Four films, directed by renowned film-makers, and three music videos that give a glimpse of pop culture of Japan are part of the Japanese film festival that began on Tuesday. The four-day festival is being organised by the Consulate-General of Japan, Chennai, and Madras Film Society. A couple of films are based on best-selling novels.
Inaugurating the festival, Consul General of Japan Kazuo Minagawa said the film festivals are conducted periodically to introduce Japanese culture through films. “We are screening a couple of sequels to much-acclaimed films. These are the films that capture human emotions in a delightful way,” said Mr. Minagawa. Sarada Nambi Arooran, State Information Commissioner, Tamil Nadu Information Commission, said cinema is the uniting factor for people. Urging students to learn Japanese, she said foreign languages, especially Japanese, improve job prospects for students. “Constant learning takes you higher up your career ladder faster than others. ,” she said.
Actor Kushboo recalled an instance when she struggled to learn and understand Tamil during the shoot of her maiden film ‘Dharmathin Thalaivan.' “I also realised learning the local language gives an edge over others. ”
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Observing that Chennai was opening up to different kinds of films, she said growing international exposure among film-goers sees the festivals now drawing several people at every screening.
Madras Film Festival secretary A.G. Raghupathy, executive vice-president K. Govindaraj and vice-president V.T. Subramanian spoke at the event. The festival opened with the movie ‘Always – Sunset on Third Street 2.' The films will be screened at South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce auditorium at 6.30 p.m. till Friday.