After six days with over 100 films from Japan and a diverse cultural program, the 16th Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection ended in Frankfurt am Main on May 29. With well over 16,000 visitors, last year's attendance record was surpassed, and many of the film screenings, concerts and workshops were quickly sold out. This was certainly not least due to the 60 or so guests. Directors, actors, producers and artists from Japan and all over the world who travelled to present their works to the audience. The festive conclusion of the festival was the award ceremony on the last day of the festival at the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm.
This year's audience award Nippon Cinema Award went to Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen by Takeshi Kitano. The feature film about an old-school yakuza takes an ironic look at Japan's aging society. The director thus returns to his comedic roots. The prize of 2,000 euros is sponsored for the twelfth time by Bankhaus Metzler from Frankfurt am Main. Gerhard Wiesheu of Bankhaus Metzler presented the prize to producer Shozo Ichiyama of Office Kitano.
The Nippon Visions Audience Award went to Under the Cherry Tree by Kei Tanaka. The documentary was compelling as a sensitive portrait of elderly residents of a public housing complex. The filmmaker accepted the award in person. The Audience Award, worth 1,000 euros, was donated for the third time by the Japanese Cultural Centre Frankfurt.
The winner of the Nippon Visions Jury Award is Takeo Kikuchi. In his impressively acted family drama Dear Deer, the young director tells of a fractured sibling relationship, addressing the stagnation in small Japanese towns. The film was particularly impressive for its light-footed direction and the acting of the female heroine, the jury stressed. The three jurors were German filmmaker Gunter Deller, Office Kitano producer and FILMeX Festival program director Shozo Ichiyama and film critic Yuka Kimbara. The prize is a subtitling for the next film project - donated by the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA) from Tokyo.
An honorable mention in the Nippon Visions category went to two films. The documentary Under the Cherry Tree by Kei Tanaka was not only voted the favorite by the audience, but was also singled out by the jury as a great achievement. The Man Who Was Eaten, a science fiction comedy by 1993-born director Keisuke Kondo also received special praise - as an original social satire, according to juror Gunter Deller. After the award ceremony, the closing film Pieta in the Toilet was screened in the presence of director Daishi Matsunaka.
Nippon Connection will be held for the 17th time next year, and the date has already been set: from 23 to 28 May. May 2017, the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and the Theater Willy Praml in the Naxoshalle will once again become the center for Japanese film culture.
The organizer
The Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection is organized on a voluntary basis by the 70-member team of the non-profit association Nippon Connection e.V.. It is under the patronage of Peter Feldmann, Lord Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main, and Takeshi Kamiyama, Consul General of Japan in Frankfurt am Main.
www.NipponConnection.com
