope in the end. Can I do that? Even if I could do so, would that be something that saves a conventional family?