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Boston Japan Film Festival Line-Up

Screening Dates : Fri. Dec 3rd – Sun. Dec 5th, 2021

We will have a discussion with the directors 

(Jun Hori, Anne Koizumi, Kira Dane)

from 8pm (EST) on Saturday, December 4th

Due to the pandemic this year, the Boston Japan Film Festival will be held online. You need to make a registration.

 

Registration 

 

                                      – Lineup –

                                   – Short films – 

In the Shadow of the Pines 

(Dir. Anne koizumi, 2020, 8min,Stop-motion animation)

In the Shadow of the Pines is an animated short documentary about a difficult father-daughter relationship. Drawing on childhood memories, Anne Koizumi, the filmmaker, explores her upbringing with her Japanese immigrant dad, who was also the janitor at the elementary school she attended. The film explores the idea of shame and how it can shape and define us while also concealing who we can truly become.

“Horimono: Japan’s Tattoo Pilgrimage”

(Dir. David Caprara, Kira Dane, 2020, 17min, Documentary)

Japan has an uneasy relationship with tattoos, which have come to be associated with organized crime. Living amongst heavy stereotypes, a group of tattooed individuals practice a centuries-old pilgrimage to a mountain shrine, now one of the few places where the traditional full-body tattoo (“horimono”) can be shown and celebrated. Following the events of this never-before-filmed pilgrimage, this short documentary provides a fresh view on the cultural history of Japanese tattoos, and those who continue to choose to get them done.

“NANMIN”

(Dir. Adam Shaw, 2021, 19min, Documentary)

Each year, thousands of refugees from around the world seek asylum in Japan, but only 0.1% of applicants are accepted. Nanmin portrays life as an asylum seeker in Japan, focusing on the secretive migrant detention centers and harsh parole system in interviews with activists, lawyers, and refugees.

“Live or Let Live”

(Dir. Yoko Asano, 2018, 9min, Stop-motion animation)
There’s a pet caterpillar named Larva in my class. I don’t like bugs but Larva is sweet and we become friends. But one day, I am faced with a horrible choice.

 “to day plus one”

(Dir. Yumeno Hoshi, 2018, 2min, Animation)

We go to sleep in hopes for a better tomorrow. The moment of truth nears as our eyes slowly open to the new day…

“OFUKU5-Karate Catharsis-“

(Dir. Sayoko Akutsu, 2019, 20min, Drama)
Yoshida wants to become stronger through Karate. Despite seeking his mother’s love, religious disagreements make him stay away form her. Yoshida encounters OFUKU, searching for her lost mother. He realized, in order to get strong, he must “overcome fear and step forward” through OFUKU and Karate.

[Feature Documentary]

“Stand with the Divided”

(Dir. Jun Hori, 2020, 105min, Documentary)

“To find out the truth, we need to break down the subject,” says Jun Hori. In Hong Kong, he meets a young man who stood up to protect human rights, freedom, and democracy. At a refugee camp in Jordan, he finds a girl who wishes to see her father detained in Syria, who -one day- hopes to become a doctor that saves many precious lives. He also makes acquaintance with Ms. Fukaya, a hairdresser, who has neither been allowed to return home due to the Fukushima nuclear accident, nor been able to hold scissors since the earthquake. Meanwhile, Kubota and her son, who have moved from Mito to Okinawa after the earthquake, meet people who oppose the move of the new U.S. Marine Corps base from Futenma to Henoko. By raising her voice, she finds ways she can do to create a better future. Deepening divisions can be seen in many places where social issues loom, in both Japan and overseas. Journalist Jun Hori explores the truth of division by approaching it himself. 

 

             – Discussion & Directors Interview-
We’ll have a discussion of Jun Hori, Director of ‘Watashi wa bundan wo yurusanai’ , Anne Koizumi, director of ‘In the Shadow of the Pines’, and Kira Dane, director of ‘Horimono: Jaoan’s Tattoo Pilgrimage.
Date & Time : Saturday, Dec 4th, 2021 from 8 PM (EST)​​​​​​​
                                        – Guests-
Anne Koizumi
Anne Koizumi is an independent filmmaker and media arts educator based in Montreal, Quebec. She completed her undergraduate studies in Film Production at the University of British Columbia and her master’s in film production at York University in 2011. In 2006, she was invited by the National Film Board of Canada to participate in Hothouse 3, an animation intensive for emerging animators, where she completed her first professional film A Prairie Story. Her films have screened nationally and internationally at Hot Docs, Ottawa International Animation Festival, Annecy, SFFIM, Slamdance, Norwich Film Festival and the London International Animation Festival. Her most recent film, In the Shadow of the Pines, won best short animation at SFFILM, best narrative short and best Canadian short at the 2020 Ottawa International Animation Festival. She has taught stop-motion animation workshops at the TIFF Bell Lightbox, Hospitals and Community Centres throughout Toronto, and at Quickdraw Animation Society in Calgary, Alberta.
Kira Dane Co-Director-www.kiradane.com
Kira Dane is a half-Japanese filmmaker from New York City, currently based in Nara, Japan. Having grown upbetween two very different cultures, she is most interested in stories that dig for the messy nuance between twoextremes. With a background in painting and illustration, she often incorporates animation and experimental formsin her work. Kira was a 2019 fellow of the Sundance Ignite Program,and her work has been screened and awardedat internationally renowned festivals such as IDFA, SXSW, AFI Docs, Atlanta Film Festival, and New Orleans FilmFestival, among others.
Jun Hori 
Jun was born in Hyogo, Japan and is currently the Representative Director of the NPO 8bitNews and the CEO of  GARDEN Inc. After the graduation of Rikkyo University in German Language and Literature, he was recruited to join the Japan Broadcasting Corporation (NHK) in 2001. He was a reporter and a newscaster for ‘News Watch 9’, ‘Biz Spo’, etc.. 
In 2012, he started ‘8bitNews’ which is a citizen news site and left NHK in 2013. He is currently working as a newscaster for program such as ‘Morning FLAG’, ‘Abema Prime’, ‘Wake up’ and works as a journalist and a writer.
Jun is also a visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Shukutoku University, official columnist of ’Forbes Japan”. He took office as a invited researcher of Waseda University, Global Consolidated Research Institute for Science Wisdom in 2019, and he is planning events which go beyond the border between the government and private and transmission of information. In 2020, he published the film ‘STAND WITH THE DIVIDED’ w
Nobuhiro Hosoki
Nobuhiro Hosokihttps://www.cinemadailyus.com
Nobuhiro Hosoki grew up watching American films since he was a kid; he decided to go to the United States thanks to seeing the artistry of Stanley Kubrick's "A Clockwork Orange.” After graduating from film school, he worked as an assistant director on TV Tokyo’s program called "Morning Satellite" at the New York branch office but he didn’t give up on his interest in cinema. He became a film reporter for via Yahoo Japan News. In that role, he writes news articles, picks out headliners for Yahoo News, as well as interviewing Hollywood film directors, actors, and producers working in the domestic circuit in the USA. He also does production interviews for Japanese distributors of American films and for in-theater on-sale programs. He is now the editor-in-chief of Cinemadailyus.com while continuing his work for Japan.

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