Besides new European cinema, this year's Espoo Ciné features also a selection of Japanese films.
Espoo Ciné has become known primarily as a stage for new European cinema. However, this year, the festival is also turning its gaze far to East Asia: to Japan. Japan has long been one of the world's great cinema nations, producing a vast number of outstanding filmmakers with diverse styles.
This year, the festival will present five feature films as well as a collection of seven short films. The series opens with Okiku and the World, a beautiful and humorous film by veteran director Junji Sakamoto, which became a success in its home country last year. The film has won numerous awards in Japan and, somewhat unexpectedly, also became a crowd favourite. Set in the early 19th century, this romantic comedy-drama reminds viewers that the circular economy is not a modern invention, but rather that people have long known how to make use of everything at their disposal.
New and Old Anime
When discussing Japanese cinema, one cannot fail to mention Japanese animation, anime. From an international perspective, the undisputed king of anime is Hayao Miyazaki, whose perhaps most beloved film, My Neighbour Totoro (1988), will be screened at the festival in a free outdoor screening.
Representing more contemporary anime at the festival is Blue Giant, directed by Yuzuru Tachikawa. This film, which ranks among last year's most successful new anime releases, is based on the multi-award-winning manga classic of the same name by Shinichi Ishizuka. The film, which tells the coming-of-age story of a young saxophonist, impresses especially with its superbly visualised, almost psychedelic musical sequences. The music for the film was composed by the virtuoso pianist Hiromi, who has also performed in Finland, including at the April Jazz festival.
Fresh Japanese Drama and Experimental Works
Beyond anime, Japanese cinema encompasses much more. At Espoo Ciné, Japanese drama is represented by, among others, Fly On, directed by Takuya Katō, which portrays a turning point in the life of a thirty-something Watako with exceptional subtlety and nuance. The intertwining of sorrow and beauty in Fly On feels like something only possible within Japanese culture.
Desert of Namibia, the first feature film by Yōko Yamanaka, which premiered in the prestigious Directors’ Fortnight section at the Cannes Film Festival, was immediately awarded the FIPRESCI Prize by the International Federation of Film Critics. Starring Yūmi Kawai, who has been named an icon of the new era, this drama film tells the story of 21-year-old Kana, who is bored with her life and struggling with her mental health, in a way that is something completely new within the Japanese context. If you thought you already knew what Japanese cinema is today, you need to see this!
Japan has also always made room for experimental expressions that renew the language of cinema. The Espoo Ciné Japan series culminates in a collection of experimental short films from the 1960s to the 1980s. The screening, titled Ultra Mint – Film Poetry from Japan, presents seven experimental short film classics, which likely have never before been seen on the big screen in Finland. Included are classic films by avant-garde poet Shūji Terayama, early manga master Seiichi Hayashi, and pop art legend Keiichi Tanaami.
Japanese cinema has been available in Finland for decades, and master directors like Hayao Miyazaki, Hirokazu Kore-eda, and Ryūsuke Hamaguchi are becoming familiar names here as well. However, Japanese film culture is much more than just a few international blockbuster films released in theatres. In 2023 alone, over 600 new films premiered in Japan, most of which will never be shown outside their home country. So, there is certainly plenty of new and interesting Japanese cinema to suit every taste. エスポーで日本映画を見にようこそ！
Explore all the films in the Japan series here.
