Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film

11:00 Am - Shorts Program 2

Japan Cuts Offers Three Daring Experimental And Animated Shorts. Break Through The Limits Of Communication, Blast Off Down The Highway Into A Celestial World, And See One Of Japan’s Earliest Films Come Back To Life Through The Talents Of Anime Legends Rintaro And Katsuhiro Otomo.

12:30 Pm - Ice Cream Fever + Q and A

North American Premiere. Adapted From A Short Story By Award-Winning Author Mieko Kawakami, This Colorful Debut By Tetsuya Chihara Follows Four Young Women Who Intersect One Summer At A Shibuya Ice Cream Shop Where They Each Find Some Sweet Inspiration. Natsumi (Riho Yoshioka), A Designer In A Rut Working Part-Time At The Shop, Becomes Entranced By Saho (Serena Motola), A New Customer And A Writer Hiding From Public Scrutiny. Meanwhile, Frequent Customer Yu (Marika Matsumoto) Is Surprised By A Visit From Her Teenage Niece Miwa (Kotona Minami) Who Is In Search Of Her Estranged Father—Yu’s Ex And A Source Of Resentment Between Yu And Her Sister, Miwa’s Mother.

3:00 Pm - Blue Imagine

North American Premiere. In Her Directorial Debut, Actress Urara Matsubayashi Stares Unblinkingly Into Sexual Violence In The Japanese Film Industry. In The Aftermath Of Being Assaulted By A Well-Known Director, Young Actress Noel (Mayu Yamaguchi) Finds Refuge In “Blue Imagine,” A Communal Living Space For Abused Women. Here, She Meets Survivors With Similar Experiences And Receives Support From A Counselor (Played By Director Matsubayashi). Blue Imagine Complexly Explores The Physical, Mental, And Emotional Scars Of Abuse, Transformative Power Of Friendship, And Difficult Questions Of Revenge, Recovery And Self-Realization.

5:30 Pm - Performing Kaoru's Funeral + Q and A

New York Premiere - Featuring Director Noriko Yuasa In-Person. Noriko Yuasa’s Performing Kaoru’s Funeral Is A Riveting Black Comedy That Captures The Palpable Explosion Of Emotions At A Familial Wake. Failed Actor Jun Receives A Phone Call That Informs Him That His Elusive Ex-Wife Kaoru Has Chosen Him To Be The Chief Mourner At Her Funeral In Her Last Will And Testament. Traveling To Kaoru’s Hometown To Enact The Service As A Reluctant Participant, Jun Is Met By A Claustrophobic Cast Of Family Members And Friends, Including Kaoru’s Daughter, Accompanied By A Flood Of Memories About The Deceased. With A Perfect Ensemble Of Off-Kilter Performances, Accompanied By A Percussive Soundtrack And Propulsive Editing, Yuasa Delivers A Dark Comedy That Etches An Entertaining Yet Poignant Portrait Of Familial Dysfunction. Winner Of The Japan Cuts Award At The 2024 Osaka Asian Film Festival

8.30pm - Mermaid Legend

Mermaid Legend Exudes A Lyrical Melancholia For The Dying Way Of Life Of Seafaring Fishermen And Ama Divers. Set In A Coastal Fishing Hamlet, Toshiharu Ikeda’s Eco Thriller Finds The Incursive Grasp Of Industrialization And Corporate Greed Encroaching On Natural Realms. Migiwa (Mari Shirato), An Ama Diver Who Plunges The Azure Depths For Abalone In The Heat Of Summer, Becomes Entangled In A Redevelopment Scheme Involving Powerful Local Figures And Yakuza When Her Husband Is Killed For Witnessing A Murder. Battered And Left For Dead, The Pearl Diver Plans Her Vengeance On Those Who Wronged Her To Devastating Effect. Incurring A Siren’s Sanguinary Wrath—One Which Can Only Be Described As A Sheer Force Of Nature—The Elegiac Mermaid Legend Is A Brooding Requiem For Loss, A Cautionary Parable For Man’s True Acquiescence To The Natural World.

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!)