The 16th Camera Japan Festival is a film festival held in Tokyo, Japan every year. It was first held in 2001 and has been running since then.
These are the fifteen films you should not miss at the 15th Camera Japan Festival, which will take place in Rotterdam from September 22nd to 26th and in Amsterdam from September 30th to October 3rd.
– Films to Watch –
Fukunaga Takeshi’s Ainu Mosir – Japan | 2020 – 84 minutes
Kanto, a 14-year-old indigenous Ainu adolescent from Hokkaido (Japan’s northernmost island), embarks on a spiritual journey to reconnect with his recently dead father. Kanto seeks for his sense of self, torn between upholding his ancestors’ heritage, which involves a contentious rite, and being enticed by the wonders of maturity. Ainu community is well shown in this gentle, complex coming-of-age story. (Japan Camera Festival)
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 22:00 pm Friday, September 24, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 17:30 p.m. Friday, October 1, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 17:00 pm
Trailer:
Akiro Fujimoto’s film Along the Sea was released in Japan in 2020 and runs for 88 minutes.
This austere, almost documentary-like second film by FUJIMOTO Akio depicts the harsh reality of three Vietnamese immigrant women living and working in Japan. The three women must negotiate a system that seems to be stacked against them, particularly when one of them becomes sick. A film on a very important current subject that is sympathetic, truthful, and uncompromising.
Dates of screening: Saturday, September 25th, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 18:30 pm Sunday, September 26th, 2021 | 13:00 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam
Trailer:
Yamaguchi Junta Japan’s Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes | 2020 – 70 minutes
What would you do if you had the ability to go two minutes into the future and two minutes back in time? Kato learns that he can accomplish exactly that thanks to the café’s security system. His buddies get involved soon after, and the situation quickly escalates. A fast-paced, apparently shot-in-one-take sci-fi comedy that is clever, hilarious, and unique.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 14:30 pm Saturday, September 25th, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 10:15 a.m. Sunday, September 26th, 2021 | 15:00 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Friday, October 1, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 12:30 pm
Trailer:
Shindo Takehiro’s Closet – Japan | 2020 – 95 minutes
Tasuku, a young guy living in Tokyo’s never-sleeping metropolis, gets a new profession that entails following restless insomniacs and assisting them in sleeping at night. Initially hesitant, he eventually learns to hug and soothe his customers in the loving embraces that they – and Tasuku – have been missing. Closet is a sweet, touching story about loneliness, connection, and sensitive examinations of people’s hidden identities.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 12:15 pm Friday, September 24, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 15:15 p.m.
Trailer:
Making a song to replace our situation in a double-layered town / directed by Komori Haruka and Natsumi Seo | Japan | 2020 – 79 minutes
Four young people who had never met before go to Rikuzentakata. There, they listen to the locals and relay their tales about the earthquake and tsunami that struck on March 11, 2011. The fictitious tale Double Layered Town, set 10 years in the future, is added to their works by writer SEO Natsumi. An experimental, lyrical documentary that brings the grief and loss of the September 11th terrorist attacks to life.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 14:45 pm Saturday, September 25th, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 10:15 a.m.
Trailer:
Seta Natsuki’s Georama Boy, Panorama Girl is a 2020 Japanese film that runs for 105 minutes.
When Haruko discovers Kenichi, who has recently dropped out of high school, lying on a bridge after being beaten up, she meets him. She falls in love with him right away and believes he is her destiny, but he is much more interested in Mayumi, the victim of the beating. This bright, lighthearted film is not your usual adolescent romance, and it will keep you wondering. Based on the same-named manga by OKAZAKI Kyoko.
Dates of screening: Friday, September 24, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 14:15 pm Sunday, September 26th, 2021 | 17:00 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Saturday, October 2nd, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 12:30 pm
Trailer:
It’s a summertime movie! 97 minutes | by Matsumoto Soushi – Japan | 2021
Barefoot, a high school student, is so fond of samurai films that she wants to create one with her pals Kickboard and Blue Hawaii. Then Barefoot meets Rintaro, a samurai who would be ideal for her film’s warrior part. They decide to create the film, but Barefoot discovers that Rintaro is a time traveler from the future during production. A laid-back, light-hearted comedy that flaunts its affection for movies.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 16:45 pm Friday, September 24, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 13:00 p.m. Sunday, September 26th, 2021 | 19:15 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam
Trailer:
Hori Takahide’s Junk Head (Japan, 2021, 101 minutes) is a film directed by Hori Takahide.
Because to DNA modification aimed at extending life, humanity is no longer able to reproduce. It’s possible that the clones that rule the bottomless pit have grown reproductive. Parton is chosen to embark on a mission to guarantee humanity’s future via an underground maze filled with creatures. A fresh, re-edited version of HORI Takahide’s stunning stop-motion animation, which he created entirely by himself.
Dates: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 11:30 a.m. Friday, September 24, 2021 | 22:15 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Saturday, September 25, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 22:15 pm
Trailer:
Anshul Chauhan’s Kontora – Japan | 2019 – 144 minutes
Sora explores the woods of her birthplace for a mystery treasure, guided by her grandfather’s World War II journal. She runs into a homeless guy who is heading backwards towards town without saying anything. This guy may be the key to mending her broken connection with her father. Original, gripping drama shot in beautiful black and white.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 19:15 pm Saturday, September 25th, 2021 | 12:00 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Sunday, September 26th, 2021 | 10:30 a.m. | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Friday, October 1, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 14:00 pm
Trailer:
Goldfish, Love, and Life by Yukinori Makabe – Japan | 2021 – 92 minutes
Makoto, a pompous big-city banker, is forced to relocate to the countryside in the middle of nowhere. He falls in love with a girl who owns a goldfish scooping shop after he arrives, but she is already engaged to another guy. In the meanwhile, the banker is being pursued by another lady who fell in love with him at first sight. A charming, quirky, and amusing musical with great tunes. Based on the same-named manga series.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 22:15 pm Saturday, September 25, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 22:15 pm Thursday, September 30th, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 14:45 pm
Trailer:
In my mind’s eye, I saw Sasaki. by Takuya Uchiyama – Japan | 2020 – 118 minutes
Yuji had hoped to make it as an actor in Tokyo, but life has proven to be tough for him. When he sees his old classmate Tada again, they talk about their high school days with their larger-than-life buddy Sasaki. Coming-of-age drama with a heartfelt and melancholy tone, in which looking back sheds a fresh light on the present.
Dates: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | 12:00 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Friday, September 24, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 16:45 p.m. Thursday, September 30th, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 12:30 pm
Trailer:
Ogawa Sara’s The Goldfish – Japan | 2021 – 77 minutes
Hana, now 18, grew raised in a children’s home after her mother allegedly committed a crime. She takes a newly protected child, who has been mistreated by her own mother, under her wing as the home’s eldest “sister.” Drama about delicate females in a harsh world that is intimate, sensitive, and dreamlike. The picture has been likened to KOREEDA, and the maestro himself has complimented it.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 17:15 pm Friday, September 24, 2021 | 22:15 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Saturday, September 25th, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 10:00 a.m. Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 15:00 pm
Trailer:
Nishikawa Miwa’s Under the Open Sky – Japan | 2020 – 126 minutes
After completing a lengthy term for murder, an ex-yakuza gets freed after spending most of his life in jail. He applies for a TV program that reunites individuals in the hopes of finding his long-lost mother, from whom he was separated as a kid. Meanwhile, he tries unsuccessfully to find work and integrate into society, hampered not just by his background, but also by his impetuous temperament, stubbornness, and deeply held convictions. Redeeming drama that is touching, sympathetic, and tragic.
Dates of screening: Friday, September 24, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 14:45 pm Saturday, September 25, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 17:15 pm Sunday, September 26th, 2021 | 13:00 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 12:30 p.m.
Trailer:
Ian Thomas Ash’s Ushiku – Japan | 2021 – 87 minutes
Refugees seeking asylum in Japan are mainly held at the Ushiku immigration center near Tokyo. Despite the government’s media embargo on immigrant detention centers, filmmaker Thomas ASH interviewed prisoners with a concealed camera. On the eve of the COVID-19 outbreak, the prisoners speak out against their treatment and Japan’s tough refugee policy.
Dates of screening: Friday, September 24, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 12:15 pm Saturday, September 25, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 16:30 pm
Trailer:
Kurosawa Kiyoshi’s Wife of a Spy – Japan | 2020 – 115 minutes
In the newest KUROSAWA Kiyoshi film, the owner of a trade business in Manchuria sees a terrible state secret shortly before World War II breaks out. His wife continues to believe in and love her husband while he makes every attempt to tell the world what he witnessed, causing her a great deal of difficulty. Spy thriller that is elegant, tense, and sophisticated. The Silver Lion was awarded at the Venice International Film Festival.
Dates of screening: Thursday, September 23rd, 2021 | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam | 16:00 pm Sunday, September 26th, 2021 | 19:30 pm | Lantarenvenster Rotterdam Sunday, October 3rd, 2021 | LAB III Amsterdam | 19:30 p.m.
Trailer:
Please visit https://camerajapan.nl for additional details.
CAMERA JAPAN is a Japanese cultural event that has been held in Rotterdam every year since 2006. The visual arts, music, dancing, fashion, architecture, cuisine, and much more are all explored in addition to cinema. Every fall, we bring a selection of films from the program to Amsterdam for a weekend of screenings of Japan’s finest, strangest, and most surprising films.
