December 21, 2019

Japan Film Festival launched at Aung Thabyay Cinema in Nay Pyi Taw yesterday evening.

The movie “Passage of Life” by Director Akio Fujimoto and the third product Japanese-Myanmar collaboration, is show at Aung Thabyay Cinema in Nay Pyi Taw, attracting crowded audience. The movie shows the real life of a Myanmar family in Tokyo around 2010. Two little brothers live a quiet life with their mother in an apartment in Tokyo. The mother has a hard time settling down in Japan and longs for her native Myanmar, while the father keeps looking for ways to survive in Tokyo. The children are more proficient in the Japanese language than their parents, and when the short-lived intimate home life begins to crumble on the boundary between the languages, the family finds itself in an uncertain situation.

At the opening ceremony of the film festival, Director-General of the Information and Public Relations Department U Ye Naing, on behalf of the Union Minister for Information, delivered an opening address and Deputy Chief of Mission of Japanese Embassy Mr Maeda Toru also made remarks about the festival.

The Japan Film Festival will be at the cinema today with free entrance fee today. “Samurai Shifters” by Director Inudo Isshin will be shown at 1:30 pm. In the movie, Shunnosuke Katagiri (Gen Hoshino) is a samurai and a bookworm. He receives a mission to help a daimyo move. With the assistance of Genemon Takamura (Issey Takahashi) and Oran (Mitsuki Takahata), Shunnosuke Katagiri carries out his mission.

At 4:30 pm, “Masquerade Hotel” by Director Suzuki Masayuki will be shown. The plot synopsis is : three murder cases take place in Tokyo. Numbers are left at the murder scenes, possibly hinting at where the next murder will take place. An investigation begins of the serial killer and Detective Kosuke Nitta (Takuya Kimura) works on the case. He believes the next murder will take place at Hotel Koruteshia Tokyo. To catch the killer, Kosuke Nitta goes undercover and begins working at the front desk of the hotel.

Japan Film Festival is held annually in Myanmar since 2013. Eleven films will be shown in this festival, and three movies will be shown at Nay Pyi Taw Aung Thabyay Cinema on 20 and 21 December, 10 movies at Nay Pyi Taw, JCGV (Junction City) and Mingalar (Tamwe) cinemas in Yangon on 10 and 19 January, 2020, and six films at Win Laik Cinema in Mandalay from 31st January to 2 February. — Han Lynn Aung (FDC)