The Japanese Film Festival Online is making its UK debut this summer on the free streaming site JFF+.
The Japan Foundation, who host the festival, aims to introduce Japanese films to a wider global audience. It hopes to expand on last year's festival, which was held in ten countries and hosted more than 120,000 participants.
This year's online programme will be available in 27 countries, including the UK, the United States, and New Zealand.
For two weeks in June, fifteen films will be made available to stream online for free with subtitles in sixteen languages. The line-up includes a mixture of romance, documentary, and anime films among other genres. Classics such as the anti-war film Twenty-Four Eyes (1954) are also included.
The Japan Horror Film Competition meanwhile will showcase emerging talent within the genre. This includes the prize-winning Best Wishes to All (2023), and short films that focus on inanimate objects like houses, closets, and umbrellas.
Additionally, two TV drama series will be released on the JFF+ website. They are both directed by Katsuo Fukuzawa and both are business dramas.
Rikuoah (2017) is about a CEO who uses his knowledge of making tabi (traditional Japanese socks) to develop running shoes to save his failing company. It features well-known cast members such as Koji Yakusho, who led Wim Wender's Perfect Days (2023). Kento Yamazaki who features in the Netflix series Alice in Borderland, also stars.
The series Downtown Rocket (2015) also follows a CEO (Hiroshi Abe), whose small factory needs to compete against large corporations while developing rocket technology. Tao Tsuchiya, another Alice in Borderland actor, also stars in the drama.
Online audience members are required to register to participate in the festival. Registration is free.
The 2024 Japanese Film Festival Online runs from 5th June 2024 to 3rd July 2024.
