Movies such as Akira Kurosawa’s Rashomon that took the world by storm with its off-beat storyline and The Girl Who Leapt Through Time that hogged the limelight in many international film festivals, are set to entertain movie-lovers at the Japanese Film Festival that got under way here on Tuesday.
The festival, being jointly organised by the Consulate-General of Japan and Indo Cine Appreciate Foundation (ICAF) at the South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce, opened with Always-Sunset on Third Street, which won the Japan Academy Prize. The movie, set in 1958, features post-War Japan, when its economic growth saw an all-time high. It talks about a family that slogs out to improve its living standards and throws light on the culture and values that the middle-class Japanese faithfully treasured. Inaugurating the festival, Consul-General of Japan in Chennai Kazuo Minagawa said Japanese films were a gateway to learning about the country’s culture and tradition. “These films showcased the daily life of people who had a strong sense of community that has been presumably lost in modern Japan,” he said. Films such as Always? rode a wave of nostalgia and made it big in theatres in Japan. Many Japanese films won acclamation at international level and film festivals at Chennai attracted good number of audience, he said. Linda Linda Linda, directed by Nobuhiro Yamashita, talks about the friendship between four girls, who get together and form a music group to participate at a school’s culture festival.
Gem Granites chairman R.Veeramani, actor and television anchor Anu Hasan and ICAF president B. Ramakrishnan spoke.
