Japanese film festival

THE Japanese Film Festival at the Village Cinema in Hobart from November 8-10 will feature three films of varying genres that will give fascinating glimpses of aspects of Japanese life.

The festival is presented by the Tasmanian branch of the of the Australia-Japan Society and sponsored by Forestry Tasmania which has close business ties with a number of Japanese companies and has been a corporate member of the Australia-Japan Society (Tasmania) since 2000.

Festival screenings will include the recently released and multi award winning film Still Walking. It tells the warm and heartfelt story of a Japanese family that meets every year on the anniversary of the death of the youngest son who died while rescuing a boy from drowning.

Summer Days with Coo is an award-winning movie length anime about a boy who picks up a mythical baby water creature that has been sleeping for 300 years, and they set off to find his friends.

Hula Girls is based on a true story and is set in the small coal-mining village of Joban, north of Tokyo. The future looks bleak and the village elders decide the only solution is to capitalise on the popularity of Polynesian culture and introduce a Hawaiian centre to the city. Despite the fact most villagers are horrified by the idea, a motley crew of naive, determined girls decide to help save the dying town. They learn hula dancing from a snobby Tokyo-based instructor, and go on to become heroes of the nation.

All the films are in Japanese with English subtitles.

The Japanese Film Festival will be at the Village Cinema in Collins St at 8.30pm each evening – Still Walking will be screened on Sunday November 8, Summer Days with Coo on Monday November 9 and Hula Girls on Tuesday November 10.

Entry is free.