Japanese Cinema Program Schedule 2019

2019/11/20


December 　 Thursday, Dec. 19 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		The Chef of South Polar In 1997, an 8 men research team arrived at Dome Fuji Station in Antarctica. The station is 1,000km away from the Antarctic coast. No animals, and no virus can live there... Mr. Nishimura is a chef of the team. He misses his family in Japan, but he tries to make a delicious meal to make the members happy every day. The Captain of the team is addicted to ramen, the doctor tries to train to participate in a triathlon when he returns to Japan, and the young support member likes a telephone operator whom he has never met before... Various unique people have to live together for one and a half years. What will their curious lives be going in the South Pole? 　 Directed by Shuichi Okita / Production Year: 2009 / Running Time: 125min
November 　 Thursday, Nov. 14 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Fireworks from the Heart Five years ago, the Sudo family moved to Katakai, Niigata Prefecture for the recuperation of their daughter Hana who was suffering from some health issues.The small town of Katakai boasts some of the biggest fireworks displays in the world. Hana is released from the hospital on the day of the annual Katakai fireworks festival and learns that her older brother, Taro has become a social recluse. At the festival later that evening, Hana sees the town’s Young Adult Group enthusiastically planning for the following year when they would turn twenty and sponsor their own fireworks. Hana resolves to get her brother more involved in the community and forces him out of seclusion. She drags the reluctant Taro to the Youth Group Office. Later, Hana has a relapse and is hospitalized, but this time, her condition deteriorates and she passes away. Following Hana’s tragic death, Taro quits the Youth Group and takes on more part-time work with the intention of independently sponsoring his own fireworks display for Hana. He asks the head of the fireworks factory to help him create a special creation in memory of his sister. Directed by Kunimoto Masahiro / Production Year: 2010 / Running Time: 119 min
October 　 Thursday, Oct. 17 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		After the Flowers Spring in the Unasaka region. The area within the second enclosure of the castle is full of young girls delighting in the cherry blossoms. As she is enthralled by the cherry blossoms, Ito is suddenly greeted by a young samurai, Eguchi Magoshiro. Trained in swordsmanship by her father, Ito is said to have successively defeated the best students at the dojo Sonshiro attends and he has come to challenge her to a duel someday. At some point, Ito had grown fond of Sonshiro as a polite as well as skilled swordsman, but Ito’s father has chosen a fiance for her, Saisuke. Meanwhile, engagement talks move forward for Sonshiro also; the individual is Kayo, Ito’s uninhibited senior who is known have had experience with men. Yet, the engagement will elevate the status of Sonshiro’s family and if this makes him happy, then that is Ito’s hope; however, she catches Kayo together with a samurai with whom she is rumored of having an affair, Fujii Kageyu. Furthermore, a year later, Ito’s hope is mercilessly betrayed… 　 Directed by Kenji Nakanishi / Production Year: 2009 / Running Time: 107 min
September 　 Thursday, Sept. 19 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Hankyu Railway - A 15-minute Miracle An ordinary train commute. A familiar landscape. Whether riding to work, to school, to shop, or to meet someone special… the train is a medium for people’s lives and stories. When you look up from the words on the page, when you put away your cell phone or take off your headphones, a little sliver of magic – a life-changing “encounter” - may be waiting for you. A slight shift in your viewpoint can make your ordinary, everyday life sparkle. 　 Directed by Yoshishige Miyake / Production Year: 2011 / Running Time: 119min
August 　 Thursday, August 8 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Special Feature "Youth and School Club Activities" Swing Girls 　 At a rural girl's high school in northern Japan, remedial math classes are being held during the summer break. Looking for a way out, Tomoko and two of her classmates volunteer to deliver lunches left behind by the school's brass band on the way to support the baseball team at a crucial game. However, when the band subsequently suffers a bout of food poisoning, Tomoko and her companions seize the chance to ditch summer school as replacement musicians. Despite a severe lack of talent, they gradually succumb to the infectious rhythms of big band jazz and start to take the music seriously. Just as they are about to perform in public for the first time, the band members they replaced return and the ring-ins are shunted to the sidelines. However, this fails to dampen the girls' newfound spirit, and they take up part-time jobs and practice in the streets to achieve their dream of playing at the school's music festival. 　 Directed by Shinobu Yaguchi / 2004 / 105min.
July 　 Thursday, July 25 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Special Feature "Youth and School Club Activities" Water Boys It’s springtime in Japan and the Tadano High School swim team is barely keeping afloat. When a pretty new coach turns up with the nutty idea of creating a top synchronized swimming team of her own, she has just a few problems to overcome. First, she's teaching at an all-boys school; second, the 5 boys who have committed to the team are all hopelessly bad swimmers; third, she suddenly discovers she’s 8 months pregnant and due for maternity leave. Inspired by their darling coach’s dream, the boys bumble through the spring and summer, preparing a routine for Tadano High’s festival. Will the Waterboys hard work be wasted, or can they paddle their way to the success and recognition they've worked so hard to win? 　 Directed by Shinobu Yaguchi / Production Year: 2001 / Running Time: 91min
June 　 Thursday, June 20 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Special Feature "Continue what you believe in!" The Wife of Gegege A love story depicting the younger days of Mizuki Shigeru, author of "Gegege no Kitaro, " the well-known comic on 'yokai' (supernatural beings), and his wife Mura Nunoe, who supported him through the years. Like the hit TV drama version, the film is based on Nunoe's autobiography, but it focuses mainly on their days as newlyweds when they lived through extreme poverty, and provides a heart-warming account of their struggles as they start a life together. In Shimane prefecture, 1961, 29 year-old Nunoe and Shigeru, a manga artist who lost his left arm in the war, get married, just five days after being introduced at a matchmaking meeting. They move to Tokyo and endure a life of abysmal poverty. Director: Takuji Suzuki / Production: 2010 / Duration: 119 minutes
May		No Film Show During Ramadan.
April 　 Tuesday, April 9 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Special Feature "Continue what you believe in!" The Village Album In the village of Hanatani, Tokushima, there are plans for a dam to be built. When the dam is built, the village of Hanatani will be changed forever. The village asks Takahashi Ken’ichi, the village photographer, to make a collection of a photos of all the families in the village. They decide to do this to preserve the memory of the beautiful village. Ken’ichi’s son, Takashi is an assistant photographer in Tokyo. His father asks him to come back to help him, but they don’t get along with each other... Director: Mihara Mitsuhiro / Production: 2004 / Duration: 111 minutes
March 　 Tuesday, March 19 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Special Feature "Anime Movie" Crayon Shin Chan: The Battle of the Warring States Shinichi is often blamed by others for his actions. He time travels by chance to the sixteenth century, the era of warring states, and saves the life of a samurai. He discovers that he loves the princess "Ran", who is the daughter of his master. But her beauty becomes popular among neighboring areas, and the Lord "Takatora" proposes to marry her. But the princess refuses and a war breaks out between the two areas. Director: Keiichi Hara / Production: 2002 / Duration: 95 minutes
February 　 Tuesday, February 12 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Special Feature "Anime Movie" Pop In Q Third year middle-schooler, Isumi finds a "fragment of time" at the ocean. Upon picking it up, she sees an unknown world stretching out before her and encounters a strange life-form calling itself a Pokon. The Pokon tells her the world's time is in danger of breaking down, and so with four other girls, attempts to circumvent the crisis. Director: Miyahara Naoki / Production: 2016 / Duration: 95 minutes
January 　 Thursday, January 17 From 6 P.M. 　 Brochure		Special Feature "Studio Ghibli Anime Movie" Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea During a forbidden excursion to see the surface world, a goldfish princess encounters a human boy named Sosuke, who gives her the name Ponyo. Ponyo longs to become human, and as her friendship with Sosuke grows, she becomes more humanlike. Ponyo's father Fujimoto brings her back to their ocean kingdom, but so strong is Ponyo's wish to live on the surface that she breaks free, and in the process, spills a collection of magical elixirs that endanger Sosuke's village. A story of love, responsibility, nature and life. Director: Hayao Miyazaki / Production: 2008 / Duration: 103 minutes