Tokyo Filmex opens with ‘Uncle Boonmee’

TOKYO (TR) – Billing itself as a festival that seeks out the endless creativity and possibilities of cinema, the week-long Tokyo Filmex opened on Saturday in Chuo Ward.

Hundreds of biz luminaries, including legendary film historian Donald Richie, packed the Tokyo International Forum for the opening film, helmer Apichatpong Weerasethakul’s “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives.”

Jury chairperson Ulrich Gregor, the director of the International Forum of New Cinema, said in an opening address that he has been a long-time admirer of the collection of unique films and filmmakers that Filmex attracts. “What unites us all is the passion for film, the hope for a brilliant future of cinema and further development,” said Gregor. Read more

Yoji Yamada nurtures Japan’s next generation in ‘Kyoto Story’

TOKYO (TR) – Famed Shochiku helmer Yoji Yamada passes on the art of filmmaking to Japan’s next generation in “Kyoto Story,” his collaboration with co-director Tsutomu Abe and a team of university students.

Yamada (“Twilight Samurai” and “The Hidden Blade”), Abe and 22 students from Ritsumeikan University College of Image Arts and Sciences teamed up on the film, set in Uzumasa, one of Kyoto’s most historic areas.

“How one goes about teaching filmmaking is a common point of discussion nowadays,” said the 79-year-old Yamada of the film following a press screening at The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan last week. “If you teach painting, of course you draw. If you teach music, you ask students to perform. So naturally, if you want students to understand filmmaking you must ask them to make a film.”

Abe said that the film industry is not the same as when he was young, a time when gaining knowledge was similar to theft. “I learned in the studio,” he said. “This is exactly why we came up with this project – to give students an opportunity. I do believe that the time is now to pass on these skills to the younger generation.” Read more

Closing ceremonies for Kabuki-za in Ginza

(Photo by Tokyo Reporter, April 30, 2010)

TOKYO (TR) – Closing ceremonies for the five-decade-old Kabuki-za theater, located in Chuo Ward’s Ginza district, will be held today.

Entertainment company Shochiku announced in 2008 that the theater, Japan’s home for kabuki since it was founded in 1889, will be rebuilt inside a large office-theater complex by 2013. Shochiku said in an email statement that the Kabuki-za is an aging structure that is susceptible to earthquakes. It added: “Taking into consideration that its facilities are not barrier-free, we decided that it would be in the best interest of our customers for us to rebuild the theater.”

The existing structure was established following heavy damage inflicted during the Allied bombings of Tokyo in World War II. Farewell performances took place Wednesday. Read more

Curtain falling on cinema in Kabukicho

TOKYO (TR) – Tokyo’s Kabukicho entertainment area, once one of Japan’s most vibrant cinema districts, is experiencing a rapid shuttering of its theaters as their aging buildings lose audiences to modern theaters nearby.

The first domino fell in 2008, when Toho acquired the landmark Koma Stadium, a 2,000-seat performing arts theater that opened in 1956. Toho shut the Koma property, which also had two screens in its basement, and its neighboring building, home to the exhibitor’s 1,044-seat Shinjuku Plaza Gekijo, in preparation for redeveloping the entire site.

Last November, four screens operated by Toa Kogyo also closed, and three more, run by Humax Cinema, which had featured everything from “Ben-Hur” to softcore “pink” porn since opening in 1947, had shut six months earlier. Read more

Creative funding for Japanese films

TOKYO – It has been a head-scratching past 12 months for Japanese film investors.

September saw the opening of “Shinobi” (Heart Under Blade), an experiment in film funding that allowed the general public to purchase shares in this expensive, for Japan, $13.6 million ninja picture by studio Shochiku.

Share sales for the project began last December, fresh on the heels of Kadokawa Herald Pictures’ establishment of the “Japan Film Fund” – a pool of money collected from a variety of investors to fund Kadokawa’s bigger-budgeted films.

Japan’s film companies are today racking up larger production costs – well in excess of the typical $2 million to $3 million – in an effort to keep up with imports. As a result, raising cash is getting more creative and deviating from the standard multi-partner funding model that usually includes only film-related companies. Read more

Yoji Yamada to start new project

TOKYO (TR) – Studio giant Shochiku announced this week that legendary director Yoji Yamada will begin work on his next film in mid-January.

“Otouto” tells the story of one foolish brother (the word “otouto” in Japanese means younger brother) and his warm and caring older sister. The film will be the 81st for Yamada, who first garnered fame for his “Tora-san” series of 48 films and whose recent works include the Academy Award-nominated “The Twilight Samurai” (2002) and its follow-up, “The Hidden Blade” (2004). Read more

Land prices trumping cultural worth

TOKYO – Over the last century, earthquakes and bombing raids have left Tokyo with, what many would describe as, a cityscape of few long-lasting structures of architectural merit. But nowadays the elimination of such properties is increasingly becoming self-inflicted.

In October, fans of kabuki and historic architecture were saddened by entertainment company Shochiku’s announcement that it plans to demolish the landmark Kabuki-za Theater. Reconstructed twice, the theater, in Chuo ward, has been Japan’s premier home for kabuki since it was founded in 1889.

The current five-decade-old building, which achieved tangible cultural property status in 2002, will close in 2010 and be rebuilt inside a large office-theater complex by 2013. “At present, the Kabuki-za is an aging structure that is susceptible to earthquakes,” explained an email statement from Shochiku concerning the timing of the decision. “As well, taking into consideration that its facilities are not barrier-free, we decided that it would be in the best interest of our customers for us to rebuild the theater.” Read more

Shochiku adds animation

TOKYO – Readying more robots for battle.

Japanese film giants Toei and Toho probably cast nervous looks over their backs in September, when film-distribution and kabuki-theater conglomerate Shochiku established an animation division to increase its share of Japan’s $18 billion annual animation market.

“We now have the ability to expand our animation business,” says division general manager Ichiro Seki.

Shochiku, which has animation experience with the “Gundam” robots and “Ultraman,” will now have the increased flexibility needed to commission a larger selection of features and provide unique marketing options. Read more

Yamada screens final samurai flick at Tokyo festival

TOKYO – Director Yoji Yamada saw the culmination of his samurai trilogy with a special screening of “Bushi no Ichibun” (Love and Honor) on the eve of the 19th annual Tokyo International Film Festival.

“Bushi” is the first Japanese film to open the festival, which will feature Clint Eastwood’s Iwo Jima film, “Flags of Our Fathers,” on Saturday evening and close next week with director Kon Ichikawa’s mystery, “Murder of the Inugami Clan.” Read more

Toei Animation looks back after fifty years

TOKYO – After a half-century in the cartoon business, in which it produced such television classics as “Sailor Moon” and “Dragonball Z,” Toei Animation is returning to its roots.

“Our television animations are currently going all around the world,” says Hiroyuki Kinoshita, director of the cartoon studio’s corporate strategy. “Now we are thinking back to the origin of our company, which was focused on feature films.” Read more

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