Why you don’t want to miss CAMERA JAPAN Festival 2017!

One week to go and the 12th edition of CAMERA JAPAN Festival 2017 will start. First it will start at LantarenVenster in Rotterdam from September 21st till 24th, and a week later at Kriterion in Amsterdam from September 29th till October 1st.

The film programme has been released a little while ago, and the promotion for all the movies that you can see during the 2017 edition is in full throttle. This year’s theme is the Japanese island Kyushu.

Zoals elk jaar pikt AVO Blog een handje vol aan films uit die het meeste aanspreekt, maar al met al biedt CAMERA JAPAN Festival 2017 dit jaar meer dan veretig films aan, variërend van arthousedrama’s en komedie tot horror en anime. De focus ligt dit jaar op het Japanse eiland Kyushu. Vrijwel alle films in het programma zijn Nederlandse premières, waaronder vier Europese premières.

1. Mother, I’ve Pretty Much Forgotten Your Face

Punk legend Michiro Endo, known for his extreme live performances with his band The Stalin, is on a special tour to celebrate his 60th birthday when the Great East Japan Earthquake strikes. As a native of Fukushima he is deeply affected by the events. Shot during Endo’s tour, the documentary paints a fascinating self-portrait of a restless artist. The Dutch premiere will take place on Sunday, September 24 on 21.30.

2. Boys for Sale (売買ボーイズ)

Urisen – mostly straight boys who sell sex to men – reveal in this insightful and honest documentary their experiences, how they were recruited, and their working and living conditions. Set in the Tokyo neighborhood of Shinjuku 2-chome, which is considered “the gay center of Asia”. Boys for Sale is the first film from director Itako and is produced by Ian Thomas Ash (better known from his work of the documentary A2-B-C). Boys for Sale can be seen on Friday, September 22 on 19.30.

3. Her Love Boils Bathwater (湯を沸かすほどの熱い愛)

When Futaba is diagnosed with terminal cancer and learns that she only has two months left to live, she sets herself a couple of goals. The first item on her list is finding her missing husband, who deserted the family some years ago. But even more importantly is teaching her daughter Azumi, who is being bullied in school, how to be confident. One of the biggest hits in Japan last year, and Japan’s official entry for the best foreign-language film category of the Academy Awards. The film, made by Ryota Nakano, can be seen on Sunday, September 24 on 12.30 and Sunday, October 1st at 12.30.

4. Noise (製作委員会)

The grim debut feature by the Yusaku Matsumoto (1992), which deals with the aftermath of the infamous Akihabara Massacre. Twelve years later, we follow several characters, including a budding pop star and a misfit delivery boy, dealing with the wounds of the past and the pain of the present. Is the past really over, or is society doomed to repeat its mistakes? The film will have its Dutch premiere on Sunday, September 24 from 19.00.

5. A Silent Voice (聲の形)

When a deaf girl joins Shoya’s high school, he bullies her until she transfers to another school. Ostracized by his peers, Shoya decides to make amends and become a better person. But the mistakes from the past keep catching up with him. This heart-rending melodrama, made by Naoko Yamada, was a huge critical and commercial success in Japan. The anime movie can be seen on Saturday, September 23 on 19.00.

Not only movies

During CAMERA JAPAN you can see more than movies. You can visit the pop-up market, a few exhibitions, and more.

One of the exhibitions focuses on the theme of this year: Kyushu. The exhibition, A Bird’s Eye View of Kyushu, shows you prints that zooms in and out of the island of Kyushu. From the legends on the surrounding seas to the imagined appearances of Dutch traders on Deshima in Nagasaki and the historical rebellion battles by the Satsuma domain, landscapes of the island – natural and fantastical – give a brief overview of this majestic and rich part of Japan.

Hāfu2Hāfu is a unique project from half Belgian half Japanese photographer Tetsuro MIYAZAKI, photographing hāfu (a term used for people who are ethnically half Japanese) from every country in the world and sharing their most significant questions about identity, sense of belonging and growing up with two different cultures. A selection of photographs is shown in an exhibition during the festival.

The exhibitions can only be visited in Rotterdam.

There will be also a few other activities during CAMERA JAPAN Festival 2017, like a miso workshop, Japanese Craft Beer Tasting, interventions and performances from Yasuhito Arai and Noriko Tujiko. Last mentioned made the movie Kuro that will also be shown during the 2017 edition of CAMERA JAPAN. Furthermore, you can see the installation Opening Traditions from Emilie Pallard, Makiko Shinoda and Niels Heymans, that will be supported with a short movie and a lecture.