Japanese Film Fest goes to Baguio

BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – The Film Development Council of the Philippines (FDCP) joined by The Japan Foundation, Manila, the Embassy of Japan and the Japanese Association in Northern Luzon is staging again the much-anticipated Japanese Film Festival.

In celebration of the Philippines–Japan Friendship Month in July and the 40th Year of ASEAN–Japan Friendship and Cooperation anchored on the theme “ASEAN-Japan Partnership: Thoughts Connected- Future Connected," a series of activities and film screenings are set from July 27-August 7.

The festival aims to promote the Japanese language and culture in the country and will be screened at the FDCP Cinematheque in Casa Vallejo, Baguio for two weeks.

This is an effort to spread the Japanese culture further with the films showing a total of two days each on July and August in five selected major universities- Baguio State University, Saint Louis University, University of Baguio, University of Cordilleras and University of the Philippines-Baguio.

This year’s festival will feature a total of eight titles. Always–Sunset on the Third Street–3 (2012) is a lone feature film of the drama genre which follows the interweaving stories of the residents of Third Street during the Olympics in Japan.

Four animated films are included, beginning with Brave Story (2006), a film based on a fantasy masterpiece by bestselling author, Miyabe Miyuki, wherein a primary school pupil becomes a trainee hero in the world of Vision and searches for a hidden treasure that has the power to change fate. Planzet (2010) is a story about aliens who have ravaged the earth, and the vengeance that drives humans. NITABOH–Tsugaru Shamisen (2004) is about a blind boy who inherits the shamisen instrument, and increases with skill. The final animated film is actually a collection of classic Japanese anime, running a total of five hours (326 minutes).

Also included are three documentaries. Light Up Nippon (2012), is a fireworks display project that launched fireworks at 10 disaster-stricken areas simultaneously following the Great East Japan Earthquake. 

Also to be screened are Japan Video Topics–Vol. 1 to Vol. 6, a series of subjects being discussed through documentaries, and 40th Year of ASEAN-JAPAN Friendship & Coop., a short documentary on the longstanding partnership between Japan and the ASEAN population.