The Best of Japanese Cinema Set for Warwick Arts Centre
The UK’s biggest festival of Japanese cinema, the Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme (JFTFP), returns to Warwick Arts Centre, Coventry, from Saturday 8 February to Thursday 6 March 2025.
Preview.
Under the banner Am I Right? Justice, Justification and Judgement in Japanese Cinema, eight films are set to be screened, ranging from stage adaptations and thrillers to quirky comedies and a revival of a '70s classic.
Ichiko (Sat 8 Feb 2025) sees director Toda Akihiro adapting his own critically acclaimed stage play. When his fiancé vanishes without a trace, Hasegawa discovers there's no record of her ever existing in a powerful exploration of poverty, abuse and Japan's family register system.
The first of various adaptations of crime and mystery writer Yokomizo Seishi’s best-selling novel, 1976's The Inugami Family (Tue 11 Feb 2025) is a thrilling ensemble mystery by Ichikawa Kon (Ten Dark Women) which set a new standard for Japanese noir.
A period drama which shines a contemporary light on traditional subject matters, Bushido (Thu 13 Feb 2025) finds a ronin (unemployed samurai) accused of a crime he did not commit setting out to restore his honour.
The arrival of a live-in farmhand turns family life upside down in actor-turned-director Ushimaru Ryo’s remarkable debut, Qualia (Sat 15 Feb and Mon 17 Feb 2025) - a quirky, chaotic black comedy adapted from the hit theatrical production.
Day and Night (Thu 20 Feb and Sat 22 Feb 2025) is a profoundly original drama that directly challenges the fundamental concepts of good and evil. When his father, a whistle-blower at a large automobile company, commits suicide, Koji finds himself caught in the crossfire.
Director Hara Hiroto pulls back the veil on the inner machinations of the Japanese police force and intelligence agency in Sakura (Mon 24 Feb and Wed 26 Feb 2025), a suspenseful and absorbing mystery-thriller.
JFTFP25- Sakura- ©2024 Sakura Film Partners
Three sisters plan to celebrate their mother's birthday at a hot spring resort. But with each having their own idea of how to mark the occasion, the gathering soon turns to chaos in screwball comedy To Mom, With Love (Thu 27 Feb and Mon 3 Mar 2025).
Finally, In The Wake (Tue 4 Mar and Thu 6 Mar 2025) is a taut social thriller from Zeze Takahisa (Tomorrow’s Dinner Table, My Friend ‘A’). Set in the years after a city was ravaged by an earthquake, two social workers are found starved to death.
For tickets and more information, see: warwickartscentre.co.uk
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