Cinema Nouveau is again hosting the Japanese Film Festival in South Africa. The festival,
now in its 20th year, is co-organised by the Embassy of Japan in South Africa and the
Japan Foundation.
The free festival screens at V&A Nouveau at the V&A Waterfront in Cape Town on 12
and 13 October; Gateway Nouveau at Gateway Durban on 19 and 20 October;
Rosebank Nouveau in the Rosebank Mall in Johannesburg on 26 and 27 October; and
Ster-Kinekor at Maponya Mall in Soweto on 31 October.
The festival’s aim is to promote and understand the different aspects of Japanese life
and culture among South African audiences.
All the films are in Japanese with English subtitles and tickets can be obtained at the
various cinema box offices an hour before each screening commences.
The following five films screen at the festival:
Hankyu Railway – A 15 minute Miracle (PG16) follows the lives of various commuters on
Hankyu Railway’s Imazu Line, which connects the cities of Nishinomiya and Takarazuka in
the Hyogo prefecture. During a train ride that takes only 15 minutes between different
stations, these commuters interact and consequently their lives are changed.
In Swing Girls, Tomoko and two of her classmates attend remedial math classes during
their summer break at a rural girls’ high school in northern Japan. So begins a journey
of becoming replacement musicians in the school band, which leads them to practicing in
the streets to achieve their dream of performing at the school’s music festival.
Set in 1589 near the end of Japan’s drawn-out civil war, The Floating Castle (PG16)
portrays the battle between Toyotomi Hideyoshi to take command of the last stronghold
of Oshi Castle in the land of Bushu. “The Floating Castle,’ named after the lake that
surrounds it, is under the command of Narita Nagachika. However, outside events lead
to an unexpected twist.
In the science fiction film The Place Promised in Our Early Days, Japan is divided after
losing World War II. Hokkaido is annexed by “Union’ while Honshu and the other
southern islands are under American sovereignty. A huge, strange tower is erected at
Hokkaido and thee ninth-graders promise to one day build an aircraft and investigate
the mysterious tower. But, three years later, and before the friends can execute their
plan, secrets about the tower and the world start to emerge.
In Wanko –The Story of Me, My Family and My Dog, the Noyama family runs a small inn
on the small island of Miyakejima. Shin Noyama, an elementary school student, names
their new-born puppy Rock. When a devastating volcano erupts on the island, the family
is forced to flee and Rock goes missing. As they begin a new life in Tokyo, the family
yearns for home on the island, not forsaking hope that Rock is still alive.
Visit www.cinemanouveau.co.za for more information about the Japanese Film Festival.
