3rd JAPANESE FILM FESTIVAL

Earth, 20XX. Humanity was bewildered by the relentless environmental destruction. To protect the deteriorating nature and dwindling animal populations, a project was launched to create an artificial jungle. Kenzo Oyama, CEO of “Eternal Earth,” a company commissioned by the United Nations, successfully developed the artificial “Neo-Jungle,” and the animals raised in this jungle were forced to live in this new world…

The story begins with Leo, a white lion cub born and raised freely in this world, the son of Panja, the white lion.
The timid Leo was always teased by his companions.
“Someday, I’ll be like my father, like the Jungle Emperor!” Leo vows, and the story unfolds when he meets Kenichi, the son of Kenzo Oyama, who grew up without any hardships and firmly believes in the greatness of the Neo-Jungle…

Lupin the Third and his gang head to the Bermuda Triangle, aiming for a “mysterious island” that doesn’t exist on any world map. Their goal is to uncover the identity of the mastermind who has been sending assassins after them, and to reveal the vast hidden treasure. However, the moment they approach the island, their plane is shot down, and the group crash-lands on the island of death.
What awaits them is a landscape like the end of the world, piled high with decaying weapons and nuclear missiles, and inhabited by “garbage humans”—people who were once used as weapons and then discarded. The island, shrouded in fog, is filled with a poison that causes death within 24 hours, and there is no escape.
The island’s ruler, Muom, advocates for immortality and seeks to control the world through selection and elimination. Faced with an “immortal enemy” against whom neither guns nor swords are effective, Lupin embarks on a battle of wits, staking his past, his pride, and his dignity as a thief.
Will Lupin be able to steal everything within 24 hours and escape the island alive?

Amidst a series of disappearances of mothers and children across the country, a mysterious, deep “hole” suddenly appears at a construction site in a newly developed residential area. At the same time, Wada’s son, who works there, also vanishes without a trace. The “hole” leads to a strange forest where priestesses are performing bizarre rituals to appease a “Otokogami”. Knowing his son has wandered into the forest, Wada enters the hole…  A terrifying experience unfolds as he breaks the taboo of entering the hole, which is said to be “forbidden to enter,” in order to rescue his son!

Saito Tamon (50) is a second-generation performer of rakugo, the traditional Japanese art of storytelling. To avoid being compared to his talented father and master, Kanzo (75), Tamon shuns the traditional stories and performs new, original material only. But Tamon is unpopular with his audience and commands no respect from his peers. His earnings from rakugo amount to only a few thousand yen per month, forcing him to work part-time at night to make ends meet.
Meanwhile, dementia has forced Kanzo into retirement. Tamon’s mother has also passed away. Living alone with his father, Tamon struggles to provide the increasing amount of care Kanzo needs as his condition deteriorates. 
One day, Hamamoto Kiko (28), a struggling young stand-up comedian, happens to see Tamon’s performance at an old theater. She recognizes his original material from an old cassette tape that her mother Yoko (50) used to listen to when Kiko was a child. Acting on a whim, she decides to adapt Tamon’s story into a routine for her stand-up comedy. This chance encounter sets off a chain of events entangling Tamon, Kiko and Yoko, and their lives begin to change.

The protagonist of this film is a performer of rakugo, the 300-year-old traditional Japanese art of storytelling, and it was shot on location at one of Tokyo’s most iconic rakugo theaters, Asakusa Engei Hall. Rakugo stories typically feature hopeless, awkward, all-too-human characters, and this film is the endearing collaboration of two very rakugo-esque characters in real-life: third-time director Suzuki Taichi and veteran actor Nobe Tomizo, in the first lead role of his career.

This lyrical poem intertwines the four stages of Japanese sparklers (bud, peony, pine needle, and scattering chrysanthemum), the four seasons of Japan, and the lives of men and women. 

“Human Drama * Documentary * Art” : This unique film artistically depicts the profound world and views on life and death, incorporating experimental elements. It took 11 years to plan and produce, with filming taking place over 5 years and 3 months in 34 locations nationwide. The film was made possible with the full cooperation of Ryota Tsutsui, the third-generation owner of Tsutsui Tokimasa Toy Fireworks Manufacturing, the only manufacturer of domestically produced sparklers in Japan, located in Miyama City, Fukuoka Prefecture. Starring actress Kaori Tsubaki, who has appeared in over 200 films, and actor Koji Yuki, who is active in both Japan and Korea. The younger years are played by newcomer models Makoto Ide and Yuya Fujisawa, the childhood years by models Koharu and Sora, and the elderly years by Rucazyy. Except for the lead actors, everyone else is making their film debut and acting for the first time. Veteran actors such as Yoshitaka Funamoto, Shinichiro Osawa, and Yukichi Tono also appear in supporting roles. The film explores the true meaning and emotions embedded in domestically produced sparklers, representing the spring, summer, autumn, and winter of life.

Love story that shows the dreams and reality of young people who are psychologically unstable and trackless in Tokyo after the earthquake. A female English teacher begins to worry about the relationship with her boyfriend, a dancer in rehabilitation, but without ever facing each other or exchanging a word, the two gradually drift apart.

This project began at the end of 2011, while the shock of the Great East Japan Earthquake that occurred on March 11, was still fresh. The film was directed with a limited plot and improvisation, like a documentary.

This is the fifth film in the “A Sower of Seeds” series, which supports Japan’s primary industries such as agriculture and fisheries. It focuses on sake production in Awaji Island, Hyogo Prefecture, and the Yamada Nishiki rice variety, a representative sake rice from Hyogo Prefecture, depicting the craftsmanship and challenges faced by those involved in the industry.

Rie Kanzaki, a Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries official who loves sake, visits Sennenichi Sake Brewery, a long-established sake brewery on Awaji Island, to learn about the current state of the sake industry. There, she witnesses a conflict between the sake brewery owner, Tsuneo Matsumoto, who adheres to traditional methods, and his son, Takayuki, who wants to introduce new techniques. Among the sake brewery workers are young people like Natsumi Fujiwara, but the master brewer, Kusano, is increasingly anxious about finding a successor, leading to misunderstandings with the other workers. Rie witnesses these various challenges and searches for solutions to protect the sake industry. Just then, Chisenichi Brewery receives a business acquisition offer from overseas.

Rei Kikukawa stars as the protagonist, Rie, marking her return to film after 15 years. Shunya Kaneko plays Takayuki, the son of the brewery owner; Kurumi Shimizu plays Natsumi, a young brewery worker with high aspirations in sake making; and Daichi Asai plays Takeshi Okamura, Rie’s predecessor and former Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries official. The film is directed by Tetsuo Shinohara, who also directed the second film in the series, “A Sower of Seeds” in 2015.

Goro Inogashira travels all over Japan for work. Upon receiving a message from an old friend’s daughter, Goro arrives in Paris and learns of the elderly man’s wish to taste a particular soup he had in his childhood before he dies.