Japan Society is proud to present the 17th annual JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film, the largest festival of its kind. This year’s edition will present over 30 films spanning 12 days across Feature Slate, Next Generation, Classics, and Short Film sections, including five International Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, four US Premieres, two East Coast Premieres, and seven New York Premieres. Additionally, JAPAN CUTS will welcome over eight actors and directors as special guests and host three parties.
The festival kicks off with the North American Premiere of Between the White Key and the Black Key (2023), starring Sosuke Ikematsu and featuring director Masanori Tominaga as a special guest. This film begins the festival with a jazzy ode to 1980s Ginza, as free-flowing and ingenious as jazz itself.
Acclaimed actor Mirai Moriyama will receive the CUT ABOVE Award for Outstanding Achievement in Film for his role in this year’s Centerpiece Film, Shadow of Fire (2023), from director Shinya Tsukamoto. Both Moriyama and Tsukamoto will make special appearances at the film’s premiere.
Acting legend Tatsuya Fuji will be presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award following the New York Premiere of Kei Chika-ura’s Great Absence (2023), with both Fuji and Chika-ura attending in person. Fuji is Japanese acting royalty with a career spanning 60 years, including his iconic role in Nagisa Oshima’s In the Realm of the Senses (1976). Great Absence brings one of Japan’s greatest actors together with one of its rising directors for a powerful look at memory, family, and loss. The film further co-stars CUT ABOVE winner Mirai Moriyama.
Other special guests include iconoclastic director Gakuryu Ishii, appearing at the East Coast Premiere of The Box Man (2024) as well as a retrospective screening of August in the Water (1995); director Noriko Yuasa at the International Premiere of Performing KAORU’s Funeral (2024), winner of the JAPAN CUTS Award at the 2024 Osaka Asian Film Festival; and actress Tomoko Tabata at the restoration premiere of Shinji Somai’s undisputed masterpiece Moving (1993).
Additional highlights of the festival include the International Premiere of SHIN GODZILLA: ORTHOchromatic (2023), a black-and-white rendition of Hideaki Anno and Shinji Higuchi’s Godzilla masterpiece; KUBI (2023) from Takeshi Kitano, an irreverent historical bloodbath from one of Japan’s most notorious creators; and Shunji Iwai’s Kyrie (2023), the story of a street musician who cannot speak and can only communicate through song from the stunning director of Swallowtail Butterfly (1996) and All About Lily Chou-Chou (2001).
JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film takes place July 10–21 at Japan Society in New York City.
To learn more and purchase tickets, visit japansociety.org.
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