An unexpected box office sensation in Japan, KOKUHO is the long-gestating passion project of director Lee Sang-il, whose previous work is familiar with HIFF audiences like HULA GIRLS and the Japanese remake of UNFORGIVEN. Born from his 15-year fascination with kabuki and the onnagata tradition—men playing women on stage—Lee adapts Shūichi Yoshida’s serialized novel into […]
Set in 1952, when Okinawa was still under U.S. occupation, Hero’s Island traces the turbulent lives of four young rebels who once raided American military bases to feed their community. Their charismatic leader On vanished after a daring heist with a “prize” far greater than planned, leaving childhood friends Gusuku, Yamako, and Rei to divergent
FWENDS follows two thirty-somethings adrift in modern Sydney. Em, a junior lawyer, endures an abusive workplace just to afford her sky-high rent, while Jessie, a former stripper and world traveler, wrestles with the void left by a long-term breakup. What begins as a casual reunion unfolds into a spontaneous weekend of city wanderings and late-night
CLIMBING FOR LIFE, the newest work from acclaimed filmmaker Junji Sakamoto, is an inspiring biopic of pioneering Japanese mountaineer Junko Tabei. In 1975, Tabei became the first woman to summit Mount Everest and later the first to complete the Seven Summits, conquering the highest peaks on every continent and redefining what women could achieve in
BEFORE THE BRIGHT DAY, the poignant directorial debut of emerging Taiwanese filmmaker Shih-Han Tsao, captures a young man’s turbulent coming-of-age against the backdrop of the 1996 Taiwan Strait Crisis. Chou, labeled a “B-class loser” by his teacher, yearns for more than his uneventful adolescence—especially with Min, the girl he likes, placed in the elite A-class.
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Adapted from an unfinished work by acclaimed dramatist Hisashi Inoue, ARMY ON THE TREE is inspired by real events on the Okinawan island of Iejima in the final days of World War II. Inoue, whose plays often examined the legacy of war and the shared responsibility of ordinary Japanese citizens, conceived the story as a
Between death and rebirth lies “another world,” a dazzling realm where souls await reincarnation. Here, Gudo, a spirit guide, escorts the departed on their journeys—until he encounters Yuri, a young girl consumed by grief and rage. Ordered by the Goddess Mira to prevent Yuri’s transformation into a monster, Gudo embarks on a perilous mission that
