Wednesday, April 29, 2009

The Barcelona Asian Film Festival lines up an impressive roster of Japanese films

by Chris MaGee

It seems that ever since getting back from Frankfurt and Nippon Connection 2009 I've been playing catch up. Some stories that I would have latched onto right away have slipped through the cracks for a bit while I get used to being back on home soil. This is one of those stories.

Earlier this month we told you about how Naoko Ogigami's minimalist 2007 comedy/ drama "Megane (Glasses)" had been chosen as the opening film of this year's 11th Annual Barcelona Asian Film Festival. Well, shortly after I returned from Frankfurt the BAFF announced the full line-up for this year's fest and it looks great. Film from all over East Asia are represented, but fans of Japanese cinema in and around the Barcelona area are in for a real treat.

There's too many to run down, but here are some highlights: Katsuhito Ishii's "My Darling of the Mountains", Takeshi Kitano's "Achilles and the Tortoise", Masahide Ichii's "Naked of Defenses", Ryosuke Hashiguchi's "All Around Us", Kanji Nakajima's "The Clone Returns to the Homeland", Sion Sono's "Love Exposure", and this year's Oscar winner for Best Foreign Language Film "Departures". Plus there's more! A lot more!

Head over to the BAFF website here to see what you'll be able to catch in Barcelona between April 30th and May 10th.

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