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JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2006 Cheerful Gang Project

A Cheerful Gang Turns the Earth
Australian Premier
Naruse is a human lie detector, Yukiko was born with a completely accurate sense of time, Kyono is a man who loves to talk, but is otherwise completely useless, and Kuon is the light-fingered pickpocket. Living uneventful lives, these four characters with unique abilities, join forces to attempt an exhilarating bank heist. This is a highly entertaining, fast-paced comedy filled with lovable characters, witty humour and romance.
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Director: Tetsu Maeda | 2006 | 92min | Comedy/Crime/Pop culture
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 AEGIS associates

Aegis Australian Premier
On board Japan's most advanced naval defence ship, Petty Officer Sengoku (Hiroyuki Sanada) and his young crew are training, not knowing that they are going to be engaged in the biggest crisis to hit modern-day Japan. The nightmare starts when terrorists sneak a chemical weapon aboard the ship, announcing that they will launch missiles at Tokyo within twelve hours, leaving the Japanese government with a crisis that they have been ignoring for sixty years.
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Director: Junji Sakamoto | 2005 | 127min | Drama/Suspense/Action
Screening in Sydney only.
 
OPENING FILM
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 NTV / ROBOT / Shogakukan / VAP / Toho / Dentsu / YTV / Yomiuri Shimbun / Shirogumi / Imagica

ALWAYS - Sunset on Third Street
Australian Premier
Based on Japan's best-loved comic book series Sunset on Third Street, this multi-Japanese Academy Award winning film takes viewers on a nostalgic journey back to Tokyo circa 1958, revealing the lives and struggles of ordinary folk. Japan's best visual effects director, Takashi Yamazaki, uses astounding effects to recreate the city with amazing accuracy, including the emerging figure of the yet-to-be completed Tokyo Tower - the great symbol of Japan's post-war economic recovery.
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Director: Takashi YamazakI | 2005 | 133min | Drama/Comedy
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2006 NTV/ Kowa / VAP / YTV / Yomiuri Shimbun/ Hochi Shimbun/ Yomiuri Agency/ Shochiku

Boy Meets Ghost  Mature Australian Premier

Ichiro is a mischievous boy whose life changes when he is hit by a truck. He survives, but the knock to his head gives him the ability to see ghosts. Naturally, Ichiro is freaked out by the mysterious ghost encounters, but the biggest shock comes when one of the ghosts announces that he was Ichiro's father. Ichiro embarks on a search for the truth and discovers the power of family love. The 2003 animated TV series of this hit comic won Best Program Award at the Asia Television Awards.

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Director: Nobuo Mizuta | 2006 |123min | Drama/Family
Screening in Sydney only.
 
CLOSING FILM
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2006 Hayazakinohana Film Partners

Forget-Me-Not
Australian Premier
A camerawoman who is losing her eyesight revisits the countryside where she and her brother were evacuated to during WWII. Life was hard then but the eyes of the children still radiated with life; that is until the sudden flash of an allied bombing raid changed the children's lives forever. This superbly crafted film uncovers the true story of a little-known event in Japan's history, revealing the devastating effects of a bombing that happened over 61 years ago. This screening features the film's director and producer as special guests.
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Director: Hiroshi Sugawara | 2006 | 105min | Drama/War/Friendship
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2006 Ghost Train Film Partners
Ghost Train Australian Premier

Eighteen-year old high school student Nana is looking after her younger sister Noriko while their mother is in hospital. Nana's world suddenly turns into a nightmare when Noriko mysteriously disappears. The only clue is the train pass she picked up on the train before disappearing and the dark shadow seen on the surveillance camera that follows Noriko at the station... Will Nana ever find her beloved little sister again?
See Ghost Train and The Neighbor No. Thirteen in a back-to-back horror special.

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Director: Takeshi Furusawa | 2006 | 93min | Horror
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 The Glass Rabbit Production Committee
Glass Rabbit PG Australian Premier
Twelve-year old Toshiko loses her mother, father and two sisters as a result of the air raids in Tokyo and neighbouring areas during WWII. Her most treasured possession is the half-melted glass rabbit she retrieves from the rubble of her father's bombed glass factory. This highly moving animated feature is based on the best selling novel by Toshiko Takagi, which has been translated into eight languages, and closely mirrors her own experience of wartime Japan.
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Director: Setsuko Shibuichi | 2005 | 86 min | Animation/War/Family
Screening in Sydney, Canberra, Brisbane and Perth.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2003 Josee, The Tiger and the Fish Film Partners
Josee, the Tiger and the Fish Australian Premier
Tsuneo, a good looking university student, has a chance meeting with a mysterious young woman who travels around the neighbourhood in a pram because she can't walk. The girl calls herself 'Josee' after the heroine of her favourite novel. From their first meeting, Tsuneo falls under the spell of Josee's unusual charm, growing more and more attracted to her. Based on a short story by best-selling author Seiko Tanabe, this is an offbeat love story in collision with the real world.
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Director: Isshin Inudo | 2003 | 116min | Drama/Romance
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2004 Shimotsuma Story Media Partners
Kamikaze Girls  
Wishing to escape the boredom of her humdrum rural hometown Shimotsuma, in yakuza heartland, Momoko (Kyoko Fukada) loses herself in the dreamy, doll-like fashions of the 'Lolita' scene. One day she meets her diametrical fashion opposite, the surly biker chick Ichigo (Anna Tsuchiya), and the two form an unlikely friendship. This is a mildly surreal, frenetically comic journey into Japan's youth subcultures based on the novel by cult manga creator Novala Takemoto.
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Director: Tetsuya Nakashima | 2004 | 103min | Comedy/Pop culture
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 La Maison de HIMIKO Film Partners
La Maison de HIMIKO Australian Premier
Saori has spent most of her life denying the existence of her estranged gay father Himiko. One day, her father's young, attractive lover, Haruhiko, appears saying that Himiko is dying of cancer. Filled with repulsion but desperate for money, Saori arrives unexpectedly at Maison de HIMIKO, a nursing home for gay men established by her father. In time, a delicate and intriguing relationship starts to form among the three who could not possibly have understood one another before.
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Director: Isshin Inudo | 2005 | 131min | Drama/Comedy
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 Princess Raccoon Production Committee
Princess Raccoon  
Directed by Japanese cinema cult-figure, Seijun Suzuki, this is a visually sumptuous modern musical/kabuki drama like you've never seen before. Inspired by ancient Japanese folklore, it tells the story of forbidden love between Tanukihime (Zhang Ziyi), a shape-shifting raccoon dog princess, and Amachiyo (Joe Odagiri), the banished prince of Garasa Castle. Be drawn into a romantic wonderland, filled with spectacular song and dance routines.
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Director: Seijun Suzuki | 2004 | 111min | Musical/Romance/Pop culture
Screening in Sydney only.
 
 
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2004 Fuji Television//Toho/ Dentsu
Swing Girls PG Australian Premier
This is an uplifting music comedy from Shinobu Yaguchi (Water Boys) about a group of high school girls who become stand-in musicians for the school jazz band after they are sidelined by a severe bout of food poisoning. Lacking musical ability, the girls reluctantly undergo an intensive regime of physical and musical training. Just as they are beginning to enjoy themselves, the band members recover and the girls are left to find a way to continue playing...
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Director: Shinobu Yaguchi | 2004 | 105 min | Comedy/School/Music
Screening in all states.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 1974 Shochiku, Co. Ltd.
The Castle of Sand [Digitally remastered]
  PG Australian Premier
The dead body of a man in his fifties is discovered at a railway yard in Tokyo. An intense investigation is launched, led by veteran officer, Imanishi, and rookie, Yoshimura, which at first offers few leads and no motive for the death of a man who by all accounts was well liked. See this digitally remastered Japanese classic, which superbly weaves together three seemingly unconnected stories as it builds towards its unforgettable ending.
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Director: Yoshitaro Nomura | 1974 | 143 min | Classic/Drama/Suspense
Screening in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2004 "The Face of Jizo" Partners
The Face of Jizo
 
PG Australian Premier
This is the final installation in Kazuo Kuroki's trilogy on wartime Japan (Tomorrow, Kirishima 1945). Mitsue is struggling with the overwhelming guilt of having survived the Hiroshima bomb, while her father Takezo and other loved ones died in the blast. Three years on, Takezo comes back to life to tell his daughter that she must go on living... Featuring superb performances, this is a poignant film which makes a powerful statement about the destruction of life by nuclear weapons.
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Director: Kazuo Kuroki | 2004 | 99 min | Drama/War/Romance
Screening in all states.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2006 The Mamiya Brothers Film Partners
The Mamiya Brothers Australian Premier
The Mamiya brothers have lived together for over thirty years. Whether it be marking baseball scorecards in front of the TV or solving crossword puzzles, the two do everything together. When it comes to romance however, they are totally inexperienced. To kick-start their love lives they organise a 'curry party' at their apartment, inviting two girls they know... Are they really ready to sacrifice their fun times together for some intricate relationship?
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Director: Yoshimitsu Morita | 2006 | 119min | Drama/Comedy
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 Inoue Santa/Rinjin Partners
The Neighbor No. Thirteen 
 
As a child, Juzo suffered years of bullying at the hands of his classmate Akai. Now in his twenties, Juzo encounters Akai again when he begins work at the same company and moves into the same apartment building. Akai doesn't recognise Juzo but Juzo still bares a grudge towards his tormentor. When the cycle of bullying begins all over again, Juzo's violent alter ego, ‘No. 13' emerges. No matter how nice Juzo may seem, no one is safe now that ‘No. 13' has been let loose...
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Director: Yasuo Inoue | 2005 | 115min | Horror
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 Semishigure
Production Committee
The Samurai I Loved Australian Premier

Young swordsman, Bunshiro, is shunned by his village after his father, a highly respected samurai, is embroiled in a clan conspiracy and ordered to commit ritual suicide. Even during this time, his neighbour's daughter, Fuku, watches on with affection. This adaptation of the most prized novel by Japan's best-known samurai novelist Shuhei Fujisawa (Twilight Samurai, The Hidden Blade) is a touching story about love and friendship, set against a backdrop of beautiful cinematography.

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Director: Mitsuo Kurotsuchi | 2005 | 131min | Drama/Samurai
Screening in Sydney only.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2003 The Stars Converge Production Committee
The Stars Converge Australian Premier
Set over three decades, this is a nostalgic tale about cross-cultural love. In 1977, Japanese student, Ikuko, and Korean student, Ahn, meet and fall in love during the goodwill track and field competition between Pusan and Shimonoseki. Before parting, they decide to meet again on July the 7th, just like the mythical lovers of the night sky do in the tanabata legend. A year later they are reunited and vow to meet again in four years time...
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Director: Kiyoshi Sasabe | 2003 | 114 min | Drama/Romance/School
Screening in Sydney and Perth.
 
JPF Sydney: 10th Film Festival
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© 2005 Ubume Production Committee
Ubume Australian Premier
In Tokyo in the late 1950s, people are terrified about the supernatural happenings at an eerie hospital where a woman has been pregnant for eighteen months and her husband has mysteriously disappeared. As they get closer to the truth new enigmas emerge: the mysterious death of an ex-nurse, missing newborn babies and a family curse. The case seems impossible, until the eccentric occultist detective, Kyogokudo, joins the investigation and begins to unravel the mystery.
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Director: Akio Jissoji | 2004 | 123min | Mystery
Screening in Sydney only.
 
PG Parental guidance recommended
Mature Recommended for mature audiences
Australian Premier Australian Premiere
 
All festival films (unless otherwise stated) are restricted to persons 18 years of age and over unless specified. This relates to the censorship requirements of holding a Film Festival, as set by the Office of Film and Literature Classification and is not necessarily a reflection of the content of the films themselves.
 
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