Benefit screenings for earthquake/ tsunami relief planned for Toronto and Montreal

by Chris MaGee

There seems to be more and more benefit events and screenings popping up everyday to help aid the victims of the March 11th earthquake and tsunami that devastated large parts of Tohoku and sparked a crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant. All we at the Pow-Wow can say is, thank god! Japan needs as much help as it can get right now, so from hundreds of thousands of dollars of aid from relief organizations to kids selling cookies in their driveway we need more events like this. With this in mind here are two screening events coming up for people near Toronto and Montreal.

First up is an event in Toronto presented by us here at the J-Film Pow-Wow. On Tuesday, April 5th at 7:00PM at The Revue Cinema (400 Roncesvalles Avenue) we will be presenting the Toronto Premiere of Yosuke Fujita's comedy "Fine Totally Fine" (above) with 100% of the proceeds going to the Support Japan - GAMBARE relief fund set uo by Pictures Dept. president Yuko Shiomkaki. Donations to this fiund will be distributed by Japanese aid organization JustGiving and go to help those fighting to put their lives back together. A pretty good night for only $8.00!

For those of you in or near Montreal the folks at Fantaisa Fest will be holding the event the Solidarity with Japan Fundraiser on Saturday, March 26th from 4:00pm at Concordia University Hall Theatre. This event won't bring you just one film to enjoy, it'll be bringing you a triple bill! Attendees can see Satoshi Miki's "Adrift in Tokyo", Tetsuya Nakashima's "Kamikaze Girls" and Gen Sekiguchi's "Survive Style 5+"! All for $10.00! What's best is that 100% of the proceeds will be donated to the Canadian Red Cross, Japan Earthquake/Asia-Pacific Tsunami Fund. Donors of $20.00 and more will get a receipt for tax credits.

Here's hoping that we see J-Film Pow-Wow readers at both these events, not only to enjoy great films, but to help. That's what's most important. Check out the trailer for "Adrift in Tokyo" below to get yourself psyched for this weekend's Montreal benefit.