Toshiyuki Nishida playing the role of Aiba in the 2012 movie "REUNION (遺体~明日への十日間~)".
© 2013 Fuji Television Network

In celebration of the Philippines-Japan Friendship Month, Shangri-La Plaza, together with the Japan Foundation Manila (JFM), in cooperation with the Embassy of Japan, and the Film Development Council of the Philippines once again hosts the much-awaited Eiga Sai, or Japanese Film Festival, from July 4 to 13 at the Shang Cineplex.

With this year’s theme centering on the family unit, and strengthening bonds through shared experiences, Eiga Sai presents an attractive and diverse lineup of compelling features, true-to-life stories, animation, and documentaries that broadly showcase the rich heritage, tradition, and culture of Japan and its people.

 

© 2014 Homeland Film Partners
© 2014 Homeland Film Partners

Get immersed in a heart-wrenching story in Homeland, director Kubota Nao’s debut feature on a family who rediscover their reconnections with one another, after the Great East Japan Earthquake in Fukushima. The film, which opens this year’s Eiga Sai, is also an official selection of the 2014 Berlin International Film Festival. Another award-winning film on the list is Like Father, Like Son by director Kare-eda Hirokazu. The film, Winner of the 2013 Cannes Film Festival Jury Prize and Ecumenical Jury Prize and Audience Award at San Sebastian International Film Festival questions the definition of a true family through a story about children swapped at birth.

Fly, Dakota, Fly, is a historical drama based on a true incident that occurred after World War II; while Reunion, features the story of a man engaged in the funeral business who volunteered his services at the temporary morgue in a high school gymnasium after the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. The documentary film Hearts Together is about keyboardist Grammy Award Winning Bob James and Japanese pop singer Seiko Matsuda as they performed in a charity concert together praying for recovery from the Great East Japan Earthquake.

© 2012 “Kirishima” Film Club  © Ryo Asai / SHUEISHA
© 2012 “Kirishima” Film Club
© Ryo Asai / SHUEISHA

A series of coming-of-age films also await, including A Story of Yonosuke, an official selection of the 2012 Tokyo International Film Festival that’s based on the serialized newspaper novel by Yoshida Shuichi; The Kirishima Thing, a multi-award-winning film adaptation of Asai Ryo’s best-selling novel; and Momoiro sora o, director Kobayashi Keiichi’s debut feature on a high school girl’s journey through adolescence, told through gripping black-and-white cinematography.

Multi-awarded film Hospitalité depicts the inevitable transformation of an ordinary family upon the arrival of a visitor, who claims to be from a wealthy family who once provided them with financial support. Comedy film Tug of War! tells the struggles of a women’s tug-of-war team, who want to promote their hometown through sports; while writer-director Yaguchi Shinobu’s award-winning feature, Robo-G,zones in on a consumer electronics company employee’s outrageous plan to pass off a human in a suit as a bipedal robot.

© 2012 “TSUNAGU” Film Partners
© 2012 “TSUNAGU” Film Partners

Based on the eponymous novel by Naoki Prize-winning author Tsujimura Mizuki, Until the Break of Dawn is a touching story about a young man who becomes a ‘tsunagu’ or an emissary who can reunite the living with the dead. A feature-length adaptation of images from Music ON TV, a music channel, the well-lauded Tamako in Moratorium humorously shows the baby steps of a protagonist lazing around at her father’s home, season after season—until she finds a compelling reason to finally move forward with her life. The drama Casting Blossoms in the Sky by director Obayashi Nobuhiko is about a female reporter who uncovers the people of Nagaoka, a city that overcame numerous wars and disasters.

© 2012 "WOLF CHILDREN" Film Partners
© 2012 “WOLF CHILDREN” Film Partners

Singer-songwriter Kawashima Ai’s autobiography takes on the big screen in Symphony in August; while celebrated photographer Ishiuchi Miyako’s attention-grabbing exhibit Hiroshima is detailed in the documentary Things Left Behind. Finally, a feature animation by world-class director Hosoda Mamoru, Wolf Children,chronicles  thirteen years in the lives of a mother and the two children she had with her young lover, a wolf man.

 

For inquiries, call 370-2597 or visit www.facebook.com/shangrilaplazaofficialfanpage. Follow Shang on Instagram: @shangrilaplazaofficial.

 


DISCLAIMER: The materials seen above was sent to Anime Pilipinas as part of their promotional campaign, and we are not responsible for the content.