Bradford International Film Festival lines up an impressive mix of Japanese films

by Chris MaGee

I've always thought Japanese film blogger and industry insider Jason Gray had great taste and it appears that Tom Vincent, the programmer for the Bradford International Film Festival thinks so too. Apparently Vincent, like myself, is a regular reader of Gray's blog and has taken his cues from him as he's been assembling his list of Japanese films to screen at the 15th offering of the festival taking place in Bradford, Yorkshire, U.K. from March 13th to the 28th.

Check out this impressive line-up: Masahide Ichii's "Naked of Defenses" (above) which won the top prize at the 30th Annual Pia Film Festival last year, Yukiko Sode's debut film "Mime-Mime", Risa Morimoto's unprecedented documentary on the kamikaze "Wings of Defeat", French director Yves Montmayeur's documentary on the history of yakuza films appropriately titled "Yakuza Eiga", and Dutch director Mirjam Van Veelen's "Megumi" based on the true story of 13-year-old Megumi Yokota who was abducted by North Korean spies from Niigata in 1977.

Impressive stuff, so if you're lucky enough to be in the Yorkshire area make sure to check these out at BIFF (click here for its official website). You have not only Tom Vincent, but Jason Gray to thank for this great line-up.