New York: Japan Cuts - Festival of Contemporary Japanese Cinema JAPAN CUTS offered a cross section of contemporary Japanese film productions of which 12 were co-presented with the NYAFF in their sixth year of collaboration. The remainder of JAPAN CUTS 39 features was screened through July 28 at the Japan Society. What Sam Javier, the programmer of Japanese films observed several years ago, still applies,” … unhinged [film] insanity is unleashing hell on unsuspecting U.S. ...

The USA Film Festival’s 27th annual KidFilm® Festival announces the schedule of events taking place Saturday, January 22 and Sunday, January 23, 2011 at the Angelika Film Center, 5321 E. Mockingbird Lane, Dallas, Texas.KidFilm is the oldest and largest children’s film festival in the United States, featuring an entertaining, educational, and diverse line-up of new and classic films for both children and adults, along with free books and DVDs. This year’s highlights include: Tribut...

Major premieres for Locarno’s younger audiences: Pokémon and Mai Mai MiracleThe 12th film in the Pokémon saga, entitled Pokémon Diamond & Pearl the Movie: Arceus: To the Conquering of Space-Time, will be presented as an international premiere at the forthcoming Locarno International Film Festival. Directed by Kunihiko Yuyama, creator of the preceding episodes as of the TV series, the film concludes the Diamond & Pearl trilogy. Following the screening, young viewers will be able to meet Jap...

The Million Yen Girl shown at Udine Far East Festival involves a 21 year old student who heads for the road after experiencing disappointment with her family and disillusionment with the difficulty of earning a living in Tokyo. Wanting to become independent, she co-rents an appartment with a total stranger who throws out a kitten she adopted, after which she tosses all his ownings out the window and gets the book for alientation of private property. After a short term in jail, he...

 Friday, July 14-------Three films from Asia that have made waves on the international film festival circuit are opening in New York this weekend, and will roll out to other cities in North America during the next few weeks. The widely different films point to the continued renaissance of Asian cinema as a world force and the ambitious and risk-taking aesthetic of a new generation of Asian directors.Of the three filmmakers, the South Korean director Kim Ki-Duk is probably the best known in this...

Saturday, February 17-----As the Berlin Film Festival moves into its final weekend, a host of films from Asia have demonstrated the continued vitality and excitement of Asian cinema on the world scene. In the Berlinale Competition section, four Asian films are competing for the top prize, the Berlinale Golden Bear. Celebrated Korean director Park Chan-wook (whose film OLDBOY was a major international arthouse hit) returns to the horror genre with a sense of humor, with his tongue-in-cheek film ...

It is causing a revolution in animation, and the Stockholm International Film Festival, meeting that demand, scheduled three screenings by Japanese anime (animation) directors during the festival: Satoshi Kon's Tokyo Godfathers, featuring three disparate characters; Gin the alcoholic, Hana the transvestite and Miyuki the homeless girl in Tokyo - who find an abandoned baby; Mamoru Oshii's, Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence - Japan's entry for best foreign film at the 2005 Academy Awards, a universe...

The first-ever annual international competition to identify the best in Manga and Anime talent in the world has been launched, with $75,000 worth of prizes to be won.“We are looking for fabulous new talent wherever it is,” says Dr Andre Singer of IMAF, who is the organiser of the competition. “The popularity of Manga and Anime is increasing worldwide, and the competition will create a new forum for Manga artists and Manga animators, whether professional or amateur, to show the dynamic sco...