Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film

5:30 Pm - The Box Man

East Coast Premiere – Featuring Director Gakuryu Ishii In-Person. An Appropriately Frenetic Production Chiseled With The Punk Ethos Of Ishii’s Early Work, The Box Man Arrives On The Centennial Of Author Kobo Abe’s Birth. One Of The Most Audacious Of Abe’s Novels, The Unfilmable Nouveau Roman Explored Vagrancy And Identity In A Thoroughly Experimental Effort Through The Fragmented Ramblings Of A “Box Man”—A Purposeful Outcast Who Renounces Everything (His Identity, Home, Life) To Live Inside A Cardboard Box, Peering Out From Within To Observe The Frightful State Of Society, Invisible To Those Around Him. Masatoshi Nagase Stars As “Myself,” A Photographer Who Becomes Enraptured By The Sight Of A Box Man; However, He Quickly Falls Into The Self-Fulfilled Prophecy Dictated By The Doctrine Of The Box Man: “Those Who Obsess Over The Box Man Become The Box Man.” Absurdist, Self-Aware And Characteristically Bizarre, Ishii’s Voyeuristic Rendition Of Abe’s Seminal Novel Brings To Life All The Novel’s Formal Attributes, Now Transposed In A Similarly Meta Fashion For The Silver Screen.

3:00 Pm - Blue Period

International Premiere. Tsubasa Yamaguchi’s Blue Period Manga Is An Acclaimed Coming-Of-Age Story About The Power Of Passion, Dedication And Art. It Has Over 8 Million Copies In Print Worldwide And Has Won Awards At The Kodansha Manga Awards And Manga Taisho Awards. Now, Yamaguchi’s Striking Manga Comes To Life Through Director Kentaro Hagiwara. Following Yatora (Gordon Maeda) Through His Sophomore Year Of High School, His Life Changes When Completing An Art Project. Consumed By A Deep New Feeling Inside Himself, He Submerges Into The World Of Art And Challenges Himself To Get Into One Of The Most Difficult Art Universities In Japan. Yatora’s Journey Is One Of Competition, Compulsion, Despair And Beauty Driven Forward By A Mesmerizing Soundtrack By Yuki “Yaffle” Kojima. See It At JAPAN CUTS Before It Comes To Theaters In Japan In August!

12:30 Pm - Sayonara, Girls.

North American Premiere. With Graduation Around The Corner, A Group Of Students At Shimada High School In Yamanashi Prefecture Spend Their Final Days Processing Their Time Together And The Future Ahead Knowing That The School Building Will Soon Be Demolished: Tokyo-Bound Kyoko (Rina Komiyama) Considers The Boyfriend She Will Leave Behind; Shiori (Tomo Nakai) Seeks To Overcome Her Debilitating Shyness; Music Club Leader Yuki (Rina Ono) Manages The Drama Of The Graduation Concert; And Manami (Yuumi Kawai) Wrestles With Past Trauma While Preparing To Deliver The School’s Farewell Speech. Led By An Impressive Cast Of Young Actresses, Shun Nakagawa’s Poignant Feature Debut Deftly Captures The Bittersweet Sensitivity Of Adolescence.

11:00 Am - Shorts Program 1

- Hail Mary
- Wife’s Power Outage
- Bottle George

Admission Information And Pricing

Opening Night, Centerpiece And Lifetime Achievement: $25 Nonmembers/ $18 Members / $23 Seniors And Students
Screenings With Qandas: $24 Nonmembers/ $17 Member / $22 Seniors And Students
All Other Screenings: $20 Nonmembers / $14 Members / $18 Seniors And Students
Short Films: $12 Nonmembers / $5 Members / $10 Seniors And Students
All-Access Pass: $315 (Member-Exclusive – Sold Out!)