Thursday, July 03, 2014

Films about Family take spotlight at Eiga Sai 2014


July 4-13, 2014
Shang Cineplex (Cinema 2), Shangri-La Plaza
Mandaluyong

The Eiga Sai 2014 focuses on the family as the highly anticipated annual Japanese Film Festival presents movies centering on the family unit. Sixteen films, the biggest selection so far, will be screened from July 4 to 13 at the Shang Cineplex at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall.

During the press preview, the Japan Foundation Manila’s Assistant Director Yukie Mitomi, mentioned that in her six years here in the Philippines, she had experienced several natural disasters and that from these events, she had seen the resilience and strong family bonds of the Filipinos. And thus, she made it her mission to gather Japanese films that highlight the resilience of humans and the importance of families amid the disasters that has befallen Japan. Most of the films selected for the Eiga Sai 2014 will center on the theme of family, starting from the immediate, extending to the other relatives and expanding towards the neighbors and the rest of the community.

The film Reunion was screened during the preview and it’s an example on how the Japanese film industry responded to the deadly earthquake and tsunami of March 11, 2011. The films to be shown at this years Eiga Sai are the following: Homeland, directed by Kubota Nao which will open this year’s festival, the award winning family drama Like Father, Like Son, the historical drama Fly, Dakota, Fly!, the documentary Hearts Together, the coming of age films A Story of Yonosuke, The Kirishima Thing and Momoiro sora o. Other films in the festival are Hospitalité, Tug of War!, Robo-G, Until the Break of Dawn, Tamako in Moratorium, Casting Blossoms in the Sky, Symphony in August, Things Left Behind, and the feature animation Wolf Children.

The 2014 Eiga Sai is presented by The Japan Foundation, Manila in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan, Shangri-La Plaza and Film Development Council of the Philippines, and supported by WAO Corporation, Akira, SumoSam, Shu Uemura, ClickTheCity.com and Net25 TV and Radyo Aguila. The Eiga Sai  is part of the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month celebration.

Reunion/遺体~明日への十日間

© 2013 Fuji Television Network

The film screened during the press preview was Reunion/遺体~明日への十日間 which was based on the nonfiction book Itai Shinsai, Tsunami no Hate ni by Kota Ishii. Directed by Ryoichi Kimizuka, the film tells the story of what happened right after the deadly earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan back in March 11, 2011. It is a very touching and emotional tale of the people ranging from firefighters, doctors, rescuers and volunteers who work hard at a makeshift morgue in order to make retrieval of bodies by family members less difficult than it already is. Lead actor Toshiyuki Nishida plays social worker Tsuneo Aiba, a retired funeral home worker who takes in the reins after he sees the chaotic situation at the temporary morgue. He effectively humanizes what possibly could be one of the most difficult tasks ever, handling corpses and dealing with grieving families. The recovery, checking, cleaning, labeling, identifying and retrieving of bodies could have easily gone the way of an assembly line, highly efficient and yet cold and impersonal, but Aiba made sure that the bodies will be treated with respect and dignity. Despite the odds, he was able to round up his confused and traumatized co-workers at the makeshift morgue and put a human and compassionate touch in their work.

The movie gave me a new perspective on how the Japanese, especially those who work in funeral homes, send off the departed. It also touched upon the themes that were tackled in Departures/Okurubito, the Academy Award winning film that was shown in Eiga Sai back in 2011. After seeing the film, it made me wonder how the Philippine film industry will respond to the super typhoon Yolanda that devastated most of central Visayas last November 2013. Reunion was screened in Japan only in 2013, just less than three years after the disaster, so I guess that it's still too early for local films to tackle Yolanda.

Here is the screening schedule of Eiga Sai 2014 at Cinema 2 of the Shang Cineplex:

July 4, 2014
1:30 PM Hospitalité
4:30 PM Tamako in Moratorium
7:30 PM Momoiro sora o

July 5, 2014
1:30 PM Until the Break of Dawn
4:30 PM Wolf Children
7:30 PM Like Father, Like Son

July 6, 2014
1:30 PM The Kirishima Thing
4:30 PM Fly, Dakota, Fly!
7:30 PM A Story of Yonosuke

July 7, 2014
1:30 PM Kokoro o hitotsuni
4:30 PM Casting Blossoms to the Sky
7:30 PM Symphony in August

July 8, 2014
1:30 PM Things Left Behind
4:30 PM Momoiro sora o
7:30 PM Tamako in Moratorium

July 9, 2014
1:30 PM Symphony in August
4:30 PM Tug of war!
7:30 PM A Story of Yonosuke

July 10, 2014
1:30 PM Fly, Dakota, fly!
4:30 PM Casting Blossoms to the Sky
7:30 PM Hospitalité

July 11, 2014
1:30 PM Tug of war!
4:30 PM The Kirishima Thing
7:30 PM Like Father, Like Son

July 12, 2014
1:30 PM Tamako in Moratorium
4:30 PM Reunion
7:30 PM Homeland

July 13, 2014
1:30 PM Wolf Children
4:30 PM Like Father, Like Son
7:30 PM Until the Break of Dawn

After the Shangri-La Plaza leg, the film festival continues at these venues:

July 25-27, 2014
Abreeza Mall,
Davao City

July 29-August 3, 2014
FDCP Cinematheque,
Davao City

August 6-10, 2014
Ayala Center Cebu,
Cebu City

Tickets:
Free admission. First-come, first-served basis.

For inquiries:
Japan Foundation, Manila 811-6155 to 58
Shangri-La Plaza 370-2597

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