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Pia Film Festival
The (also known as the PIA Film Festival or PFF for short) is an annual film festival established in 1977. According to film scholar Jasper Sharp, the festival "not only ranks as a vital hotbed from which the careers of some of Japan's most talented young filmmakers have been launched, but it also lays claim to being the first ever film festival in Japan." History The festival was first held in 1977 as the "Off Theater Film Festival" by the Tokyo listings magazine ''Pia''. Early jury members included Nagisa Oshima and Shuji Terayama, and the second festival featured such later star directors as Sogo Ishii, Yoshimitsu Morita, and Shunichi Nagasaki. According to Bryan Hartzheim writing in 2010, "many of the biggest directors of the last 20 years had their debuts at Pia." Other filmmakers who were screened at the PFF before making their professional debut include Joji Iida, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Akihiko Shiota, Ryosuke Hashiguchi, Shinobu Yaguchi, Lee Sang-il, Naoko Ogigami, Kazuyo ...
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Tokyo, Japan
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 million residents ; the city proper has a population of 13.99 million people. Located at the head of Tokyo Bay, the prefecture forms part of the Kantō region on the central coast of Honshu, Japan's largest island. Tokyo serves as Economy of Japan, Japan's economic center and is the seat of both the Government of Japan, Japanese government and the Emperor of Japan. Originally a fishing village named Edo, the city became politically prominent in 1603, when it became the seat of the Tokugawa shogunate. By the mid-18th century, Edo was one of the most populous cities in the world with a population of over one million people. Following the Meiji Restoration of 1868, the imperial capital in Kyoto was mov ...
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Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
is a Japanese film director. Career Kumakiri debuted with ''Kichiku'' in 1997. His 2001 film, ''Hole in the Sky'', starred Susumu Terajima and Yuriko Kikuchi. His 2004 film, ''Green Mind, Metal Bats'', screened at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2006. He directed ''Sketches of Kaitan City'' in 2010. In 2012, he returned with ''Blazing Famiglia'', which starred the comedian Yoshimi Tokui. His 2014 film, ''My Man'', won the “Golden George” prize for the best film at the 36th Moscow International Film Festival. Filmography * ''Kichiku Dai Enkai'' (1997) * ''Hole in the Sky'' (2001) * ''Antena'' (2004) * ''Green Mind, Metal Bats'' (2006) * '' Freesia: Icy Tears'' (2007) * ''Nonko'' (2008) * ''Sketches of Kaitan City is a 2010 Japanese drama film directed by Kazuyoshi Kumakiri and starring Mitsuki Tanimura and Ryo Kase. Cast * Mitsuki Tanimura as Honami Ikawa * Pistol Takehara as Futa Ikawa * Ryo Kase as Haruo Meguro * Masaki Miura as Hiroshi Hagiya * Takash ...
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Household X
is a 2010 Japanese film directed by Kōki Yoshida. It was shown at the Forum section of the 61st Berlin International Film Festival. Cast * Kaho Minami * Tomorowo Taguchi *Tomohiro Kaku is a Japanese actor. Filmography TV * ''Higurashi When They Cry'' (BS SkyPerfect TV, 2016) – Kyōsuke Irie *''Crow's Blood'' (Hulu, 2016) *''ROOKIES'' (TBS, 2008, ep 8 - 9) *''Hana Yori Dango'' (TBS, 2005) *''Medaka'' (Fuji TV, 2004, ep ... References External linksReviewat Midnight Eye * 2010 films Films directed by Kōki Yoshida Japanese drama films 2010s Japanese films {{2010s-Japan-film-stub ...
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Sawako Decides
is a 2009 Japanese comedy-drama film directed by Yuya Ishii. The film stars Hikari Mitsushima as Sawako. ''Sawako Decides'' premiered at Tokyo at the PIA Film Festival in 2009. At the Fantasia Film Festival, the film won the award for Best Feature Film and Best Actress for Hikari Mitsushima. Plot In present-day Tokyo, 23-year-old Sawako Kimura (Hikari Mitsushima) is in her fifth part-time job and with her fifth boyfriend since leaving high school. Kenichi Arai (Masashi Endō) is a second-rate designer at the toy company where Sawako works, and has a four-year-old daughter, Kayoko (Kira Aihara). Kenichi keeps pressing Sawako to marry him, but she considers him "only average" (as indeed she considers herself "nothing special"), and on top of that she dislikes children. At the same time, Sawako's uncle, Nobuo (Ryo Iwamatsu) keeps phoning, asking her to return to her hometown, as her father Tadao (Kotaro Shiga) is dying from cirrhosis of the liver and wants her to take over the ...
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A Stranger Of Mine
is a 2005 Japanese film by Kenji Uchida, starring Yasuhi Nakamura, Reika Kirishima, Sō Yamanaka and Yuka Itaya Plot In one long Friday evening, Takeshi Miyata ( Yasuhi Nakamura), a straight-arrow businessman, will encounter a number of people (some only fleetingly) who have intertwining fates. The plot of the film is presented in succession first from the point of view of Maki Kuwata (Reika Kirishima), a young woman disappointed in love, then from Takeshi's point of view, then of his friend, Yusuke Kanda ( Sō Yamanaka), a private detective, then of Takeshi's former girlfriend, Ayumi Kurata (Yuka Itaya), then of a wannabe-tough Yakuza, Asai (Kisuke Yamashita). Cast * Yasuhi Nakamura as Takeshi Miyata * Reika Kirishima as Maki Kuwata * Sō Yamanaka as Yusuke Kanda * Yuka Itaya as Ayumi Kurata * Kisuke Yamashita This is a list of characters for Tite Kubo's manga and anime series ''Bleach (manga), Bleach''. It takes place in a fictional universe in which the characters are ...
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Border Line (film)
''Border Line'' is a 2002 drama film, and the feature film debut of Korean-Japanese film director Sang-il Lee. It observes the lives of three un-related characters, a son, a father and a mother, each of whom has a troubled family background. The film is largely a character study, structured in a style of a Robert Altman movie, showing a number of different sub-plots unfold over the course of a few days. The shooting-style adopted is often similar to that of Yasujirō Ozu. The cast includes Tetsu Sawaki (Shuji Matsuda, the 17-year-old high school student), Yumi Asō (Aikawa, the convenience store clerk), Ken Mitsuishi (the middle-aged yakuza), and Jun Murakami (Kurosawa, the taxi driver). Plot The film opens with Matsuda being uncooperative at school. A radio broadcast reveals that he then murders his father and runs away on his bike. The next morning a drunken Kurosawa runs him over in his taxi. Feeling guilty about the accident, he is soon driving Matsuda to northern Jap ...
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A Touch Of Fever
is a Japanese film directed by Ryosuke Hashiguchi, starring Yoshihiko Hakamada and Masashi Endō. It was released in 1993. It was shot on 16 millimeter film with a small budget and no payment for the actors or the director. It was awarded a PFF Scholarship (which supports the production of one film for theatrical release each year). It was then screened in Berlin Film Festival.David A. Gerstner (Editor) Plot Tatsuru and Shinichirō are two young male hustlers in Japan. The older one, Tatsuru, disconnects himself from his emotions in order to perform his job. The younger Shinichirō, meanwhile, grows uncomfortable with the work once he has fallen in love with Tatsuru. After Shinichirō gets thrown out of his parents' house, he stays at Tatsuru's apartment, and their once casual relationship awkwardly develops into something else. Cast * Yoshihiko Hakamada as Tatsuru Shimamori * Masashi Endō as Shinichirō Miyajima * Reiko Kataoka as Yoriko Suzuki * Sumiyo Yamada as Atsu ...
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Lee Sang-woo
Lee Sang-woo (born February 13, 1980) is a South Korean actor. He rose to fame in the 2007 television drama ''First Wives' Club'', and has since played leading roles on '' The Road Home'' (2009), '' Don't Hesitate'' (2009), ''Life Is Beautiful'' (2010), and '' Feast of the Gods'' (2012). Career Lee Sang-woo launched his acting career in 2005, starring in a ''Drama City'' episode and a minor role in the television drama '' 18 vs. 29''. This was followed by more supporting roles on television, including his big screen debut in '' Almost Love'', a romantic comedy film headlined by Kwon Sang-woo and Kim Ha-neul. During this time, he also starred as one of the three leading actors of the independent film ''Don't Look Back'' (2006), which was the closing film of that year's Jeonju International Film Festival, and won a critic's prize at the Locarno International Film Festival. Lee began his rise to fame with a supporting role in ''First Wives' Club'', a popular drama which aired fro ...
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John Cassavetes
John Nicholas Cassavetes ( ; December 9, 1929 – February 3, 1989) was an American actor, film director, and screenwriter. First known as a television and film actor, Cassavetes also helped pioneer American independent cinema, writing and directing movies financed partly by income from his acting work. AllMovie called him "an iconoclastic maverick",Ankeny, JasonJohn Cassavetes ''AllMovie''. while ''The New Yorker'' suggested in 2013 that he "may be the most influential American director of the last half century."''The New Yorker'', July 1, 2013, p. 17 "On the Horizon: Movies: Wild Man Blues July 6–31" As an actor, Cassavetes starred in notable Hollywood films throughout the 1950s and 1960s, including ''Edge of the City'' (1957), ''The Dirty Dozen'' (1967), and '' Rosemary's Baby'' (1968). He began his directing career with the 1959 independent feature ''Shadows'' and followed with independent productions such as ''Faces'' (1968), ''Husbands'' (1970), ''A Woman Under the Infl ...
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Yuya Ishii (director)
is a Japanese film director, writer, editor, producer and actor best known for his 2013 movie ''The Great Passage'' for which he won best director at the 2013 Japanese Academy Awards. Personal life Yuya Ishii won best director at the 2010 Blue Ribbon Awards, and the movie also resulted in his marriage in late 2010 to the lead actress Hikari Mitsushima, a former member of the J-pop group member Folder 5 and actress in such films as ''Death Note'' (2006) and ''Love Exposure'' (2008). They divorced in 2016. Filmography Films *''Rebel, Jiro's Love'' (2006) *''Girl Sparks'' (2007) *''Of Monster Mode'' (2007) *''Bare-assed Japan'' (2007) *''To Walk Beside You'' (2009) *''Sawako Decides'' (2010) *''Mitsuko Delivers'' (2011) *''Azemichi no dandi'' (2011) *''The Great Passage'' (2013) *''The Vancouver Asahi'' (2014) *''Our Family'' (2014) *'' The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue'' (2017) *''Almost a Miracle'' (2019) *''All the Things We Never Said'' (2020) *''The Asia ...
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Naomi Kawase
is a Japanese film director. She was also known as , with her former husband's surname. Many of her works have been documentaries, including ''Embracing'', about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and ''Katatsumori'', about the grandmother who raised her. Early life and education Growing up in the rural region of Nara, Japan, Kawase's parents split early on in her childhood, leaving her to be raised by her great-aunt, with whom she held a combative, yet loving, relationship.Karatsu 2009, p. 168. She originally attended the Osaka School of Photography (Ōsaka Shashin Senmon Gakkō; now Visual Arts College Osaka)to study television production, and later became interested in film, deciding to switch her focus. She was a student of Shunji Dodo at the college, and graduated in 1989.. Career After graduating, she spent an additional four years at the college as a lecturer before releasing ''Embracing''. Employing her interest in autobiography, most of her first ...
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Sion Sono
Sion may refer to * an alternative transliteration of Zion People * Sion (name) or Siôn, a Welsh and other given name and surname, including a list of people and fictional characters with the name * Shion or Sion, a Japanese given name Places France * Sion, Gers, France * Sion, Saxon-Sion, Meurthe-et-Moselle department, France * Sion-les-Mines, Loire-Atlantique department, France * Sion-sur-l'Océan, Vendee department, France * Mont Sion, namesake of the Priory of Sion India * Sion, Mumbai, India **Sion Causeway **Sion Creek **Sion Hillock Fort **Sion railway station (India) Switzerland * Sion, Switzerland ** Sion District ** Sion Airport ** Sion railway station (Switzerland) ** Roman Catholic Diocese of Sion ** Sion Cathedral Elsewhere * Sion (Asia Minor), a former ancient city and bishopric, and present Latin Catholic titular see in Asian Turkey * Sion, Alberta, Canada * Sion, Czech Republic, a castle * Sion, Netherlands Other uses * Sion (periodical), ''Sion'' (peri ...
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