BENGALURU: The Japanese Film Festival (JFF) made its debut in the city last year, when Bengalureans got a chance to watch movies from the country in the theatre over a 10-day period. This year, however, the event is taking the digital route owing to the pandemic. Slated for an opening on Dec.4, the festival will bring critically-acclaimed award-winning titles along with mainstream entertainment. Organised by the Japan Foundation New Delhi, the fourth edition of the festival in India has a list of 30 Japanese films from various genres and formats. Among those to be screened are On the list are One Night, Lady Maiko, Production I.G Short Animation: (Pigtails) and Stolen Identity.
“We received an encouraging and splendid response from audiences in Bengaluru. The opening night of the festival saw massive queues and turnouts were consistent throughout the week. It was humbling to see such excitement for Japanese films in the city,” says Kaoru Miyamoto, director-general of the organisation. According to Miyamoto, streaming is still relatively lacking in Japan, with licensors quite reluctant due to concerns of piracy and copyrights.
“On the other hand, if we create and promote an environment where Japanese films can be seen more and more in the world, it may be expected that the attitude of Japanese licensors towards exploring different avenues of releasing content will become a little more positive,” he says, adding that convincing and negotiating titles for the digital edition was challenging due to this reason. “We also faced several challenges in designing and developing a website that could cater to diverse audiences who will be logging into the site from across East and South Asia to watch films in the online festival,” he adds.
The catalogue includes titles selected specifically to cater to varied ages and tastes across categories, like animation, feature drama, romance, thriller, classic and documentary. “We especially receive great responses from teenagers and young adults towards the content every year so we look forward to their continued enthusiasm for the digital edition since the internet is almost like their second home,” he says.
While the digital edition is being introduced this year, they do wish to return to Bengaluru for a theatrical festival. Miyamoto says, “JFF curates diverse titles from all genres and possible narratives which allows us to give an in-depth cross-section of content from the Japanese film industry. Of course, anime and manga adaptation titles tend to have more dedicated fans everywhere, but Bengaluru also came in droves to watch other fiction thrillers, dramas, romantic comedies and arthouse films.”(For details, visit watch.jff.jpf.go.jp)
In store:
The Flavor of Green Tea over Rice:
A middle-aged couple, who are very different from each other, find a hope for a renewal of their marriage when they share a simple meal together.
A Story of Yonosuke:
A nostalgic depiction of the interactions between a good-natured young man and his friends, while switching
back and forth between the past and present.
Tokyo Marble Chocolate:
This animated film looks at a couple’s first Christmas together, where things take an unexpected turn when a gift gets messed up.