Eddie Vedder knows how to put on a festival.Every year, the Pearl Jam frontman curates the annual Ohana Music Festival at Dana Point, CA’s Doheny State Beach.Once again, he’s assembled quite an extravaganza.From Sept. 29 through Oct.
08.09.2023 - 08:19 / deadline.com
Great Absence, the second feature film from Japanese director Kei Chika-ura, is receiving its world premiere in Toronto International Film Festival’s Platform section.
Inspired by Kei’s real-life experiences, the film tells the story of an actor living in Tokyo who is forced to travel home when the police call to say his father is suffering from dementia and has lost touch with reality. Making matters worse, his father’s second wife appears to be missing.
The actor makes the trip home with his own wife, full of conflicted emotions over a man who left the family when he was still a child, and starts an exploration into the mysteries of his father’s life.
Along the way, the film touches on themes including time and memory, familial obligation and the role that women play in male-dominated Japanese society.
Veteran actor Tatsuya Fuji (In The Realm Of The Senses) plays the father, while actor, performance artist and dancer Mirai Moriyama plays the son. The cast also includes Hideko Hara (Shall We Dance) as the missing second wife, and Yoko Maki (Like Father, Like Son, After The Storm) as the actor’s wife.
The film also includes a special appearance from Satoko Ichihara, artistic director of Kinosaki International Arts Center and founder of Q Theater company, playing herself conducting an actual performance workshop that bookends the film.
Kei’s first feature, Complicity, about a Chinese immigrant in Japan, also premiered at Toronto in 2018.
He also wrote and produced both films, which were both shot by acclaimed DoP Yutaka Yamazaki (After The Storm, Nobody Knows). Keita Kumano, assistant director on Complicity and Naomi Kawase’s True Mothers, co-wrote Great Absence with Kei.
Talks are currently underway with sales agents
Eddie Vedder knows how to put on a festival.Every year, the Pearl Jam frontman curates the annual Ohana Music Festival at Dana Point, CA’s Doheny State Beach.Once again, he’s assembled quite an extravaganza.From Sept. 29 through Oct.
Paramount+ is expanding its global Korean content slate with three new series produced through its partnership with Korea’s CJ ENM.
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Addie Morfoot Contributor Long before Bethenny Frankel began fighting for reality stars’ rights, there was “Denpa Shonen: A Life in Prizes,” a Japanese reality show that began airing in 1998.The show starred aspiring comedian Tomoaki Hamatsu, nicknamed Nasubi. In a room by himself and naked, Nasubi had to fill out contest coupons in order to win what he needed to survive.
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The CEO of Universal Destinations & Experiences said hopes are high that the new Epic Universe theme park in Orlando set to open next year will extend visitor stays from three or four days to a full week as a new destination for families with kids age eight and above – Universal’s target demo.
For most Americans, the name Nasubi doesn’t mean anything. However, his impact on the world of television is immeasurable.
Patrick Frater Asia Bureau Chief That the Toronto world premiere of “The Movie Emperor” is sponsored by high-end home appliance manufacturer Dyson is deliciously and understatedly ironic. In the movie, innocuous-seeming domestic equipment — from the humble suitcase to floor sweeping robots — run quietly amok.
Hayao Miyazaki wasn’t here in Toronto tonight to fire up TIFF at the international premiere of his movie, The Boy and the Heron, but 3x Oscar winner Guillermo del Toro was.
In cinema, few names are as iconic as Hayao Miyazaki, and his latest adventure carries the weight of expectation. Drawing inspiration from the mysticism of Japanese folklore and grounded in the pain of personal loss, The Boy and the Heron, which opened the 2023 Toronto Film Festival, is a visual spectacle that rekindles the art of 2D animation in an era dominated by the digital.
Samuel Goldwyn Films has acquired U.S. rights to Korean filmmaker Kim Jee-woon’s Cobweb, starring Song Kang-ho, which had its world premiere Out Of Competition at this year’s Cannes Film Festival.
EXCLUSIVE: In a world where the space for specialist and non English-language cinema is shrinking in cinemas, it’s encouraging to see that Tokyo-based Gaga Corporation is committed to bringing a diverse range of theatrical releases to Japanese audiences.
Late Oscar-winning Japanese composer Ryuichi Sakamoto was celebrated at the Venice Film Festival on Tuesday with the Out Of Competition premiere of concert film Opus.