Shinsedai Cinema Festival 2010 Preview

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival opens this week on Thursday July 22, 2010 and it's now in it's second year bringing Japanese independent film to enthusiastic film fans here in Toronto.

The whole shebang starts off with a pre-screening reception on Opening Night at the The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, followed by the first film of this years festival Kakera: A Piece of Our Life, directed by Momoko Ando (who will be in attendance at the festival) and tells the story of 2 women in a rocky romantic relationship. Sounds good to me!

For experiential film lovers out there, one of the coolest things that is going on at Shinsedai this is year they are screening the 1993 film The Water Magician with live musical accompaniment by Toronto experimental quintet Vowls. I love seeing films with live accompaniment, it feels like such a special and out of time experience!

The festival brings us film from many different genres from crime films Island of Dreams and Confessions of a Dog, to sensitive drama Locked Out and even drama with a science fiction spin Our Brief Eternity. Documentary fan rejoice as the award winning A Normal Life, Please! will be screened at the festival, and it follows the challenge of and injustice of working with less than 6 hours a day to your own schedule. Wow.

If experimental film is your thing, you are in luck as the Jishu Eiga Room will be screening experiemental Japanese indie films throughout the day on July 24 & July 25, 2010. Titles included in this continuous program are Dome Animation, Different Cities, Oh! Otsuka Drugstore and a trilogy of shorts from Yuki Kawamura.
Update: Dome Animation and Oh! Otsuka Drugstore will be screened once, not continually. More more details on this update go here.

You like festivals with guests? Shinsedai has tons of guests! The list for this years festival is quite impressive and it includes Momoko Ando (director: Kakera: A Piece of Our Life), Akino Kondoh (director: Ladybirds’ Requiem), Gen Takahashi (director: Confessions of a Dog), Tokachi Tsuchiya (director: A Normal Life, Please) and Yasunobu Takahashi (director: Locked Out). Also, there was a recent special announcement sharing that their 6th guest this year is Shaq, star of Gunman Champion.

For more information, check out the Shinsedai Cinema Festival, Festival Schedule, Ticket & Box Office Information, Location Information and more About the Festival here.

The Shinsedai Cinema Festival runs from July 22 - 25, 2010 at The Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada