Despite having an amazing and successful career, Makoto Shinkai is only human and naturally feels jealousy at some points in his life. The director has competitors he will feel threatened by, especially if they’re in his generation of anime films. He has one director he has openly spoken about feeling jealous of and it’s not Hayao Miyazaki, but Naoko Yamada. With the success of her anime, K-On!, and her film, A Silent Voice, Shinkai has a formidable competitor in the industry.
K-On!, directed by Naoko Yamada. [Credit: Kyoto Animation]
It seems almost unthinkable that the director of Your Name, Weathering With You and Suzume can feel jealous of someone else. Makoto Shinkai is a legend in his own right but sometimes they remind us that success doesn’t make them perfect. However, the director has also expressed immense respect for the K-On! director and sees them as a worthy opponent.
K-On!, directed by Naoko Yamada. [Credit: Kyoto Animation]
It seems almost unthinkable that the director of Your Name, Weathering With You and Suzume can feel jealous of someone else. Makoto Shinkai is a legend in his own right but sometimes they remind us that success doesn’t make them perfect. However, the director has also expressed immense respect for the K-On! director and sees them as a worthy opponent.
- 10/31/2024
- by Bidisha Mitra
- FandomWire
CoMix Wave Films (Cwf), the animation studio behind such films as Your Name. (2016) and Suzume (2022), produced the short anime movie Hatsukoi no Nioi ( The Smell of First Love ), directed by up-and-coming animator Maho Takagi . Takagi has participated in many popular anime works, including Weathering With You (2019), Ssss.Dynazenon (2020), Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon a Time (2021), and Suzume . Hatsukoi no Nioi is her directorial debut work. The sweet, but bitter tale of first love reminded by the smell of a scarf, featuring a newly-written song of the same name by singer-songwriter Sakura Fujiwara , is now streaming on her official YouTube channel . The project started with using animation to express the coquettish charm of women as portrayed by Director Takagi. Since a life-size song to accompany the girl was essential to the story, Takagi offered Sakura Fujiwara to create the song as her ideal singing voice. Takagi had always been a big fan of Fujiwara.
- 5/20/2024
- by Mikikazu Komatsu
- Crunchyroll
Disney+ has revealed the release date for the next title on its growing slate of Japanese anime. The hitman series The Fable, based on the best-selling manga of the same name, will launch worldwide on the streaming service on April 7. The show is the latest anime title released via Disney’s partnership with Japanese publishing powerhouse Kodansha, the home of some of Japan’s most iconic manga IP, including titles like Akira, Attack on Titan and Ghost in the Shell.
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Luke Kang, Disney’s president of the Asia Pacific region, spoke of anime’s continually growing global popularity and said that producing more content in the category was Disney’s main priority for the Japanese market. The Fable will also air in Japan on Nippon TV, but Disney holds the exclusive worldwide streaming rights.
The original The Fable manga was written and...
During a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Luke Kang, Disney’s president of the Asia Pacific region, spoke of anime’s continually growing global popularity and said that producing more content in the category was Disney’s main priority for the Japanese market. The Fable will also air in Japan on Nippon TV, but Disney holds the exclusive worldwide streaming rights.
The original The Fable manga was written and...
- 2/27/2024
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Makoto Shinkai, who had worked with producer Koichiro Itou on blockbuster hits Your Name and Suzume, took to X (formerly Twitter) to express his frustration and sadness at the arrest of the latter on charges of violating the Child Prostitution & Pornography Law.
Shinkai started off his post by saying that he was quite shocked at the arrest of Itou (though he did not name the producer), and expressed his sympathies for the victim of the case.
He also apologized to the victim and to fans of the work for the anxiety/concern that the incident has caused.
“I am deeply shocked to see the news report of the arrest of the person involved in the production of the work. First of all, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the victim. I am also truly sorry for causing anxiety to everyone who loves and supports the work.“
The director continued his post,...
Shinkai started off his post by saying that he was quite shocked at the arrest of Itou (though he did not name the producer), and expressed his sympathies for the victim of the case.
He also apologized to the victim and to fans of the work for the anxiety/concern that the incident has caused.
“I am deeply shocked to see the news report of the arrest of the person involved in the production of the work. First of all, I would like to express my deepest sympathy to the victim. I am also truly sorry for causing anxiety to everyone who loves and supports the work.“
The director continued his post,...
- 2/23/2024
- by A.R. Madillo
- AnimeHunch
The Wakayama Prefectural Police arrested 52-year-old Koichiro Itou, the producer who is well known for producing Your Name (Kimi no Nawa) movie on Feb 21, 2024 on suspicion of violating the Child Prostitution & Pornography Law Japan.
According to the police, Itou coerced a 15-year-old high school girl from Nagano who he met on an Sns platform to send her nude selfies, even though he was aware that she was a minor. This incident occurred in September 2021 and the producer is even suspected of offering 12,500 yen in cash in order to get the images.
Itou’s actions came to light when the cops were looking into another child prostitution case.
Itou admitted to the charge, however he stated he “cannot remember if it was this girl” because he had similar exchanges with others.
The police are further investigating this matter to find out if there were more victims as more images & videos were found in his possession.
According to the police, Itou coerced a 15-year-old high school girl from Nagano who he met on an Sns platform to send her nude selfies, even though he was aware that she was a minor. This incident occurred in September 2021 and the producer is even suspected of offering 12,500 yen in cash in order to get the images.
Itou’s actions came to light when the cops were looking into another child prostitution case.
Itou admitted to the charge, however he stated he “cannot remember if it was this girl” because he had similar exchanges with others.
The police are further investigating this matter to find out if there were more victims as more images & videos were found in his possession.
- 2/22/2024
- by A.R. Madillo
- AnimeHunch
The renowned Japanese rock band Radwimps, known for their soundtracks in Your Name, Weathering with You, and Suzume, is all set to make their way to Latin America with their upcoming Radwimps World Tour 2024, titled “The Way You Yawn, And the Outcry of Peace“.
The tour to Latin America comes on the back of the sold-out tours in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.
The tour is powered by Crunchyroll, and fans can secure their spots early with the official Crunchyroll presale, set to go live on Jan 10, 2024, at 7 a.m. Pst.
The highly anticipated Latin America tour kicks off on March 15, 2024, and is scheduled to wrap up on March 24, 2024.
Checkout the dates and cities for the Radwimps Latin America Tour 2024 below:
DateCityVenueMarch 15, 2024 Ciudad de MexicoPepsi Center WTCMarch 17, 2024MonterreyAuditorio CitibanamexMarch 21, 2024Sao PauloTerra SPMarch 24, 2024SantiagoCaupolican Theatre
Source: Radwimps’ Official Website, Crunchyroll...
The tour to Latin America comes on the back of the sold-out tours in North America, Europe, Australia and Asia.
The tour is powered by Crunchyroll, and fans can secure their spots early with the official Crunchyroll presale, set to go live on Jan 10, 2024, at 7 a.m. Pst.
The highly anticipated Latin America tour kicks off on March 15, 2024, and is scheduled to wrap up on March 24, 2024.
Checkout the dates and cities for the Radwimps Latin America Tour 2024 below:
DateCityVenueMarch 15, 2024 Ciudad de MexicoPepsi Center WTCMarch 17, 2024MonterreyAuditorio CitibanamexMarch 21, 2024Sao PauloTerra SPMarch 24, 2024SantiagoCaupolican Theatre
Source: Radwimps’ Official Website, Crunchyroll...
- 1/9/2024
- by Ami Nazru
- AnimeHunch
Acclaimed filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki earned his first Golden Globe Award nomination on the strength of his semi-autobiographical fantasy film The Boy and the Heron, capping a big week for the film that this weekend opened to a record-breaking $12.8 million, becoming the first original anime title in history to top the North American box office.
The Boy and the Heron was nominated for the animated feature Golden Globe alongside Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Elemental, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Suzume and Wish. Both The Boy and the Heron and Spider-Verse received additional nominations for original motion picture score.
A year after Netflix won the animated feature Golden Globe for the first time, for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the streamer was shut of out this year’s race despite a slate of contenders that included Nimona, the fantasy based on the graphic novel by Nd Stevenson; Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget...
The Boy and the Heron was nominated for the animated feature Golden Globe alongside Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Elemental, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Suzume and Wish. Both The Boy and the Heron and Spider-Verse received additional nominations for original motion picture score.
A year after Netflix won the animated feature Golden Globe for the first time, for Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio, the streamer was shut of out this year’s race despite a slate of contenders that included Nimona, the fantasy based on the graphic novel by Nd Stevenson; Chicken Run: Dawn of the Nugget...
- 12/11/2023
- by Carolyn Giardina
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Makoto Shinkai is a revered name in animation who’s emerged as someone who expertly combines melodramatic love stories with fantastical explorations of nature and what it means to be human. Garden of Words, Your Name, and Weathering With You are some of Shinkai’s most celebrated feature films that helped establish the writer/director as a force to be reckoned with and must-see cinematic events. Shinkai’s latest feature, Suzume, has been more than four years in the making and it looks at a listless 17-year-old who finds herself on an unexpected mission to protect Japan from paranormally-influenced natural disasters alongside a very unconventional guide.
Suzume has found heavy critical acclaim and it’s already become the eighth-highest-grossing anime film of all time in Japan as well as the country’s 14th highest-grossing film, period. In honor of Suzume’s wide theatrical release, Makoto Shinkai (via an interpreter) opens...
Suzume has found heavy critical acclaim and it’s already become the eighth-highest-grossing anime film of all time in Japan as well as the country’s 14th highest-grossing film, period. In honor of Suzume’s wide theatrical release, Makoto Shinkai (via an interpreter) opens...
- 4/10/2023
- by Alec Bojalad
- Den of Geek
Anime legend Hayao Miyazaki’s beloved 1986 film Castle in the Sky is making a return to the big screen — in China. The movie, which never opened theatrically in the country during its original run and subsequent rereleases around the world, has been cleared by Beijing’s censors and is set for a nationwide theatrical launch on June 1.
Miyazaki’s work is well-known and widely loved in China, thanks to the ready accessibility of pirated DVDs and downloads in the country — previously the only way to see his work there. But in recent years Studio Ghibli has begun making up for lost time by bringing select titles from Miyazaki’s catalog to Chinese multiplexes for the first time.
The maestro’s My Neighbor Totoro earned $26 million from a China rerelease in 2018, followed by Spirited Away with $69 million in 2019.
A cult favorite from Miyazaki’s oeuvre, Castle in the Sky follows a...
Miyazaki’s work is well-known and widely loved in China, thanks to the ready accessibility of pirated DVDs and downloads in the country — previously the only way to see his work there. But in recent years Studio Ghibli has begun making up for lost time by bringing select titles from Miyazaki’s catalog to Chinese multiplexes for the first time.
The maestro’s My Neighbor Totoro earned $26 million from a China rerelease in 2018, followed by Spirited Away with $69 million in 2019.
A cult favorite from Miyazaki’s oeuvre, Castle in the Sky follows a...
- 3/1/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Tapping into the Japanese national zeitgeist once again with “Suzume,” writer-director Makoto Shinkai surpasses his peers in making films for and about teenagers. Now 50 years old, the anime master christened his latest blockbuster after its heroine, Suzume Iwato (voiced by Nanoka Hara), a 17-year-old orphan on the southwestern island of Kyushu swept up in a cross-country trip to prevent a series of natural disasters. That such a responsibility should fall to someone so young is typical of his oeuvre (see “Weathering With You”), but also an apt way of illustrating the lingering trauma and vulnerability that adolescents feel in many parts of Japan.
Funnier and more streamlined than Shinkai’s earlier hypercharged toon epics, “Suzume” is a massive hit in its home country, where it has earned more than $100 million since opening last November — his third film to pass that milestone. The film made its international premiere at the Berlinale,...
Funnier and more streamlined than Shinkai’s earlier hypercharged toon epics, “Suzume” is a massive hit in its home country, where it has earned more than $100 million since opening last November — his third film to pass that milestone. The film made its international premiere at the Berlinale,...
- 2/24/2023
- by Peter Debruge
- Variety Film + TV
Although one might feel weary in advance to hear Suzume is yet another anime in which a young person is enlisted into a struggle to save their family/hometown/Japan/the world, this one’s a keeper.
A hefty hit locally in the wake of its November 2022 release — where it’s grossed over $100m — this latest feature by multi-hyphenate talent Makoto Shinkai (the force of nature behind hits Your Name and Weathering With You) offers his signature blend of fantasy, quotidian realism and idealistic young lovers. Although often funny, a deep sense of loss is baked into the bones of the film by the fact that its title character (voiced in the original Japanese version by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother in the 2011 tsunami-earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Not unlike the way Weathering With You sought to link the climate crisis with magical thinking,...
A hefty hit locally in the wake of its November 2022 release — where it’s grossed over $100m — this latest feature by multi-hyphenate talent Makoto Shinkai (the force of nature behind hits Your Name and Weathering With You) offers his signature blend of fantasy, quotidian realism and idealistic young lovers. Although often funny, a deep sense of loss is baked into the bones of the film by the fact that its title character (voiced in the original Japanese version by Nanoka Hara) lost her mother in the 2011 tsunami-earthquake that killed nearly 20,000 people and caused the Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster.
Not unlike the way Weathering With You sought to link the climate crisis with magical thinking,...
- 2/23/2023
- by Leslie Felperin
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Your Name director’s mythic and comic new animation is an absorbing, intriguing and bewildering work
Here is the new animation from the Japanese film-maker Makoto Shinkai, whose 2016 fantasy Your Name captured moviegoers’ imagination and led him to be thought of as a new master and perhaps even the heir to Hayao Miyazaki himself. It is an absorbing, intriguing, bewildering work: often spectacular and beautiful, like a sci-fi supernatural disaster movie or an essay on nature and politics, but shot through with distinctive elements of fey and whimsical comedy.
Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) is a lonely, smart teenager, who lives with her aunt after the death of her mother. While walking one day she chances across a mysterious young man called Souta (Hokuto Matsumura), who is apparently in search of a door. Fascinated and somehow nettled by this stranger and his eccentric quest, Suzume sets out to follow him,...
Here is the new animation from the Japanese film-maker Makoto Shinkai, whose 2016 fantasy Your Name captured moviegoers’ imagination and led him to be thought of as a new master and perhaps even the heir to Hayao Miyazaki himself. It is an absorbing, intriguing, bewildering work: often spectacular and beautiful, like a sci-fi supernatural disaster movie or an essay on nature and politics, but shot through with distinctive elements of fey and whimsical comedy.
Suzume (voiced by Nanoka Hara) is a lonely, smart teenager, who lives with her aunt after the death of her mother. While walking one day she chances across a mysterious young man called Souta (Hokuto Matsumura), who is apparently in search of a door. Fascinated and somehow nettled by this stranger and his eccentric quest, Suzume sets out to follow him,...
- 2/23/2023
- by Peter Bradshaw
- The Guardian - Film News
In Japanese mythology, Namazu was believed to be an underground fish that caused earthquakes, as immortalized in several namazu-e woodblock prints of the Edo period. Imprisoned and subdued under a large stone by Takemikazuchi, the god of thunder, earthquakes were believed to occur whenever Takemikazuchi let his guard down, meaning Namazu could wriggle free, flapping his giant body to-and-fro to cause havoc for the unsuspecting citizens above.
Perhaps Takemikazuchi doesn’t do a good job — Japan has, on average, 1,500 earthquakes a year, with its 700 islands sitting perilously close to the Pacific Earthquake Belt, also known as the suitably demonic “Ring of Fire.” In “Suzume,” , this mythical giant catfish is replaced by a snakepit of burning, writhing, fire-red worms, who escape from a hellish netherworld bent on causing geographical devastation. Siloed away in a magical land, these worms are normally contained by doorways secured by “keystones,” with doors guarded and kept...
Perhaps Takemikazuchi doesn’t do a good job — Japan has, on average, 1,500 earthquakes a year, with its 700 islands sitting perilously close to the Pacific Earthquake Belt, also known as the suitably demonic “Ring of Fire.” In “Suzume,” , this mythical giant catfish is replaced by a snakepit of burning, writhing, fire-red worms, who escape from a hellish netherworld bent on causing geographical devastation. Siloed away in a magical land, these worms are normally contained by doorways secured by “keystones,” with doors guarded and kept...
- 2/23/2023
- by Steph Green
- Indiewire
The "Ant-Man" movies have always been kind of an outlier in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. They tend to focus on everyday people reacting to larger-than-life comic book stories. After over a decade of Marvel movies, most of them have escalated to the point where their characters don't feel like just regular people with superpowers anymore, the way they do in the comics, but the "Ant-Man" movies always did. The supporting cast is comprised of regular citizens who are not related to the superhero life, so when the superheroic battles and mayhem arrives, it always felt dangerous and important.
That was until "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania," by far the biggest, weirdest movie in the trilogy, and one that trades fun wacky grounded characters like Michael Peña's Luis for a bunch of sci-fi creatures that look straight out of a "Rick and Morty" episode. The film leaves San Francisco and...
That was until "Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania," by far the biggest, weirdest movie in the trilogy, and one that trades fun wacky grounded characters like Michael Peña's Luis for a bunch of sci-fi creatures that look straight out of a "Rick and Morty" episode. The film leaves San Francisco and...
- 2/20/2023
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
One of Japan’s most commercially successful and highly acclaimed animators, Shinkai Makoto has been called a successor to anime titan Miyazaki Hayao. Known for his mix of photo-realistic visuals and gorgeously realized fantasies, Shinkai surpassed the master when his 2016 smash “Your Name” became the highest-earning Japanese film of all time worldwide, beating Miyazaki’s 2001 “Spirited Away.” (That record was later broken by the 2020 anime sensation “Demon Slayer.”)
His latest film, “Suzume,” about a teen girl’s quest to halt an apocalypse triggered by the opening of magical doors all over Japan, is also the first Japanese animated feature to screen in the Berlin competition since “Spirited Away” in 2002. Variety sat down with Shinkai to hear his views on his own work and the state of the anime industry.
“Suzume” features the so-called haikyo(“ruins”), the abandoned buildings that can be found everywhere in Japan, many of which are the...
His latest film, “Suzume,” about a teen girl’s quest to halt an apocalypse triggered by the opening of magical doors all over Japan, is also the first Japanese animated feature to screen in the Berlin competition since “Spirited Away” in 2002. Variety sat down with Shinkai to hear his views on his own work and the state of the anime industry.
“Suzume” features the so-called haikyo(“ruins”), the abandoned buildings that can be found everywhere in Japan, many of which are the...
- 2/20/2023
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
The 2023 Berlin International Film Festival is screening its first Japanese anime film in competition in over two decades. The previous occasion was the international premiere of Hayao Miyazaki’s Spirited Away in 2002, so it’s perhaps fitting that the latest selection is Suzume, the newest release from Makoto Shinkai, the director most often hailed as Miyaki’s heir as Japan’s next historic anime talent.
Like his past two anime blockbusters Your Name (which earned 357 million worldwide in 2017) and Weathering With You (193 million, 2020), Suzume tells a YA story of fantasy, adventure and romance, involving characters coping with a sense of loss and cataclysmic disaster. The new film follows a high-school girl named Suzume who meets a mysterious young man named Sōta and becomes involved in his mission to track down and close a sequence of mysterious metaphysical doors that are opening in abandoned areas of Japan and threatening the entire country with disaster.
Like his past two anime blockbusters Your Name (which earned 357 million worldwide in 2017) and Weathering With You (193 million, 2020), Suzume tells a YA story of fantasy, adventure and romance, involving characters coping with a sense of loss and cataclysmic disaster. The new film follows a high-school girl named Suzume who meets a mysterious young man named Sōta and becomes involved in his mission to track down and close a sequence of mysterious metaphysical doors that are opening in abandoned areas of Japan and threatening the entire country with disaster.
- 2/19/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Anime isn't a genre. It's a medium, one that's still fighting for mainstream acceptance in the West. Its hold on American audiences is stronger than ever, with Studio Ghibli blockbusters and franchises like "My Hero Academia" earning critical acclaim and global adoration. However, too many people still associate animation with children's viewing. While there are plenty of great anime films that parents can show to their kids, this attitude still leads to confusion. Not only is some anime emphatically not child-safe, but if you dismiss it as kids' stuff, you're missing out on some great movies.
If you've never watched an anime film before, rest assured that it's not all sailor uniforms and jiggly bits, just like how action movies aren't all gravelly-voiced men and sexy ladies. There's something for everyone, although we also confess that you're going to see a lot of Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii here, and for good reasons.
If you've never watched an anime film before, rest assured that it's not all sailor uniforms and jiggly bits, just like how action movies aren't all gravelly-voiced men and sexy ladies. There's something for everyone, although we also confess that you're going to see a lot of Hayao Miyazaki and Mamoru Oshii here, and for good reasons.
- 2/16/2023
- by Margaret David
- Slash Film
Japanese anime maestro Makoto Shinkai’s latest blockbuster Suzume has been approved for release in China, another encouraging sign that the world’s second-biggest theatrical market is reopening its doors to international film content. The exact release date has yet to be set, but specialty distributor Road Pictures is expected to give the film a large nationwide launch sometime near the end of the first quarter of 2023.
The green light for the Japanese anime hit follows the Chinese Film Bureau’s recent decision to lift a two year-long de facto ban on Marvel releases. Last month, Marvel and Disney’s superhero tentpoles Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania were given February release dates, ending a China dry spell for the franchise that began in 2020.
Shinkai’s Suzume could have Hollywood-scale earning potential in China. The Japanese auteur’s 2016 anime hit Your Name earned 84 million of its 358 million worldwide haul in China,...
The green light for the Japanese anime hit follows the Chinese Film Bureau’s recent decision to lift a two year-long de facto ban on Marvel releases. Last month, Marvel and Disney’s superhero tentpoles Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania were given February release dates, ending a China dry spell for the franchise that began in 2020.
Shinkai’s Suzume could have Hollywood-scale earning potential in China. The Japanese auteur’s 2016 anime hit Your Name earned 84 million of its 358 million worldwide haul in China,...
- 2/1/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Berlin International Film Festival unveiled the competition lineup for its 2023 edition on Monday morning, naming the 18 movies that will compete for the coveted Gold and Silver Bears at the 73rd Berlinale.
Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented a very international and arthouse-heavy lineup, with a strong focus on politically-charged cinema.
In a late addition, Superpower, Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s documentary on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian invasion of the country and the ongoing war, will have its world premiere in Berlin’s out-of-competition Berlinale Special section. The doc, made for Vice Studios, Aldamisa Entertainment and Fifth Season, is being sold internationally by Fifth Season.
Berlin 2023, taking place a year after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, will have a major focus on Ukraine. Even the festival’s official pin will be in the Ukraine colors of blue and yellow.
In competition, German auteur...
Berlinale executive director Mariette Rissenbeek and artistic director Carlo Chatrian presented a very international and arthouse-heavy lineup, with a strong focus on politically-charged cinema.
In a late addition, Superpower, Sean Penn and Aaron Kaufman’s documentary on Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Russian invasion of the country and the ongoing war, will have its world premiere in Berlin’s out-of-competition Berlinale Special section. The doc, made for Vice Studios, Aldamisa Entertainment and Fifth Season, is being sold internationally by Fifth Season.
Berlin 2023, taking place a year after Russia’s Feb. 24 invasion, will have a major focus on Ukraine. Even the festival’s official pin will be in the Ukraine colors of blue and yellow.
In competition, German auteur...
- 1/23/2023
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Hirokazu Kore-eda infuses the world of the Japanese geisha with his signature gentle humanism in The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House, his first drama series for Netflix, launching worldwide this week.
Based on a best-selling manga by Aiko Koyama, the nine-episode series is set in the traditional Geiko district of Kyoto, depicting the inner sanctum of aspiring maiko courtesans. The story follows two 16-year-old girls, Kiyo (Mori Nana) and Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi), who move from rural Aomori with dreams of becoming geisha. But while Sumire is instantly identified as a natural talent in the traditional arts — dance, elaborate costume and delicate music-making — Kiyo proves an awkward fit. Instead, she finds her place as a makanai, the traditional cook who prepares the meals within the yakata house where all of the geiko live together.
Kore-eda, who won Cannes’ Palme d’Or in 2018 with his family drama Shoplifters, acts as the show’s producer,...
Based on a best-selling manga by Aiko Koyama, the nine-episode series is set in the traditional Geiko district of Kyoto, depicting the inner sanctum of aspiring maiko courtesans. The story follows two 16-year-old girls, Kiyo (Mori Nana) and Sumire (Natsuki Deguchi), who move from rural Aomori with dreams of becoming geisha. But while Sumire is instantly identified as a natural talent in the traditional arts — dance, elaborate costume and delicate music-making — Kiyo proves an awkward fit. Instead, she finds her place as a makanai, the traditional cook who prepares the meals within the yakata house where all of the geiko live together.
Kore-eda, who won Cannes’ Palme d’Or in 2018 with his family drama Shoplifters, acts as the show’s producer,...
- 1/13/2023
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Cannes Palme d’Or-winning director Hirokazu Kore-eda’s first series for Netflix, The Makanai: Cooking For The Maiko House, is based on a best-selling manga about two young girls who move to Kyoto to start their training as ‘maiko’ or apprentice geisha.
One of them turns out to be a star maiko, but the other is not so talented in the geisha arts, which mostly comprise traditional song and dance, and ends up cooking for the household where the girls are being trained, an activity in which she excels. Neither the manga, created by Aiko Koyama, or the series are set in the Edo period, the golden era of geisha culture, but in contemporary Japan, where the profession still exists and is respected, but is also regarded as a dying art.
Scheduled to start streaming tomorrow (January 12), the series is produced by Kore-eda and Genki Kawamura, a leading producer behind hits such as Confessions,...
One of them turns out to be a star maiko, but the other is not so talented in the geisha arts, which mostly comprise traditional song and dance, and ends up cooking for the household where the girls are being trained, an activity in which she excels. Neither the manga, created by Aiko Koyama, or the series are set in the Edo period, the golden era of geisha culture, but in contemporary Japan, where the profession still exists and is respected, but is also regarded as a dying art.
Scheduled to start streaming tomorrow (January 12), the series is produced by Kore-eda and Genki Kawamura, a leading producer behind hits such as Confessions,...
- 1/11/2023
- by Liz Shackleton
- Deadline Film + TV
Lee Isaac Chung, the Oscar-nominated director of “Minari,” is in talks to direct the sequel to the 1996 storm-chasing blockbuster “Twister,” an individual with knowledge of the project told IndieWire.
If his deal closes, Chung would work from a script by “The Revenant” writer Mark L. Smith, and the individual adds that Chung was just one of many top directors attracted to working on the film. What’s more, “Twisters” is looking to start up shooting quickly sometime this spring.
As of right now, there’s no talent in talks to star, and no word on if Helen Hunt, the original film’s star, would be among those returning.
Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment are developing the sequel titled “Twisters,” which Steven Spielberg is executive producing. Warner Bros. Pictures is co-financing.
Frank Marshall (“Jurassic World Dominion”) is attached to produce through his Kennedy/Marshall Company.
While Chung and the lyrical, intimate,...
If his deal closes, Chung would work from a script by “The Revenant” writer Mark L. Smith, and the individual adds that Chung was just one of many top directors attracted to working on the film. What’s more, “Twisters” is looking to start up shooting quickly sometime this spring.
As of right now, there’s no talent in talks to star, and no word on if Helen Hunt, the original film’s star, would be among those returning.
Universal Pictures and Amblin Entertainment are developing the sequel titled “Twisters,” which Steven Spielberg is executive producing. Warner Bros. Pictures is co-financing.
Frank Marshall (“Jurassic World Dominion”) is attached to produce through his Kennedy/Marshall Company.
While Chung and the lyrical, intimate,...
- 12/15/2022
- by Brian Welk
- Indiewire
Click here to read the full article.
Anime maestro Makoto Shinkai’s latest feature Suzume has locked down its much anticipated theatrical release dates in North America, Europe, Latin America and Australia. The film will hit North American cinemas on April 14, courtesy of distribution partners Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Wild Bunch International and Eurozoom.
Other territories set for release include France and Malta on April 12; Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico and New Zealand on April 13; and Austria, Belgium, Gibraltar, Ireland, Luxembourg and the U.K. on April 14, day and date with North America.
Suzume is Shinkai’s follow-up to Weathering With You (2019), which earned 193 million worldwide and was Japan’s official submission to the Oscars in the best international film category last year. His 2016 creative and commercial breakthrough Your Name set a new standard for the global potential of Japanese anime, earning 358 million worldwide from a production budget of just 6 million.
Anime maestro Makoto Shinkai’s latest feature Suzume has locked down its much anticipated theatrical release dates in North America, Europe, Latin America and Australia. The film will hit North American cinemas on April 14, courtesy of distribution partners Crunchyroll, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Wild Bunch International and Eurozoom.
Other territories set for release include France and Malta on April 12; Australia, Brazil, Germany, Mexico and New Zealand on April 13; and Austria, Belgium, Gibraltar, Ireland, Luxembourg and the U.K. on April 14, day and date with North America.
Suzume is Shinkai’s follow-up to Weathering With You (2019), which earned 193 million worldwide and was Japan’s official submission to the Oscars in the best international film category last year. His 2016 creative and commercial breakthrough Your Name set a new standard for the global potential of Japanese anime, earning 358 million worldwide from a production budget of just 6 million.
- 12/6/2022
- by Patrick Brzeski
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Mystery feature to be jointly distributed by Gaga and Toho.
Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with Shoplifters in 2018, is working on a new feature titled Monster ahead of a planned release in 2023.
Japan’s Gaga Corporation revealed that the film is in post-production and is set for a theatrical release in Japan on June 2, 2023, co-distributed with Toho.
It marks Kore-eda’s first film to be made in Japan since Shoplifters, having directed 2019 French feature The Truth and 2022 Korean film Broker in the interim.
The cast and story for Monster remains under wraps but was scripted by Yuji Sakamoto,...
Japanese auteur Hirokazu Kore-Eda, who won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with Shoplifters in 2018, is working on a new feature titled Monster ahead of a planned release in 2023.
Japan’s Gaga Corporation revealed that the film is in post-production and is set for a theatrical release in Japan on June 2, 2023, co-distributed with Toho.
It marks Kore-eda’s first film to be made in Japan since Shoplifters, having directed 2019 French feature The Truth and 2022 Korean film Broker in the interim.
The cast and story for Monster remains under wraps but was scripted by Yuji Sakamoto,...
- 11/18/2022
- by Michael Rosser
- ScreenDaily
Back in 2018, Hirokazu Koreeda won the Palme d’Or with his film “Shoplifters’ and the film world was excited to see what the Japanese auteur did next. Not one to rest on his laurels, Koreeda always is up for a challenge and he went on to make French and Korean features straight after, with his latest “Broker” winning Song Kang-ho the Best Actor at Cannes this year. Less than six months since the Korean production’s debut at Cannes, news has broken that Koreeda’s latest film “Monster” has already wrapped up shooting and is readying for a release in 2023.
Noting is known about the cast or the synopsis yet, but this will be Koreeda’s first Japanese feature film since “Shoplifters”. Interestingly, this will be the first feature Koreeda directs that has not been written by himself. Instead, he has worked off a script by Yuji Sakamoto,...
Noting is known about the cast or the synopsis yet, but this will be Koreeda’s first Japanese feature film since “Shoplifters”. Interestingly, this will be the first feature Koreeda directs that has not been written by himself. Instead, he has worked off a script by Yuji Sakamoto,...
- 11/18/2022
- by Rhythm Zaveri
- AsianMoviePulse
Hirokazu Kore-eda, the Palme d'Or-winning director of "Shoplifters," has already shot his next Japanese-language film in secret, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The title is "Monster," and while plot details are scarce at the moment, the film is currently in post-production and has set a release date for next summer in Japan.
Kore-eda is known as a writer-director, but for "Monster," he'll be handing off the screenwriting duties for the first time to Yuji Sakamoto, who has a background mainly in television. In addition, the movie pairs Kore-eda with producer Genki Kawamura, who has helped finance a number of anime hits, such as Mamoru Hosada's "The Boy and the Beast," "Mirai," and "Belle," and Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name," "Weathering with You," and "Suzume no Tojimari," the latter of which is currently playing in theaters in Japan.
Kawamura also produced the live-action adaptation of Shûichi Yoshida's novel "Villain," and he...
Kore-eda is known as a writer-director, but for "Monster," he'll be handing off the screenwriting duties for the first time to Yuji Sakamoto, who has a background mainly in television. In addition, the movie pairs Kore-eda with producer Genki Kawamura, who has helped finance a number of anime hits, such as Mamoru Hosada's "The Boy and the Beast," "Mirai," and "Belle," and Makoto Shinkai's "Your Name," "Weathering with You," and "Suzume no Tojimari," the latter of which is currently playing in theaters in Japan.
Kawamura also produced the live-action adaptation of Shûichi Yoshida's novel "Villain," and he...
- 11/18/2022
- by Joshua Meyer
- Slash Film
Shinkai Makoto’s new anime feature “Suzume” has earned 13.5 million (JPY1.88 billion) in just three days since its Nov. 11 opening at the Japanese box office, a personal best for the proven hitmaker. The opening surpasses his previous smashes “Your Name” from 2016 and “Weathering With You” from 2019.
Meanwhile, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which also bowed on Nov. 11, took second-place honors with 3.5 million. The Indian action hit “Rrr” held onto third place for the fourth consecutive week since its Oct. 21 opening.
Released in Japan on Nov. 11 by Toho, “Suzume” garnered its total from 1.33 million admissions, placing it far and away the number one title at the weekend box office. Eleven theaters in six major cities even opened their doors at midnight to accommodate the first-day crowds, with Shinkai and main voice cast members, making on-stage introductions.
After three days on release, “Suzume” had beaten the same-period earnings for “Your Name” (which went...
Meanwhile, “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever,” which also bowed on Nov. 11, took second-place honors with 3.5 million. The Indian action hit “Rrr” held onto third place for the fourth consecutive week since its Oct. 21 opening.
Released in Japan on Nov. 11 by Toho, “Suzume” garnered its total from 1.33 million admissions, placing it far and away the number one title at the weekend box office. Eleven theaters in six major cities even opened their doors at midnight to accommodate the first-day crowds, with Shinkai and main voice cast members, making on-stage introductions.
After three days on release, “Suzume” had beaten the same-period earnings for “Your Name” (which went...
- 11/14/2022
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
‘Black Panther 2’ achieved the second-biggest opening of 2022, behind only ’Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’.
World box office November 11-13 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney) 330m 330m 150m 150m 51 2. Black Adam (Warner Bros) 18.3m 352.2m 9.7m 201.1m 77 3. Suzame (various) 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 1 4. The Tipping Point (various) 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 1 5. Ticket To Paradise (Universal) 7.5m 150m 1.4m 93.5m 80 6. Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 6.7m 72.6m 3.5m 31.8m 50 7. Smile (Paramount) 4.6m 210m 2.3m 107.2m 57 8. Prey For The Devil (various) 3.7m 31.7m 1.7m 14.7m 41 9. One Piece...
World box office November 11-13 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney) 330m 330m 150m 150m 51 2. Black Adam (Warner Bros) 18.3m 352.2m 9.7m 201.1m 77 3. Suzame (various) 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 1 4. The Tipping Point (various) 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 1 5. Ticket To Paradise (Universal) 7.5m 150m 1.4m 93.5m 80 6. Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 6.7m 72.6m 3.5m 31.8m 50 7. Smile (Paramount) 4.6m 210m 2.3m 107.2m 57 8. Prey For The Devil (various) 3.7m 31.7m 1.7m 14.7m 41 9. One Piece...
- 11/14/2022
- by Charles Gant
- ScreenDaily
‘Black Panther 2’ achieved the second-biggest opening of 2022, behind only ’Doctor Strange In The Multiverse Of Madness’.
World box office November 11-13 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney) 330m 330m 150m 150m 51 2. Black Adam (Warner Bros) 18.3m 352.2m 9.7m 201.1m 77 3. Suzame (various) 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 1 4. The Tipping Point (various) 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 1 5. Ticket To Paradise (Universal) 7.5m 150m 1.4m 93.5m 80 6. Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 6.7m 72.6m 3.5m 31.8m 50 7. Smile (Paramount) 4.6m 210m 2.3m 107.2m 57 8. Prey For The Devil (various) 3.7m 31.7m 1.7m 14.7m 41 9. One Piece...
World box office November 11-13 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (Disney) 330m 330m 150m 150m 51 2. Black Adam (Warner Bros) 18.3m 352.2m 9.7m 201.1m 77 3. Suzame (various) 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 13.5m 1 4. The Tipping Point (various) 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 8.7m 1 5. Ticket To Paradise (Universal) 7.5m 150m 1.4m 93.5m 80 6. Lyle, Lyle Crocodile (Sony) 6.7m 72.6m 3.5m 31.8m 50 7. Smile (Paramount) 4.6m 210m 2.3m 107.2m 57 8. Prey For The Devil (various) 3.7m 31.7m 1.7m 14.7m 41 9. One Piece...
- 11/14/2022
- by Charles Gant
- ScreenDaily
Another beloved Japanese animation film is getting a live-action adaptation. Makoto Shinkai's breathtaking 2016 sci-fi anime film "Your Name" is getting the live-action treatment, with Paramount enlisting Academy Award-nominated filmmaker of "Raya and the Last Dragon," Carlos López Estrada, to helm it. The film is currently in development, with Estrada writing the script, following an initial draft from "Bird Box" writer Eric Heisserer.
"Your Name" is considered a modern classic in Japan and was a significant hit in the country, grossing over 230 million at the time of its release. The film is a love story for the ages, plus, it combines the concepts of magic, time travel, and the beauty of friendship all in one. Its animation style is visceral, making the idea of a live-action remake seem less than ideal, but with Estrada attached, we can expect good things.
Here's everything we know about the adaptation so far!
What...
"Your Name" is considered a modern classic in Japan and was a significant hit in the country, grossing over 230 million at the time of its release. The film is a love story for the ages, plus, it combines the concepts of magic, time travel, and the beauty of friendship all in one. Its animation style is visceral, making the idea of a live-action remake seem less than ideal, but with Estrada attached, we can expect good things.
Here's everything we know about the adaptation so far!
What...
- 11/4/2022
- by Fatemeh Mirjalili
- Slash Film
Hollywood simply can't stop trying to discredit the merit of animation, can it? The latest big anime project that Hollywood is desperately trying to bring to live-action is Makoto Shinkai's seminal film "Your Name." The film is a gorgeously animated romance with a body-swapping twist, and follows a boy from Tokyo named Taki Tachibana and a girl from the country named Mitsuha Miyamizu who find they share a strange connection, which develops into a romantic and cosmic entanglement.
"Your Name" quickly became a phenomenon upon its release, with wide critical and commercial acclaim that catapulted the film into becoming the second-highest grossing film ever in Japan, until it was pushed to third place by the juggernaut "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train."
Of course, such success led to an instant wish to turn "Your Name" into live-action. Back in 2017 it was announced that J. J. Abrams and "Arrival" screenwriter Eric Heisserer would make the American adaptation,...
"Your Name" quickly became a phenomenon upon its release, with wide critical and commercial acclaim that catapulted the film into becoming the second-highest grossing film ever in Japan, until it was pushed to third place by the juggernaut "Demon Slayer: Mugen Train."
Of course, such success led to an instant wish to turn "Your Name" into live-action. Back in 2017 it was announced that J. J. Abrams and "Arrival" screenwriter Eric Heisserer would make the American adaptation,...
- 11/1/2022
- by Rafael Motamayor
- Slash Film
Paramount has hired “Raya and the Last Dragon” director Carlos López Estrada to direct and rewrite the script for the studio’s upcoming remake of “Your Name,” an acclaimed 2016 anime film by Makoto Shinkai.
J.J. Abrams will produce the film through his Bad Robot production company alongside Jon Cohen Hannah Minghella, and original “Your Name” producer Genki Kawamura for Toho.
“Your Name” follows a teenage boy and girl who find themselves switching bodies back and forth. As they try to discover how this is happening, the pair realizes that they are also switching places at different points in time, and that an unexpected disaster threatens to destroy the girl’s hometown. The film stands among the top five highest-grossing films of all time in Japan.
Also Read:
Jake Gyllenhaal Explores an Alien Planet in ‘Strange World’ Teaser From Disney Animation (Video)
Originally a music video director, López Estrada made his...
J.J. Abrams will produce the film through his Bad Robot production company alongside Jon Cohen Hannah Minghella, and original “Your Name” producer Genki Kawamura for Toho.
“Your Name” follows a teenage boy and girl who find themselves switching bodies back and forth. As they try to discover how this is happening, the pair realizes that they are also switching places at different points in time, and that an unexpected disaster threatens to destroy the girl’s hometown. The film stands among the top five highest-grossing films of all time in Japan.
Also Read:
Jake Gyllenhaal Explores an Alien Planet in ‘Strange World’ Teaser From Disney Animation (Video)
Originally a music video director, López Estrada made his...
- 10/31/2022
- by Jeremy Fuster
- The Wrap
Carlos López Estrada has been enlisted by Paramount, Bad Robot and Toho to rewrite and direct the sci-fi anime live action remake “Your Name.” The film is currently in development and is based on the the 2016 animated romantic fantasy drama, considered to be a modern classic in Japan.
López Estrada is writing the current script. The initial version was written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer, who is best known for his work on “Arrival” and “Bird Box.” Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams will produce the film alongside Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen, with Genki Kawamura, who produced the original. “Your Name” was a staggering hit in Japan, grossing over 230 million in that country alone.
In this re-imagined version, two teenagers discover they are magically and intermittently swapping bodies. When a disaster threatens to upend their lives, they must journey to meet and save their worlds. Toho will handle distribution...
López Estrada is writing the current script. The initial version was written by Academy Award-nominated screenwriter Eric Heisserer, who is best known for his work on “Arrival” and “Bird Box.” Bad Robot’s J.J. Abrams will produce the film alongside Hannah Minghella and Jon Cohen, with Genki Kawamura, who produced the original. “Your Name” was a staggering hit in Japan, grossing over 230 million in that country alone.
In this re-imagined version, two teenagers discover they are magically and intermittently swapping bodies. When a disaster threatens to upend their lives, they must journey to meet and save their worlds. Toho will handle distribution...
- 10/31/2022
- by Brent Lang and Matt Donnelly
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Producer, scriptwriter, best-selling author and now award-winning director Genki Kawamura is best known for his work on Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 anime megahit Your Name. Beginning his career at Toho, his talented was spotted early and he was trusted with producer duties on major projects at Japan’s biggest studio.
In 2010, he worked on the Confessions, a box office hit that was shortlisted for a foreign language Oscar, and Lee Sang-il’s critically acclaimed Villain. That same year, he was Japan’s only representative in The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation Asia list of upcoming talent in the region. He wrote his first novel If Cat’s Disappeared From the World in 2012; a critical and commercial success, it sold well over a million copies in Japan, was a hit in China, Taiwan and South Korea, and was turned into a film four years later by Toho.
Producer, scriptwriter, best-selling author and now award-winning director Genki Kawamura is best known for his work on Makoto Shinkai’s 2016 anime megahit Your Name. Beginning his career at Toho, his talented was spotted early and he was trusted with producer duties on major projects at Japan’s biggest studio.
In 2010, he worked on the Confessions, a box office hit that was shortlisted for a foreign language Oscar, and Lee Sang-il’s critically acclaimed Villain. That same year, he was Japan’s only representative in The Hollywood Reporter’s Next Generation Asia list of upcoming talent in the region. He wrote his first novel If Cat’s Disappeared From the World in 2012; a critical and commercial success, it sold well over a million copies in Japan, was a hit in China, Taiwan and South Korea, and was turned into a film four years later by Toho.
- 10/28/2022
- by Gavin J Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
German media company Plaion Pictures, previously known as Koch Films, has acquired 100 of shares of Anime Limited from its founders.
German media company Plaion Pictures, previously known as Koch Films, has acquired 100 of shares of Anime Limited from its founders.
The UK-based distributor of Japanese animation, based in Glasgow and with offices in France, has released titles including Mobile Suit Gundam, Tokyo Ghoul, Your Name, Weathering With You, Mirai, Belle and Jujutsu Kaisen.
Plaion Pictures’ parent company Plaion became part of Sweden’s Embracer Group in 2018. The company has more than 2500 employees worldwide and is active in gaming and merchandising...
German media company Plaion Pictures, previously known as Koch Films, has acquired 100 of shares of Anime Limited from its founders.
The UK-based distributor of Japanese animation, based in Glasgow and with offices in France, has released titles including Mobile Suit Gundam, Tokyo Ghoul, Your Name, Weathering With You, Mirai, Belle and Jujutsu Kaisen.
Plaion Pictures’ parent company Plaion became part of Sweden’s Embracer Group in 2018. The company has more than 2500 employees worldwide and is active in gaming and merchandising...
- 10/25/2022
- by Mona Tabbara
- ScreenDaily
Kore-eda Hirokazu, Japan’s best known auteur film director and a Tokyo International Film Festival regular, has unveiled a suite of images from “The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House,” his debut drama series for streaming giant Netflix.
Kore-eda acts as producer, showrunner and co-writer of the show and directs some of the nine episodes.
Alongside Kore-eda, Kawamura Genki is producing. Up-and-coming directors including Tsuno Megumi (“Ten Years Japan”), Okuyama Hiroshi (“Jesus”), and Sato Takuma (“Any Crybabies Around?”) are also directing individual episodes. All four directors and Sunada Mami take screenwriting credits.
The series is based on the manga “Maiko-San Chi No Makanai-San” by Aiko Koyama (Weekly Shonen Sunday). Set in the Geiko district of Kyoto, the protagonist Kiyo becomes a Makanai, literally a person who cooks meals, at a house where Maiko (apprentice Geikos) live together. The story depicts the everyday life of Kiyo Maiko, Sumire, her childhood friend...
Kore-eda acts as producer, showrunner and co-writer of the show and directs some of the nine episodes.
Alongside Kore-eda, Kawamura Genki is producing. Up-and-coming directors including Tsuno Megumi (“Ten Years Japan”), Okuyama Hiroshi (“Jesus”), and Sato Takuma (“Any Crybabies Around?”) are also directing individual episodes. All four directors and Sunada Mami take screenwriting credits.
The series is based on the manga “Maiko-San Chi No Makanai-San” by Aiko Koyama (Weekly Shonen Sunday). Set in the Geiko district of Kyoto, the protagonist Kiyo becomes a Makanai, literally a person who cooks meals, at a house where Maiko (apprentice Geikos) live together. The story depicts the everyday life of Kiyo Maiko, Sumire, her childhood friend...
- 10/23/2022
- by Patrick Frater
- Variety Film + TV
Click here to read the full article.
Laura Mora’s Columbian drama The Kings of the World has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 2022 San Sebastián film festival, Spain’s premiere film fest. Mora’s sophomore feature follows five young men growing up on the streets of Medellín who set off on a journey in search of the promised land.
Best director went to Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura for dementia-focused drama Hyakka, his feature debut. Kawamura is best known as the producer of such hit Japanese animated features as Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019).
Marian Mathias’ drama Runner, the story of an 18-year-old girl who decides to fulfill her dead father’s last wish to be buried in his hometown along the Mississippi, won the festival’s special jury prize.
The Silver Shell for best performance went, jointly, to Paul Kircher for his performance in Christophe Honoré...
Laura Mora’s Columbian drama The Kings of the World has won the Golden Shell for best film at the 2022 San Sebastián film festival, Spain’s premiere film fest. Mora’s sophomore feature follows five young men growing up on the streets of Medellín who set off on a journey in search of the promised land.
Best director went to Japanese filmmaker Genki Kawamura for dementia-focused drama Hyakka, his feature debut. Kawamura is best known as the producer of such hit Japanese animated features as Your Name (2016) and Weathering With You (2019).
Marian Mathias’ drama Runner, the story of an 18-year-old girl who decides to fulfill her dead father’s last wish to be buried in his hometown along the Mississippi, won the festival’s special jury prize.
The Silver Shell for best performance went, jointly, to Paul Kircher for his performance in Christophe Honoré...
- 9/24/2022
- by Scott Roxborough
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Radwimps Score the new Makoto Shinkai directed anime film ‘Suzume’ alongside Internationally Acclaimed Film Music Composer Kazuma Jinnouchi. This is the band’s third collaboration with the acclaimed director.
Radwimps are excited to announce their involvement scoring the music for the new Makoto Shinkai anime movie “Suzume” set to hit theatres in Japan on Nov. 11, 2022. The band has teamed up with highly acclaimed film music composer Kazuma Jinnouchi to create the perfect soundtrack and score for the film. The team of Makoto Shinkai x Radwimps x Kazuma Jinnouchi have taken the music to the next level of Shinkai movies. This is the third project for Shinkai and Radwimps and the follow up to the record breaking hit anime movies “Your Name.” (2016) and “Weathering with You” (2019).
The first feature film by Shinkai in 3 years, “Suzume” takes place in various ruins around Japan as a girl named Suzume, goes on...
Radwimps are excited to announce their involvement scoring the music for the new Makoto Shinkai anime movie “Suzume” set to hit theatres in Japan on Nov. 11, 2022. The band has teamed up with highly acclaimed film music composer Kazuma Jinnouchi to create the perfect soundtrack and score for the film. The team of Makoto Shinkai x Radwimps x Kazuma Jinnouchi have taken the music to the next level of Shinkai movies. This is the third project for Shinkai and Radwimps and the follow up to the record breaking hit anime movies “Your Name.” (2016) and “Weathering with You” (2019).
The first feature film by Shinkai in 3 years, “Suzume” takes place in various ruins around Japan as a girl named Suzume, goes on...
- 9/23/2022
- by Adam Symchuk
- AsianMoviePulse
Click here to read the full article.
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open with a full red carpet for the first time in three years as the event looks to bounce back from two relatively subdued editions held during the pandemic.
Fest chairman Hiroyasu Ando said at a line-up press conference that he expected around 100 overseas guests and participants to attend. A very limited number of visitors made the trip for the last two events.
Japan’s government has kept tighter restrictions on its borders for longer than most other countries and a daily limit of 50,000 inbound travellers currently remains in place. Further loosening is expected by the time the fest unspools, with a parliamentary discussion on border controls set for tomorrow.
TIFF will also revive the Kurosawa Akira Award, given to filmmakers for contributions to global cinema, after a hiatus of 14 years. Previous recipients include Steven Spielberg, Yamada Yoji and Chen Kaige.
Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will open with a full red carpet for the first time in three years as the event looks to bounce back from two relatively subdued editions held during the pandemic.
Fest chairman Hiroyasu Ando said at a line-up press conference that he expected around 100 overseas guests and participants to attend. A very limited number of visitors made the trip for the last two events.
Japan’s government has kept tighter restrictions on its borders for longer than most other countries and a daily limit of 50,000 inbound travellers currently remains in place. Further loosening is expected by the time the fest unspools, with a parliamentary discussion on border controls set for tomorrow.
TIFF will also revive the Kurosawa Akira Award, given to filmmakers for contributions to global cinema, after a hiatus of 14 years. Previous recipients include Steven Spielberg, Yamada Yoji and Chen Kaige.
- 9/21/2022
- by Gavin Blair
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Playing in Official Selection at San Sebastian, the film is based on a novel Kawamura penned in 2019.
A Hundred Flowers, playing in Official Selection at San Sebastian, marks the first time Japan’s Genki Kawamura has sat in the director’s chair.
Kawamura is a familiar name to fans of recent Japanese cinema, having helped shepherd live-action films including Confessions and Parasyte, plus anime hits such as Your Name and Belle, to success as producer. He’s also an accomplished novelist; his debut novel If Cats Disappeared From The World has sold over two million copies worldwide.
A Hundred Flowers...
A Hundred Flowers, playing in Official Selection at San Sebastian, marks the first time Japan’s Genki Kawamura has sat in the director’s chair.
Kawamura is a familiar name to fans of recent Japanese cinema, having helped shepherd live-action films including Confessions and Parasyte, plus anime hits such as Your Name and Belle, to success as producer. He’s also an accomplished novelist; his debut novel If Cats Disappeared From The World has sold over two million copies worldwide.
A Hundred Flowers...
- 9/20/2022
- by Matt Schley
- ScreenDaily
Click here to read the full article.
It might seem strange, but Luca Guadagnino’s intimate account of first love between two cannibal drifters in 1980s Middle America, Bones and All, has some of the same softness, sensitivity and gentle naturalism he brought to his HBO series about teen slackers on a Northern Italian military base, We Are Who We Are. Even when they’re feasting on human flesh, walking away wearing bibs of blood and gristle, the film depicts its protagonists — played with a touching, guarded fragility by Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet — not as monsters but as rootless outsiders hungering to connect and feed an appetite they can’t control.
Adapted by Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash and Suspiria writer David Kajganich from the 2015 YA coming-of-age novel by Camille DeAngelis, this is both a horror movie and a humanistic story of disenfranchised youth looking to figure out who and what they are,...
It might seem strange, but Luca Guadagnino’s intimate account of first love between two cannibal drifters in 1980s Middle America, Bones and All, has some of the same softness, sensitivity and gentle naturalism he brought to his HBO series about teen slackers on a Northern Italian military base, We Are Who We Are. Even when they’re feasting on human flesh, walking away wearing bibs of blood and gristle, the film depicts its protagonists — played with a touching, guarded fragility by Taylor Russell and Timothée Chalamet — not as monsters but as rootless outsiders hungering to connect and feed an appetite they can’t control.
Adapted by Guadagnino’s A Bigger Splash and Suspiria writer David Kajganich from the 2015 YA coming-of-age novel by Camille DeAngelis, this is both a horror movie and a humanistic story of disenfranchised youth looking to figure out who and what they are,...
- 9/2/2022
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Judgment was a big topic at the press conference for Luca Guadagnino’s Venice Film Festival competition entry Bones And All this afternoon. Star Timothée Chalamet, returning to the Lido after last year’s triumphant world premiere of Dune, sounded a gloomy outlook when asked his thoughts on the plight of young people today and their experiences with being judged for their choices, particularly in the age of social media.
“To be young now is to be intensely judged,” he said. In Bones And All, “It was a relief to play characters who are wrestling with an internal dilemma absent the ability to go on Reddit or Twitter or Instagram or TikTok and figure out where they fit in. Without casting judgment on that, because if you can find your tribe there, then all the power. But I think it’s tough to be alive now. I think societal collapse is in the air,...
“To be young now is to be intensely judged,” he said. In Bones And All, “It was a relief to play characters who are wrestling with an internal dilemma absent the ability to go on Reddit or Twitter or Instagram or TikTok and figure out where they fit in. Without casting judgment on that, because if you can find your tribe there, then all the power. But I think it’s tough to be alive now. I think societal collapse is in the air,...
- 9/2/2022
- by Nancy Tartaglione
- Deadline Film + TV
“Inu-Oh” was reviewed by TheWrap out of the 2021 Venice Film Festival.
The competition may be fierce, but it’s probably safe to say that Masaaki Yuasa’s “Inu-Oh” is the best feudal-Japanese-hair-metal-demonic-curse-serial-killer-political-tragedy-rock-opera of the year. At least so far.
And if that sounds silly, that’s Masaaki Yuasa for you. The filmmaker is crafting an exhilarating career out of transforming oddball pitches into profound pop art, from the grotesquely beautiful “Devil Man Cry Baby” to the joyously earnest “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” The stories he tells, like the intense and unhinged animation styles he employs, can barely be contained on the screen, and they have seemingly no interest in conforming to expectation.
So it’s fitting that “Inu-Oh” centers around art that inspires, that challenges, that defies. The film takes place in 14th century Japan, where a young blind boy named Tomona wanders away from his home in search of vengeance.
The competition may be fierce, but it’s probably safe to say that Masaaki Yuasa’s “Inu-Oh” is the best feudal-Japanese-hair-metal-demonic-curse-serial-killer-political-tragedy-rock-opera of the year. At least so far.
And if that sounds silly, that’s Masaaki Yuasa for you. The filmmaker is crafting an exhilarating career out of transforming oddball pitches into profound pop art, from the grotesquely beautiful “Devil Man Cry Baby” to the joyously earnest “Keep Your Hands Off Eizouken!” The stories he tells, like the intense and unhinged animation styles he employs, can barely be contained on the screen, and they have seemingly no interest in conforming to expectation.
So it’s fitting that “Inu-Oh” centers around art that inspires, that challenges, that defies. The film takes place in 14th century Japan, where a young blind boy named Tomona wanders away from his home in search of vengeance.
- 8/11/2022
- by William Bibbiani
- The Wrap
Click here to read the full article.
It’s first cannibal love while looking to survive on the margins of society in the first teaser for Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, which MGM acquired ahead of its Venice bow.
The teaser was unveiled by Timothée Chalamet on his Twitter account on Thursday.
“You don’t think I’m a bad person,” the nomadic Lee, played by Chalamet, asks Maren (Taylor Russell) at one point as she’s on a cross-country trip in search for the father she’s never met to understand why she has to kill and eat the people that love her.
The short trailer-like teaser then flashes chaotic scenes from that odyssey, including chase scenes and wild joy rides. “All I think is that I love you,” Maren tells Lee at another point in the teaser, in an ominous sign of what’s to come.
Bones and All...
It’s first cannibal love while looking to survive on the margins of society in the first teaser for Luca Guadagnino’s Bones and All, which MGM acquired ahead of its Venice bow.
The teaser was unveiled by Timothée Chalamet on his Twitter account on Thursday.
“You don’t think I’m a bad person,” the nomadic Lee, played by Chalamet, asks Maren (Taylor Russell) at one point as she’s on a cross-country trip in search for the father she’s never met to understand why she has to kill and eat the people that love her.
The short trailer-like teaser then flashes chaotic scenes from that odyssey, including chase scenes and wild joy rides. “All I think is that I love you,” Maren tells Lee at another point in the teaser, in an ominous sign of what’s to come.
Bones and All...
- 8/10/2022
- by Etan Vlessing
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Timothée Chalamet has taken to Twitter to unveil the first teaser for the cannibal romance Bones and All, reuniting him with his Call Me by Your Name director Luca Guadagnino.
The film set to make its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival is based on the novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis. It’s a story of first love between Maren (Taylor Russell), a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and the intense and disenfranchised drifter, Lee (Chalamet).
Guadagnino directed from a script by his longtime collaborator David Kajganich, with Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon-Green, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz and Mark Rylance rounding out the cast.
Bones and All is a Frenesy Film Company and Per Capita Productions movie with The Apartment Pictures – a Fremantle Company – Memo Films, 3 Marys Entertainment, Elafilm and Tenderstories. Guadagnino,...
The film set to make its world premiere at the 2022 Venice Film Festival is based on the novel of the same name by Camille DeAngelis. It’s a story of first love between Maren (Taylor Russell), a young woman learning how to survive on the margins of society, and the intense and disenfranchised drifter, Lee (Chalamet).
Guadagnino directed from a script by his longtime collaborator David Kajganich, with Michael Stuhlbarg, André Holland, Chloë Sevigny, David Gordon-Green, Jessica Harper, Jake Horowitz and Mark Rylance rounding out the cast.
Bones and All is a Frenesy Film Company and Per Capita Productions movie with The Apartment Pictures – a Fremantle Company – Memo Films, 3 Marys Entertainment, Elafilm and Tenderstories. Guadagnino,...
- 8/10/2022
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Woo Ming JIn is back in the international festival scene with his layered female revenge drama that borrows from genre tropes, and incorporates animation and folklore. In “Stone Turtle”, which screens in Locarno’s international competition, an isolated Malaysian island becomes a place of the merciless cat and mouse game under the wake eyes of ghosts who all have two things in common: being women, and illegal immigrants.
In this Malaysian-Indonesian co-production, two acclaimed actors slip into lead roles: Indonesian Asmara Abigail (Joko Anwar’s regular cast since “Gundala”), and Malaysian Bront Palarae. Their chemistry is charged with all ingredients needed for a proper revenge story, none of them painted in black & white, but nuanced enough to make a distinctive line between good and bad.
Asian Movie Pulse met with Woo Ming Jin in Locarno, right after “Stone Turtle”s world premiere to talk about the film’s unique look,...
In this Malaysian-Indonesian co-production, two acclaimed actors slip into lead roles: Indonesian Asmara Abigail (Joko Anwar’s regular cast since “Gundala”), and Malaysian Bront Palarae. Their chemistry is charged with all ingredients needed for a proper revenge story, none of them painted in black & white, but nuanced enough to make a distinctive line between good and bad.
Asian Movie Pulse met with Woo Ming Jin in Locarno, right after “Stone Turtle”s world premiere to talk about the film’s unique look,...
- 8/7/2022
- by Marina D. Richter
- AsianMoviePulse
Sebastian Lelio’s “Wonder,” starring “Black Widow’s” Florence Pugh, “Winter Boy” with Juliette Binoche and directors Hong Sang-soo and Ulrich Seidl will compete in main competition at September’s San Sebastian Film Festival, the biggest film event in the Spanish-speaking world.
In “Wonder,” the latest from Academy Award winning director Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”),Pugh plays an English nurse brought in to the Irish Midlands in 1862 to observe the alleged miracle of girls going months without food.
Binoche co-stars in “Winter Boy,” from resilient French auteur Christophe Honoré who won at Cannes Un Certain Regard with 2019’s “On a Magical Night.” Hong Sang-soo, the prolific South Korean director, will present “Walk Up,” a film which is billed as taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics.
Seidl’s “Sparta” forms part of a diptych with 2022 Berlin competition contender “Rimini,” both movies turning on men who cannot escape their past.
In “Wonder,” the latest from Academy Award winning director Lelio (“A Fantastic Woman”),Pugh plays an English nurse brought in to the Irish Midlands in 1862 to observe the alleged miracle of girls going months without food.
Binoche co-stars in “Winter Boy,” from resilient French auteur Christophe Honoré who won at Cannes Un Certain Regard with 2019’s “On a Magical Night.” Hong Sang-soo, the prolific South Korean director, will present “Walk Up,” a film which is billed as taking a gently delightful new perspective on themes dear to his poetics.
Seidl’s “Sparta” forms part of a diptych with 2022 Berlin competition contender “Rimini,” both movies turning on men who cannot escape their past.
- 8/2/2022
- by John Hopewell
- Variety Film + TV
Two grandees of Japanese animation adapt a Nahoko Uehashi fantasy novel that covers too much ground to take flight
A key animator on numerous classics including Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Your Name, Masashi Ando teams up with Masayuki Miyaji, another Studio Ghibli veteran, to co-direct this sprawling adaptation of Nahoko Uehashi’s fantasy novel series. This long-awaited endeavour, however, lacks the directorial deftness that has elevated their previous credits.
Stretching itself thin to cover the lengthy source material, The Deer King is laden with meandering, expository details. A tale of conflict between the Aquafa and the Zol peoples as a plague rages runs parallel to a spiritual journey towards healing. After breaking out of prison, Van, an enslaved Aquafa resistance fighter, finds the loss of his wife and child softened by Yuna, an orphaned toddler whom he rescues during his escape. Though bitten by the same rabid dogs that spread the deadly disease,...
A key animator on numerous classics including Princess Mononoke, Spirited Away and Your Name, Masashi Ando teams up with Masayuki Miyaji, another Studio Ghibli veteran, to co-direct this sprawling adaptation of Nahoko Uehashi’s fantasy novel series. This long-awaited endeavour, however, lacks the directorial deftness that has elevated their previous credits.
Stretching itself thin to cover the lengthy source material, The Deer King is laden with meandering, expository details. A tale of conflict between the Aquafa and the Zol peoples as a plague rages runs parallel to a spiritual journey towards healing. After breaking out of prison, Van, an enslaved Aquafa resistance fighter, finds the loss of his wife and child softened by Yuna, an orphaned toddler whom he rescues during his escape. Though bitten by the same rabid dogs that spread the deadly disease,...
- 7/25/2022
- by Phuong Le
- The Guardian - Film News
Edinburgh International Film Festival has announced the programme for its fully in-person 75th Anniversary edition this year. The dynamic programme of cinema screenings, live performance and industry dialogues in Edinburgh in the heart of the August festival season welcomes attending UK & international filmmakers to present their work.
Full programme includes 87 new features, 12 short film programmes, and two large scale retrospectives that celebrate the 2022 Theme of the 50th Anniversary of the Women’s Film Festival in new Creative Director Kristy Matheson’s inaugural edition. 10 international feature films with over 50 female Directors or Co-Directors for the brand-new competitive section for ‘The Powell and Pressburger Award for Best Feature Film’.
Eiff 2022 Festival Theme:
In 1972, the Edinburgh International Film Festival presented the first global film event entirely dedicated to the cinematic achievements of female directors, curated by Claire Johnston, Lynda Myles, and Laura Mulvey. Honouring the spirit of this original programme provocation, Eiff’s...
Full programme includes 87 new features, 12 short film programmes, and two large scale retrospectives that celebrate the 2022 Theme of the 50th Anniversary of the Women’s Film Festival in new Creative Director Kristy Matheson’s inaugural edition. 10 international feature films with over 50 female Directors or Co-Directors for the brand-new competitive section for ‘The Powell and Pressburger Award for Best Feature Film’.
Eiff 2022 Festival Theme:
In 1972, the Edinburgh International Film Festival presented the first global film event entirely dedicated to the cinematic achievements of female directors, curated by Claire Johnston, Lynda Myles, and Laura Mulvey. Honouring the spirit of this original programme provocation, Eiff’s...
- 7/22/2022
- by Adriana Rosati
- AsianMoviePulse
Suzume’s Journey is About to Begin—!
Toho and CoMix Wave are proud to reveal the latest trailer for Makoto Shinkai’s upcoming film, “Suzume”, which also reveals for the first time, Nanoka Hara’s performance in the lead role of Suzume.
Since the key visual was revealed in April along with the four keywords, “Traveling Young Man”, “White Cat”, “Small Chair” and “The Key to Doors”, the film has gained considerable interest from press around the world. The upcoming film follows his previous two blockbusters, “Your Name” (2016) and “Weathering with You” (2019), which garnered unprecedented international acclaim.
“Suzume” is expected to be hitting movie theaters in Japan on November 11, 2022. Crunchyroll is distributing “Suzume” globally beginning in early 2023. In North America, Crunchyroll is the sole distributor. In Latin America, Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East and portions of Europe, the film will be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. In French- and German-speaking Europe,...
Toho and CoMix Wave are proud to reveal the latest trailer for Makoto Shinkai’s upcoming film, “Suzume”, which also reveals for the first time, Nanoka Hara’s performance in the lead role of Suzume.
Since the key visual was revealed in April along with the four keywords, “Traveling Young Man”, “White Cat”, “Small Chair” and “The Key to Doors”, the film has gained considerable interest from press around the world. The upcoming film follows his previous two blockbusters, “Your Name” (2016) and “Weathering with You” (2019), which garnered unprecedented international acclaim.
“Suzume” is expected to be hitting movie theaters in Japan on November 11, 2022. Crunchyroll is distributing “Suzume” globally beginning in early 2023. In North America, Crunchyroll is the sole distributor. In Latin America, Australia/New Zealand, the Middle East and portions of Europe, the film will be distributed by Crunchyroll and Sony Pictures Entertainment. In French- and German-speaking Europe,...
- 7/17/2022
- by Suzie Cho
- AsianMoviePulse
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