KYOTO INTERNATIONAL FILM AND ART FESTIVAL 2020

The family seems to be a normal, happy everyday run-of-the-mill family. However, the father, Kazuhiko (Yutaka Takenouchi), is a burglar, the mother, Satsuki (Yasuko Matsuyuki), is a marriage swindler, the eldest son, Jun (Kentaro Sakaguchi), is a counterfeiter, and the eldest daughter and the youngest son also know that the family makes a living out of crime. One day, Satsuki is kidnapped by a fellow marriage swindler putting the family in a crisis. What does the father decide to do to protect his family beyond the dueling attempts at restoring what once was his? Why does he continue to stay in the family and why should he risk it? When Kazuhiko's decision and the secrets behind this mysterious family are revealed, the feelings and bonds between them that transcend the imagination gently touch the audiences' hearts. This drama is a masterpiece starring Yutaka Takenouchi and featuring a splendid cast including Yasuko Matsuyuki and Kentaro Sakaguchi.

Director Sadao Nakajima has built up his film career in Kyoto spanning over half a century. As a filmmaker, Nakajima examines the chanbara (samurai fighting films) produced in Kyoto from their core.Nakajima talks to a wide range of film experts, including fighters, actors, film scholars, and critics about the fascination of chanbara films that cannot be seen by simply following the story including the background to the creation of period dramas and the Japanese view of life and death in chanbara films.The documentary part highlights Japan's pride in its art and culture, and the original chanbara fighting scenes featuring actors Shogo Kimura, Chihiro Yamamoto, performers from the Toei Tsurugikai troupe and others under the guidance of director Nakajima, along with the making of the scenes. The film follows how the chanbara fighting scenes are created, and ends with a completed scene.

The movie is set in the final days of the Tokugawa era. Tajuro Kiyokawa who lives in a poor house in Kyoto, spends his days in idleness, being assisted by Otoyo, the owner of a low class restaurant, who has some of her own problems. Tajuro used to be a prominent samurai in the province of Choshu, but he has become a wandering exile to escape the debt his parents left him. He doesn't know what to do with his great sword skill and spends his days idly without a cause or dream.Though he notices Otoyo's earnest demeanor, Tajuro tries to raemain alone. At the same time, a patrol squad under the influence of the Shinsengumi, tightens their crackdown to maintain their reputation. Due to a tip-off from a private detective, who has a grudge against Tajuro from a small quarrel, the patrol squad learns of Tajuro's existence. As a sense of disquiet hangs over Kyoto, his younger half-brother Kazuma who is loyal to the emperor arrives.Tajuro tries to convince his brother to return home while Kazuma blames his brother for his depravity. Then the patrol squad swoops in and injures Kazuma's eye. Tajuro leaves Kazuma with Otoyo and slashes and dices at the pursuing government officials while acting as a decoy while Kazuma and Otoyo escape from Kyoto. For Tajuro, the first and last battle has begun and he risks his own life.

After the disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant on March 11, 2011, the town of Tomioka, located about 12 kilometers from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, was designated as a difficult area to return to. The film begins with the lone presence of Naoto Matsumura, an animal rights activist who continues to protect cats, dogs, cows as well as ostriches and other animals that used to be raised in the area around the Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The director, Gilles Laurent, was a sound engineer based in Belgium and working mainly in Europe. He came to Japan, his wife's native country, with his family in 2013. As he has always been interested in environmental issues, he came to know of Naoto Matsumura of Tomioka from being featured in overseas media while he was researching Fukushima, and he decided to advocate for Matsumura’s cause.Laurent chose "the strength of people who have close connections with the land" as his subject matter, and by getting to closely know three families, he was able to weave together their love for Fukushima and their hometown in their everyday lives. The film was shot on two separate occasions in Fukushima Prefecture between August and October 2015.In December, after the terrorist attacks in Paris, Gilles temporarily returned to his homeland of Brussels, Belgium, to edit the film. On March 22, 2016, when the editing process was all done and a preview screening was scheduled, he unexpectedly lost his life during the subway terrorist attacks in Belgium.

The novel of the same name by Akutagawa Prize-winning author Yuichi Takai was published in 1983 and won the Tanizaki Junichiro Prize. This is the first film in 18 years directed by Haruhiko Arai, one of Japan's leading scriptwriters, who carefully portrays the lives of the common people in Tokyo at the end of the war with exquisite sensitivity and elegant writing, delicately and boldly portraying the war era not as a battlefield, but as a story of the lives of the common people in a sensitive and realistic manner.In "Vibrator," "The Backwater", and many other works, he has masterfully expressed the eccentricity and romanticism of men and women. Fumi Nikaido plays the lead role of Satoko. In the midst of the extreme conditions of war, she exudes an overwhelming presence as she brilliantly embodies the conflict of heart that drives her to fall in a forbidden love with Ichige, a man with a wife and child at the same time making her decision while wondering if she will die without being able to marry.The role of Ichige is played by Hiroki Hasegawa. He passionately plays the role of a man who is attracted to and craves Satoko despite his wife and child. With a cast of talented actors including Yuki Kudo, Yasuko Tomita, Renji Ishibashi, and Eiji Okuda playing supporting roles, this is a heartfelt drama that painstakingly depicts people living in the midst of wartime bombing raids and the looming fear of starvation.

Japan and the U.S. worked together to make the movie "Cocktail Party" based on the first Okinawan novel to win the Akutagawa Prize by Okinawa-born and resident novelist Tatsuhiro Oshiro.The 19-year-old daughter of a company employee from Tokyo, who has been transferred to Chatan Town, Okinawa Prefecture, claims she was sexually assaulted by a U.S. soldier. But the U.S. soldier claimed it was a mutually consensual act.The film depicts the complex feelings of both Japan and the U.S. toward the U.S. military and base issues in Okinawa through the assault by U.S. soldiers along with subsequent trials and military investigations.

There is a shopping district in a town that looks like Hakata but isn't Hakata.
Today, another great tasting adventure is about to begin!
The slapstick daily life of food fairies is on showcase!

Tokunaga, a comedian who debuts as a member of the young duo Sparks, but has not grown at all, meets senior comedian Kamiya at a fireworks display in Atami, where he had a gig. Kamiya's duo, Ahondara, performed a manzai act that went beyond the bounds of the norm. Fascinated by his eccentric comedic style and human character, Tokunaga asks Kamiya to take him on as an apprentice. Kamiya agrees and asks him to make a biography of him in return.From that day on, Tokunaga writes down what Kamiya does in his daily life in his notebook. Two years later, Tokunaga reunites with Kamiya, who has moved his base of operations from Osaka to Tokyo. The two began to go out drinking every day, discussing their act and living a fulfilling life of almost no work while honing their talents. Kamiya's girlfriend who lives with him, Maki, watches over them tenderly. However, before long, a slight difference in consciousness begins to emerge between the two.This is a ten-year coming-of-age story of two people who are fascinated by comedy, hindered by reality, and struggling with their talents to live their dreams to the fullest.