Nippon Connection Coverage Ahead on the Pow-Wow - Stay Tuned!

by Marc Saint-Cyr

It is that time of year again: Pow-Wow editor-in-chief Chris MaGee and I will once more be shortly heading over to Frankfurt, Germany to catch one of the biggest Japanese film festivals out there: Nippon Connection. Celebrating its 12th year, the festival will be bringing a fantastic variety of new and exciting films from established directors (including Kaneto Shindo, Nobuhiko Obayashi, Takashi Miike, Toshiaki Toyoda and Shinya Tsukamoto) and emerging talents alike. The festival will be running from May 2nd to the 6th; during those days, I will be providing updates (with fresh photos) every one or two days right here to fill you in on the films I've caught and any other noteworthy observations on my festival experience. Additionally, I will be posting individual film reviews focusing on some of the intriguing selections featured in this year's Nippon Visions section, which consists of work from independent filmmakers and artists. Finally, stay tuned for after the festival ends, when I write up my summative festival report that will describe my overall experience of this year's Nippon Connection.

For those of you asking what Chris will be up to while I'm seeing to all this, I'm pleased to say that he will be quite busy fulfilling his own responsibilities - as a juror! Chris will be joined by filmmaker Yonghi Yang ("Our Homeland," "Sona, The Other Myself") and journalist and author Andreas Platthaus (F.A.Z.) on the jury for Nippon Visions, and with them, will determine which film will be worthy of the Nippon Visions Award, which will provide the honoured director with free subtitling for his or her next film courtesy of Tokyo's Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA).

For us, Nippon Connection is always a special occasion for us to get a privileged look at the newest films coming out of Japan and catch up with far-flung friends who share our love and enthusiasm for Japanese cinema and culture in their own corners of the world. This year, we're more excited than ever about what this one-of-a-kind event has to offer, and hope you'll keep checking back here to follow our coverage!

J-Film Pow-Wow on a month long break -- See you March 1st!

by Chris MaGee

There are probably more than a few of our regular readers who have been checking the blog and scratching their heads recently. Where have those guys gone? Where are the latest updates? Well, the good news is that we're still here, and in fact very busy at the moment, both with personal and professional duties. That especially goes for J-Film Pow-Wow editor and chief Chris MaGee. The bit of bad news is that this has kept us from our blogging duties, for which we sincerely apologize.

After deliberation amongst all of the crew we have decided to take a brief month long break from regular posts. THIS IS NOT THE END OF THE J-FILM POW-WOW! Far from it, so please don't worry about that. As those of you who have followed us since the beginning you'll know that we're one of the most regularly updated Japanese film blogs. Still, we're human, so please be patient while we tie up our extra-curricular duties and recharge our batteries. During this break we will be doing occasional news drops, so please check back!

One huge, and very good thing, that has been taking up time here at the J-Film Pow-Wow is Toronto's Shinsedai Cinema Festival. Chris has been very hard at work on the 4th edition of the festival, coming to The Revue Cinema between July 12th and 15th, and he will be continually tweeting and updating the festival's Facebook page, so please check him out there!

So, again, our apologies... but this isn't goodbye, it's just a see you in exactly one month!

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival starts its 2012 online fundraising campaign

by Chris MaGee

As you know from our spotty posting as of late, we at the J-Film Pow-Wow, along with author and film historian Jasper Sharp, have already been involved in some serious planning for the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival taking place at Toronto's Revue Cinema between July 12th and 15th of next year. As part of our prep work for this showcase of new independent film from Japan we have begun a 60-day online fundraising campaign via IndieGoGo, the world's largest global funding platform.

Running until January 3rd, film lovers like you will be able to help fund what The Toronto Star has called "one of the city's youngest and most original movie events". Our fundraising goal is $7,000, money that will go not only go towards guest relations costs (food, beverages, sightseeing, etc.) for the festival, but most importantly to pay for roundtrip airfare for our Japanese guests to come and personally present their films to a Toronto audience. For filmmakers, who in many have to support their filmmaking by working various jobs, this is a huge opportunity.

All we need are 350 film fans to donate $20 each. That's just the cost of one night out at the movies, or the purchase of a single DVD! Those of you who are in the position to donate more are invited to do so, and you will either be able enjoy special perks in exchange, such as free passes for our 2012 festival, or you can choose to receive a tax deductible receipt for the amount of your donation. Regardless of the amount you are able to give all backers of the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival will be given personal thanks as "Friends of the Festival" on our website and in our printed festival program.

So, please give and tell your friends about how they can give so that the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival will be the best festival we've had yet! Check out the fundraising campaign HERE.

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival returns in July 2012 at Toronto's Revue Cinema

by Chris MaGee

If you've been checking the J-Film Pow-Wow lately and thought, "Gee, the updates have been a little unpredictable," well, you'd be right. There has been a lot going on behind the scenes here at the blog that has kept me away from regular writing, reviewing and posting, and I apologize. The good news is that this hasn't been due to any big life troubles or anything like that. instead it's been due to hard work on something that I think you'll be very happy to hear.

I'm very happy to officially announce that the 4th annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival will be taking place between July 12th and July 15th of next year. Once again both I and Midnight Eye co-founder and author Jasper Sharp will be bringing the best new and independent film from Japan to Toronto film audiences. The big change is that for our fourth offering the festival will be taking place at Toronto's Revue Cinema, one of the city's premier repertory theatres.

There's obviously still a lot of work to do to get ready for 2012, and it is far to early to start spilling details of next year's festival, but let's just say that this will be an event that fans of Japanese film will not want to miss. During the coming weeks and months make sure to keep checking out newly redesigned website, and also make sure to "Like" us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. See you all next summer!

2011 Toronto International Film Festival begins

by Chris MaGee

One of the best things about being a native of Toronto is that once a year the city becomes movie central with the Toronto International Film Festival. The 11-day festival will be bringing the best of film from around the world right here to our doorstep, and that includes a fantastic line-up of films from Japan. Obviously we'll be busy running from screening to screening, but keep checking back in the coming days for regular reviews of the latest films by Shinya Tsukamoto, Toshiaki Toyoda, Sion Sono, Katsuhito Ishii, Goro Miyazaki and Hiroyuki Okiura.

One TIFF film that our Tokyo correspondent Nicholas Vroman was lucky enough to catch already was Hirokazu Koreeda's "I Wish (Kiseki)". Click here to read what Nicholas had to say about the film back in June.

So happy film fest-ing to all of you here in Toronto, and here's hoping all our international readers keep checking back over the next 11 days! For a full look at this year's Toronto International Film Festival head to the fest's official site here.

Chris and Marc head to Nippon Connection this week! Keep checking back for updates!

by Chris MaGee

As our regular readers will know both Marc Saint-Cyr and I will be heading to Frankfurt on Monday to attend and participate in the 11th annual Nippon Connection Japanese Film Festival. Yes, we're excited, and yes we're honoured. This post is just a heads up to all of you to make sure to check in daily starting on Tuesday to get news and reviews from the biggest Japanese film festival outside of Japan. We'll try and get as much content up on the blog during the festival run of April 27th to May 1st, plus we'll be doing it with the help of Nippon Connection's blogging and I.T. guru Gary Siemund.

So keep an eye on the site and look for the "Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow @ Nippon Connection" banner above, but until the fest starts on Wednesday here's the trailer for this year's Nippon Connection. Enjoy!

The J-Film Pow-Wow welcomes Nicholas Vroman and David Lam to our writing team!

by Chris MaGee

One thing that we strive to do here at the J-Film Pow-Wow is to bring you the very best news and reviews coming from the world of Japanese film on a regular basis. As you can appreciate it's a lot of work, but work that myself, Bob, Marc, Matt and Eric love. Still us five only have a finite amount of energy, so that's why we posted an ad back in January for two new staff writers. We received quite a few responses (thanks to you all!), but in the end there could only be two. After much deliberation we have finally come to an agreement and we'd like to introduce our two new staff writers... Nicholas Vroman and Daniel Lam!

Nicholas been running his own film blog, A Page of Madness for about as long as we've been running the J-Film Pow-Wow, but he also has an impressive history in film programming. Nicholas started out in the 70's as an active member of the Seattle Film Society, then in the 80's he got involved in independent film programming with the Seattle Art Museum and the University of Washington, amongst other other venues. By 1988 Nicholas was programming for the Seattle International Film Festival. Before moving to Japan four years ago Nicholas worked as Communications Director for Northwest Film Forum. Now he's for a local Tokyo film publication, EL Magazine, as well as a number of other publications in Japan and the U.S.... and here in Toronto for us!

David Lam is a Toronto local and certified Asian film fanatic. He has also spent the past couple years running his own film blog, Exiled Film Reviews where he brings his own personal brand of criticism and humour to not only Japanese film, but Hong Kong and Korean film as well.

On top of these two new members of our writing team you'll be seeing more of V-Cinema's Coffin Jon chiming in on a semi-regular basis with news and views from California, plus we'll have some amazing help with translation behind the scenes from Chikako Hirao Evans. Her help will be invaluable in bringing you more interviews with film-makers in Japan. And if you're wondering, yes she's an Evans, meaning she's the wife of our very own Eric Evans.

So, our new team for 2011 has been assembled! Keep checking back to see what we have in store for you!

J-Film Pow-Wow's Chris MaGee goes from blogger to teacher with upcoming film course

by Chris MaGee

If there's one thread that runs through all the writing and film programming I do is that I want to share my excitement and love not only for where Japanese film is and where it is going, but also the rich cultural history that has shaped and informed the cinema of Japan and how Japanese film has defined the last hundred plus years of Japanese society. So when I was approached by my Shinsedai Cinema Festival colleague and Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre Executive Director James Heron about the possibility of teaching an introductory Japanese film appreciation course at the JCCC here in Toronto it took me about two seconds to consider the offer. Of course... I said yes!

With that in mind I am very proud to announce that I'll be teaching Japanese Film Appreciation: From 1896 to Today at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre here in Toronto starting on Wednesday March 16th and running until May 11th. Not only with this course cover the progression of Japanese film from the introduction of motion picture technology to Kobe in 1896 to today's most promising film-makers, but we'll be looking at these 115 years of Japanese cinema history through the wider context of late 19th, 20th and early 21st century Japanese history as a whole.

The very best thing about this course is that it's cheap! Only $113.00 CAD for 8 weeks (we'll be skipping one week at the end of may while I head to Frankfurt for Nippon Connection) and that final class will be all of us settling into the JCCC's Kobayashi Hall and watching a film (exact title TBA). That's the same venue where the annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival is held, so big screen and big sound is guaranteed. Also the $113.00 enrollment fee includes a year-long individual JCCC membership so you can enjoy not only the beautiful facilities of the Centre, but also enroll in other courses and get first pick for other great events. (If you're lucky enough to already be a JCCC member then this film appreciation course will only cost you $70.00 CAD + HST.)

To enroll in Japanese Film Appreciation: From 1896 to Today all you need to do is call the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre at (416) 441-2345 with your credit card information or visit the Centre at 6 Garamond Court on or before March 9th, 2011. Looking forward to seeing all of you in class so we can explore Japanese film together!

Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow hiring writers!

If you're a regular reader of the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow blog you'll know that we continue to grow by leaps and bounds. What started out as a little Facebook group back in 2007 here in Toronto has grown to a community of readers from San Francisco to Frankfurt to Tokyo and everywhere in between. Chris, Bob, Marc, Matt and Eric have been plugging away with weekly reviews and news coverage one a weekly basis since then, but in order to continue to bring you all the best news, reviews (and more) from the world of Japanese cinema the J-Film Pow-Wow is currently hiring not one but two staff writers!

The ideal candidates will be:

- Someone with a passion and extensive knowledge of Japanese cinema - Someone who would be able to commit to watching and reviewing two films per month - Proficiency in spoken and written Japanese is a plus, but not required. Also living in Toronto is a plus, but not required - Someone with ideas for new columns or features

Whoever we pick would get... well, no money. All of us at the Pow-Wow do this out of love and slave away at day jobs to pay the bills... But you'll have your work read around the world by like-minded Japanese film fans.

If you're interested send an email with the subject line: "Staff Writer Position" to jfilmpowwow@yahoo.ca by February 1st, 2011. In it tell us a bit about yourself, include a sample of your writing (non-fiction please), plus any ideas you have to bring to the J-FDilm Pow-Wow table. We'll be deciding on the two lucky candidates by February 7th, 2011.

Good luck and looking forward to hearing from you!

CanAsian Dance Festival to screen rare butoh dance films in February

by Chris MaGee

Many of you out there know that I have a fascination with butoh dance, the modern dance form founded by Japanese choreographers Tatsumi Hijikata and Kazuo Ohno in the late 1950's. As part of my research for a yet unpublished book on the subject of butoh dance in film I was lucky enough to meet Japanese-Canadian dancer Denise Fujiwara. Fujiwara is the Artistic Director of the annual CanAsian International Dance Festival and she and I got to talking bout butoh on film. The end result is a programme of rarely seen butoh films that will screen as part of this year's CanAsian Dance Festival on Saturday, February 26th at 4:00PM at the Studio Theatre at Toronto's Harbourfront Centre.

Titled "Butoh on Film: Darkness and Light" the programme will include such butoh film classics as the recently rediscovered and restored 1959 Donald Richie directed short "Gisei (Sacrifice)". This 10-minute film features Tatsumi Hijikata and members of his Asbestos-kan Troupe in a performance that still has the power to shock five decades after it was shot. Also those attending the screening will get to see classic butoh films like Takahiko Iimura's "cine-dance" of Hijikata and Ohno's "Rose Coloured Dance", Hijikata in one of his last live performances in "Story of Smallpox" and a late film of Kazuo Ohno directed by Swiss director Daniel Schmid. On top of films featuring these masters the programme will also include work by contemporary dancers and directors like Eiko + Koma, Masaki Iwana and Dahci Ma.

If you are in the Toronto area and are a fan of modern dance and Japanese film then this is an event you won't want to miss. Click here for more details on the programme and this year's CanAsian Dance Festival, and if you're on Facebook add this screening to your events by clicking here.

Shochiku's Cinema Kabuki returns to Toronto's Scotiabank Theatre February 5th and 6th

by Chris MaGee

Being a native Torontonian I sometimes get down on my home town (the transit system, anyone...?), but one thing I can never get down on Toronto about is how much of a great film city is, especially for Japanese film! One amazing screening event that we've been lucky enough to host twice here in Toronto is the Shochiku produced Cinema Kabuki project. Like the operatic productions screened as part of the Live from Lincoln Center series Cinema Kabuki utilizes state of the art digital cinematography and projection, as well as crystal clear surround sound in order to give international audiences the closest experience they will ever get to seeing a live kabuki performance. The Japan Foundation office here in the city has done a wonderful job bringing these films to Toronto before, and now they'll be doing it again!

On February 5th and 6th three Cinema Kabuki films will be screened at the Scotiabank Theatre (259 Richmond St. W), with two of these being Canadian premieres! The first of these is the exquisite dance piece "Heron Maiden (Sagi Musume)" directed by Hiroyuki Nakatani and the second being the black comedy "Rakuda: Party with a Dead Man" (photo above) also directed by Hiroyuki Nakatani and based on a traditional rakugo comic story. Joining these two films will be the return to Toronto of a Cinema Kabuki favorite "Triple Lion Dance", a powerful dance piece directed by none other than legendary film-maker Yoji Yamada.

Also, if you're reading this in Vancouver and grumbling "I wish we could see some of these Cinema Kabuki films here," well you can! As part of this round of Cinema Kabuki screenings in Canada the films will be making their Vancouver premiere on February 9th at the Cineplex Odeon International Village Cinemas. Vancouverites will get a chance to see both "Heron Maiden (Sagi Musume)" and "Triple Lion Dance".

For screening times and ticket details for both the Toronto and Vancouver screenings of Cinema Kabuki please check out the listings posted at the Japan Foundation Toronto website here. For those of you who have yet to witness this amazing cultural and cinematic experience check out the trailer for "Heron Maiden (Sagi Musume)" below.

The J-Film Pow-Wow brings you a gallery of Moments in Japanese Film

by Chris MaGee

Here's hoping that the holiday break was a relaxing and enjoyable one for all you Pow-Wow blog readers out there. While there's nothing we love more than bringing you film reviews and news throughout the year we here on the back end of the blog did relish a bit of down time to... well, watch movies of course!

During our film watching we started to piece together a photo album of stills we're calling "Moments in Japanese Film" that we started to post over at our Facebook page. It's a pretty random assortment stretching from silent films from the 1920's to recent films. A good example is the above still from Daisuke Ito's 1931 silent classic "Jirokichi the Rat" which captures star Denjiro Okochi in a particularly heroic pose.

If you haven't already "Liked" us on Facebook yet head over to our page here, click the "Like" button and start browsing the stills we're posting in the gallery. There are 60 films represented at the moment, but we'll be adding more on a semi-regular basis.

Happy Holidays from all of us at the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow! See you on Januray 4th!

It seems like 2010 just started, but lo and behold we're on the eve of 2011. It's been a busy year of globetrotting, film fest organizing and attending, writing and of course a whole lot of movie watching! Now it's time for everyone here at the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow - Chris MaGee, Bob Turnbull, Marc Saint-Cyr, Matthew Hardstaff and Eric Evans - to take a bit of a holiday break. We'll be back to regular posts on January 4th, 2011, but until then we'd like to wish all of our regular readers a very Merry Christmas メリークリスマス, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year 謹賀新年! We'd also like to take this opportunity to thank a few folks who have made 2010 a great year for the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow...

Jasper Sharp, Tom Mes and the crew at Midnight Eye, Masayuki Suzuki, Toshi Aoyagi, Kate Scullin and the Japan Foundation Toronto, Marty Gross and Lalu Danzker, James Heron and the staff at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Gen Takahashi, Yukie Kito, Keiko Kusakabe, Samuel Jamier and the staff of the Japan Society New York, Kayoko Nakanishi, Emi Ueyama, Miho Toda and Hogaholic, Jon Jung, and Josh Samford at the V-Cinema Podcast, Adam Lopez and the crew of the After Dark Film Festival, Sonia Jog, Chris Chin and the crew of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, Maria Klomfass, Petra Palmer, and the crew at Nippon Connection, Kanako Hayashi and the staff at Tokyo Filmex, Akiko Ohata and the staff of the Toronto Japanese Short Film Festival, Daniel Hanna and the staff at Eyesore Cinema, Adam Torel and Third Window Films, Nobuaki Doi and CALF, Don Brown, Yuka Mizuno, Karen Severns and the Foreign Correspondents Club of Japan, Kanai Katsu, Momoko Ando, Shaq, Tokachi Tsuchiya, Yasunobu Takahashi, Reiko Tahara, Todd Brown, Andrew Mack and Twitch Film, Jason Gray, John Berra and Gabriel Solomon at Intellect Books, Robert J. Woodhead, Natsumi Ueki and the staff at AnimEigo, Kurt Halfyard, John Allison and the staff at Row Three, Trista Devries and the staff of Toronto Film Scene, Catherine Munroe Hotes, Linda Hoaglund, Rieko Fuji and Viz Pictures, Stephanie Trepanier and Evokative Films, Shannon the Movie Moxie, Robyn Dranfield, Polly Esther, Grady Hendrix and the New York Asian Film Festival, Marc Walkow, Tetsuki Ijichi and Tidepoint Puictures, Akino Kondoh, Naomi Hocura, Brandon Hocura and Vowls, Takuya Fukushima, Edmund Yeo, Yuki Nakamura and Omni TV, Kieran Grant and the staff at Eye Weekly, Masaki Iwana, Kayoko Tombo, Miki Ohi and the staff of the Pia Film Festival, Fujiko Takeyama, Kenta Fudesaka, Rie Natori and the staff at UniJapan.

We leave you all with a bit of Shonen Knife and "All I Want for Christmas"! Enjoy Everyone!

The J-Film Pow-Wow news from around the web - Gen Takahashi interview and superb short

by Chris MaGee

The Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow is a group effort. The blog and the events that we're involved in wouldn't be the same... hell, they wouldn't happen if it wasn't for the five of us bringing our different perspectives, talents and film tastes to the blog on a weekly basis. That's why I wanted to bring a couple of posts online by Pow-Wow writers Marc Saint-Cyr and Bob Turnbull to you attention.

During this year's Shinsedai Cinema Festival Marc was asked by festival co-programmer and co-director Jasper Sharp to interview "Confessions of a Dog" director Gen Takahashi (above). With the release of "Confessions of a Dog" coming in the first quarter of 2011 from Third Window Films in the UK Midnight Eye has posted Marc's interview with Takahashi. Gen as he likes to be called, is a fascinating man so make sure to check out Marc's chat with him here.

Meanwhile Bob Turnbull is on the eve of going viral! Bob's blog Eternal Sunshine of the Logical Mind is a visual feast for film lovers with Bob taking special care to post gorgeous stills from the films he reviews. He jokes he does this because he can't write (with is utterly untrue), but now Bob has taken his visual talents to a new level - the short below titled "Any Colour You Like". It brings together clips from various films (including quite a few Japanese films) arranged by colour. It's a dead simple idea that results in a fascinating visual journey. Check it out!

Japan Foundation Toronto brings free screening series to The Bloor Cinema this week

by Chris MaGee

Right now many of you in North America are probably racking up major debts on your credit cards as you head out to the malls to do your Christmas shopping. In amongst all the mad spending it's nice to have a free event pop up, right? Well, here in Toronto the Japan Foundation, as well as the Consul General of Japan in Toronto, is making that happen with their annual free screening series at The Bloor Cinema (506 Bloor Street West).

This year the programmers at the Japan Foundation's central office in Tokyo have pulled together four crowd-pleasing films to take off the winter's chill for us folks in T.O. Those include Masayuki Suo's legal drama "I Just Didn't Do It" (Thurs. Dec. 6th at 6:30PM) starring Ryo Kase as a man falsely accused of train groping and Koji Yakusho as the lawyer defending him. That's followed by Tetsuya Nakashima's "Memories of Matsuko" (Fri. Dec. 10th at 6:30PM) that star Miki Nakatani in a story that mixes Kenji Mizoguchi-style tragedy with MTV video aesthetics (above). Not a Christmas movie, but a film that definitely packs in a lot of coziness and nostalgia is Takashi Yamazaki's "Always: Sunset on Third Street" (Sat. Dec. 11th at 6:30PM) about a family living in post-war Tokyo. Lastly fans of the Oscar-winning "Departures" can catch an earlier film by its director Yojiro Takita, 2007's baseball drama "The Battery" (Sun. Dec. 12th at 4:00PM).

All the films are presented with English-subtitles, but take note that these free screenings are being held on a first come/ first serve basis, so make sure to give yourself enough time beforehand to get a good seat. Check out the trailer for Suo's "I Just Didn't Do It" below to get yourselves ready for later this week. For additional details head to the Japan Foundation Toronto website here.

J-Film Pow-Wow at Tokyo Filmex!

by Chris MaGee

Just a quick announcement/ reminder to all of you that I'll be heading to Tokyo for two weeks to attend this year's Tokyo Filmex Festival. This news would be exciting enough, but there will be a lot of extra (and exciting things) on my plate during his stay - shopping for films for the 3rd annual Shinsedai Cinema Festival, conducting interviews with people for the book on butoh on film I am working on, as well as seeing friends. I would love to spend the two weeks blogging on the Pow-Wow like a fiend, but things will be very busy, so here's an apology in advance if posting gets a bit erratic for the rest of this month. Bob, Marc, Matt and Eric will be chipping in with news items when they can and I will definitely be posting film reviews during my stay including my take on the NHK produced "Kaidan Horror Classics" films directed by Shinya Tsukamoto, Hirokazu Koreeda, Sang-Il Lee and Masayuki Ochiai, as well as "Peace" the latest documentary by Peabody Award-winner Kazuhiro Soda.

So, exciting and busy times ahead! Keep checking back throughout the month for treats from Tokyo!

Round-up of special events in Japanese film blogging: Wildgrounds and V-Cinema

by Chris MaGee

The Japanese film blogging community is spread right around the globe, but we're a pretty close knit bunch. I have to say that it's always a fantastic time when we meet in the flesh at film fests and events and no single blog would be the successes that we are without the help of our fellow J-bloggers. With that in mind we wanted to let you know of a couple of special podcasts and events that are happening with our colleagues online. These are things you won't want to miss...

As we've mentioned before, the passing of animators Satoshi Kon and Kihachiro Kawamoto were huge blows to Japanese film. Now the folks at the V-Cinema Podcast are paying tribute to Kon and Kawamoto in a commemorative episode co-hosted by Nishikata Film Review's Cathy Munroe Hotes. Included in the podcast are interviews with Jasper Sharp, Mark Schilling and Jason Gray about how these two artists impacted Japanese film and culture.

Meanwhile, our friends from France Wildgrounds have announced an event that will bring together the Japanese film blogging community. Last year Wildgrounds declared a Japanese Film Blogathon and dozens of folks online participated (you can read the J-Film Pow-Wow's contributions here). Well, Wildgrounds is doing it again! Between November 3rd and 11th check out Wildgrounds and the J-Film Pow-Wow to read contributions from all us J-Bloggers. It'll be a fun and informative event!

Chris MaGee on the films of butoh dance pioneer Tatsumi Hijikata at Midnight Eye

by Chris MaGee

Regular readers of the J-Film Pow-Wow blog will know that amongst the five of us writers I'm the one with a huge soft spot for all that's experimental and unapologetically art house. One specific interest that I have is the uses of butoh dance in Japanese film and world film in general, in fact I'm so interested in this topic that I've been researching and writing a book on the subject with a tentative title of "Dance in Darkness: The History of Butoh Dance on Film". A huge part of this story are the experimental films of Donald Richie, photographer Eikoh Hosoe and Takahiko Iimura that featured butoh dance founder Tatsumi Hijikata. If you're a fan of the films of Teruo Ishii you'll know Hijikata from his appearance in Ishii's film "The Horrors of Malformed Men" (refresh your memory with its trailer below.) Jasper Sharp and Tom Mes of Midnight Eye have been crucial in getting me to sit down and write about butoh dance on film and both were very kind to post an excerpt of my in-progess book that deals with Hijikata and the very first butoh dance films as part of the latest Midnight Eye updates. Please check it out here, and while you're at it check out Julian Ross' wonderful interview with on of the key players in the strory of butoh dance on film (and experimental film pioneer) Takahiko Iimura here.

*Oh, and if anyone out there knows of a publisher who'd be interested in a book on the history of butoh dance on film let me know!!!

Reel Asian International Film Festival announces "Toilet" and Koji Yamamura master class

by Chris MaGee

It was just a couple of nights ago that I was talking with Chis Chin, the Operations Manager of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. In the midst of TIFF mania Reel Asain is announcing the first highlights of their 14th offering which will run from November 9th to 15th here in the city, and it looks like they have more than a few treats planned for us Japanese film lovers!

First up audiences in Toronto canb look forward to the Nortn American Premiere of Naoko Ogigami's "Toilet" which was shot right here in the city. What makes the screening of this skewed domestic comedy so extra special is the fact that not only will Ogigami, best known for her films "Seagull Diner" and "Megane (Glasses), will be in attendance, but she will also be reunited with her Canadian cast members Alex House, Tatiana Maslany and David Rendall. "Toilet" will screen at the Innis Town Hall Theatre on November 13th at 7:15PM.

Another very special event that the Reel Asian programmers have planned is Koji Yamamura: Mastery of the Form, an exclusive master class with the 46-year-old animator (above) whose 2002 short "Atama Yama (Mt. Head)" was nominated for an Academy Award and his 2007 short "Franz Kafka's A Country Doctor" won the Grand Prix at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.

Early Bird Ticket special have just been announced for the 14th annual Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival. Find out how you can see these and many more to be announced films by checking out their website here.

Experimental films of Kanai Katsu receive Canadian Premiere in Toronto on October 1st!

by Chris MaGee

Here is something that has been brewing for a while now, but has only finally come together. I am very proud to be helping out with ANGURA!, a fine group of folks headed up by writer, film curator, musician and Renaissance woman Naomi Hocura whose goal it is to showcase experimental and avant garde film, music and art from Japan both here in Toronto and across the country. ANGURA! has already worked to premiere Masaki Iwana's butoh feature film "Vermilion Souls" in Canada earlier this year and has also helped tour the "Seconds Under the Sun" programme of Japanese art animation to festivals across the country. Now, ANGURA! is very proud to announce that it will be presenting the Canadian Premiere of the film works of Kanai Katsu in the city on October 1st.

In the late 1960's and early 1970's Tokyo's underground film scene fermented some of the most enlightening, kaleidoscopic, bizarre and pioneering visions. Names such as Shuji Terayama, Toshio Matsumoto, Takahiko Iimura and Nobuhiko Obayashi defined this avant-garde cinema, but one filmmaker, 74-year-old Kanai Katsu, has continued to labour in the underground. Since Kanai independently released a limited edition retrospective DVD box-set of his films his work is being discovered by a whole new generation of film fans and art enthusiasts.

On October 1st starting at 8:30PM at 1960 Davenport Rd (Unit Rear B) ANGURA! will be presenting a double-bill of two of Kanai's defining films - 1969's "The Deserted Archipelago" and 1973's "The Kingdom". Winner of Grand Prize at the 1970 Nyon International Film Festival, "The Deserted Archipelago" plays out like a fever dream of the social and political unrest of the post ANPO-Treaty riots that nearly tore Japan apart during the 1960's. A lone man escapes a life of abuse in a Catholic monastery only to face male-pregnancy, insanity and a machine gun toting nun on his road to Japan's Parliament building. "The Kingdom" encorporates surrealism and pinku eiga techniques of momentary flashes of colour footage to take us on one young man's battle to fuse with the natural world and to conquer time.

Not only will this warehouse screening be bringing Kanai's films to Toronto (and Canada) for the first time, but this event will also be launching a series of planned events put on by ANGURA! throughout the coming months. To mark the occasion Toronto-based acousmatic / tape music / psychedelic duo Gastric Female Reflex will be performing plus Brandon Hocura, member of Toronto indie band Vowls will be DJing a post-screening party. Admission for this do-not-miss night of Japanese film and music is only $10.00... and that includes one free drink!

To whet your appetites for thie world of Kanai Katsu check out the trailer he put together for his independently produced DVD box set below.