2023 CJFC Special Screening
The Last Passenger by HORIE Takashi
September 14, 2023 @ 7:30 pm
at Chicago Filmmakers
Special Guests: Director HORIE Takashi & BENTENYA
Thank you very much for joining us at our exclusive screening of THE LAST PASSENGER! We were delighted to witness a full house and to hear about the enjoyable evening it turned out to be. Our heartfelt gratitude goes out to our esteemed guests, Director Horie, Ms. Shibusa, and Bentenya. Good luck with the new film about Route 66!
<About Great East Japan Earthquake>
On 11 March 2011, at 14:46 (05:46 a Magnitude 9.0–9.1 undersea megathrust earthquake occurred in the Pacific Ocean, 72 km (45 mi) east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, claiming the lives of approximately twenty thousand individuals…
(more information on Wikipedia)
<The thoughts and intentions of the film festival organizers>
The Chicago Japan Film Collective has made it one of its missions to screen films related to the Great East Japan Earthquake as part of its support for the recovery efforts. In 2021, we screened ALONE AGAIN IN FUKUSHIMA as an official selection, and in September of the same year, we held a special screening event for HIRONO, collecting donations for the disaster-stricken areas, which were sent to the HATACHI FUND in Japan. Our film festival will continue actively supporting the affected regions in the future. We extend our heartfelt thanks for your cooperation.
Photo Credit: Yukako Wrenn
2023 Official Selection (June 22 - July 1, 2024)
In-Theater Screenings (Chicago, IL, 2 films)
Festival Opening
Drama | Japan | 2022 | 101 min. | North American Premiere | ©2022 Hoarder on the Border Film Partners
Thursday, June 22 @ 7:00 pm CDT
at MUSIC BOX THEATRE, Chicago, IL
Hoarder on the Border
2023 Audience Award Winner
Winner’s Remark: here
Ritsuki Shirataka, a promising pianist, faces an abrupt end to his career due to unexplained hand tremors…
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Festival Closing
Drama | Japan | 2022 | 112 min. | ©LesPros entertainment
Saturday, July 1 @ 4:30 pm CDT
at MUSIC BOX THEATRE, Chicago, IL
Angry Son
Jungo, a high school student in Ota City, Gunma Prefecture, has a Filipino mother who works at …
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This program is a part of the 2023 CJFC X OAFF
Virtual Screenings (U.S. only, 5 films)
Drama | Japan | 2021 | 64 Min. | International Premiere | ©2021 "Backlight" FILM
Backlight
In the 1970s, 22-year-old Akira, who has feelings for his senior in university, Yoshioka, decides to take him …
Documentary | Japan | 2020 | 70 min. | International Premiere | ©2020 Toshinori Tanaka
Resonance
Takuji, raised in Tokyo, felt disconnected from nature and the changing city. He chose to move to Okinawa …
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Experimental | Japan | 2021 | 72 min. | International Premiere | ©Takashi Ito
Toward Zero
Swing a bat, drag a shovel... A compilation work studded with ITO Takashi’s distinctive, powerful …
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Drama | Japan | 2021 | 99 min. | International Premiere | ©2023 Twilight Cinema Blues Film Partners
Twilight Cinema Blues
Kondo, a man with a reason for returning to his hometown of Ginpei-cho, where he spent his …
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Documentary | Japan | 2021 | 120 min. | International Premiere | ©Uzomuzo Productions
Underdogs
This documentary follows the lives of four elderly Japanese men living in Manila's impoverished …
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2023 Special Presentation
CJFC X OAFF, Aichi Int. Women’s FF & TIMF
Programs from Three Film Festivals in Japan
(Virtual Screenings, U.S. Only)
Drama | Japan | 2023 | 66 min. | New Director | North American Premiere | ©2023 Cafune Film Partners
Cafune
Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF)
High school senior Mio becomes pregnant with her boyfriend Nagisa. Unable to confess her pregnancy …
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Documentary | Japan | 2020 | 84 min. | U.S. Premiere | ©2020 Studio AYA
I Quit Being “Friends”
Aichi International Women’s Film Festival
“Ma-chan," exhausted from constantly trying to read the atmosphere and struggling to interact with …
Drama | Japan | 2022 | 72 min. | New Director | North American Premiere | ©2022 NOT BEER Film Partners
NOT BEER
Tokyo Independent Movie Festival (TIMF)
Two fraudsters, Samejima and Oshikiri, secure a deal with a wealthy wife, Harue, to buy gold from her …
Photo Credits
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