Happy Weekend
This is the second part of this weekend’s trailer post. You can find the first part here.
I have been doing festival work lately and it will last for the next few months. I’m having a good time and watching a lot of films. I did manage to watch a couple of non-festival films since last weekend:
Iron Angels, Elevator to the Gallows.
I did post one review, one for the road movie 19.
What are the other films released this weekend?
Mister Moonlight 1966 The Beatles Budokan Performance Everyone’s Dream 
ミスタームーンライト 1966 ザ・ビートルズ武道館公演 みんなで見た夢 「Misuta- Mu-nraito 1966 Za Bi-toruzu Budoukan Kouen Minna de Mita Yume」
Release Date: January 27th, 2023
Duration: 102 mins.
Direction: Yasushi Hasegawa
Writer: N/A
Starring: Ichiro Asatsuma, Yasushi Abe, Noriko Arai, Satoru Iguchi, Naoki Urasawa, Hikari Mitsushima (Narrator),
Synopsis: This is a documentary about The Beatles, their influence on people, the time leading up to the concert at the Nippon Budokan in June 1966 and the impact it had. There are interviews with more than 5 people, ranging from staff at the event to the fans. Hikari Mitsushima narrates.
Shinema Kumidori Koukou no Maki 
シネマ組踊 孝行の巻 「Shinema Kumidori Koukou no Maki」
Release Date: January 28th, 2023
Duration: 76 mins.
Direction: Takako Miyahira
Writer: N/A
Starring: Hiroaki Taguchi, Shinjo Kanjo, Jinichi Uza, Michihiko Kakazu,
Synopsis: This film is about Kumiodori, a traditional song and dance performance that has been passed down for about 300 years in Okinawa. The story is about how the teenage children of poor families sacrifice themselves to a serpent living in a pond to save their village from damage. In order for people to understand the performance, relayed via Okinawan dialect, there is commentary on the history and characteristics of Kumiodori and easy-to-understand subtitles. Director Takako Miyahira originally hails from Okinawa.
Koji Yamamura and Others
90 minutes of animated films produced or directed by Koji Yamamura, an award-winning animator known for Mount Head and Kafka: The Country Doctor. It plays at Shin Bungeiza from January 27th to the 29th.
Dozens of Norths 
幾多の北 「Ikuta no Kita」
Release Date: January 27th, 2023
Duration: 64 mins
Director: Koji Yamamura
Writer: Koji Yamamura (Screenplay/Original Story)
Starring: N/A
Animation Production: Au Praxinoscope
This one won the Annecy International Animation Festival 2022’s Crystal Award – Contrechamp Award – for experimental features and the Grand Prize for Animated Feature at the Ottawa International Animation Festival 2022.
Synopsis from the : The film is an animation based on the illustrations and text that Yamamura drew for the cover of the magazine “Bungakukai” from 2012 to 2014. The film express the anxiety and anguish Yamamura felt after the Great East Japan Earthquake and there is a score provided by Dutch avant-garde jazz musician and composer Willem Broeker.
Polar Bear Bears Boredom
ホッキョクグマすっごくひま 「Hokkyoku-guma Suggoku Hima」
Release Date: January 27th, 2023
Duration: 7 mins
Director: Koji Yamamura
Writer: Koji Yamamura (Screenplay),
Starring: Honninman
Animation Production: Au Praxinoscope
Synopsis: This is an animated film created in the style of an emaki (picture scroll) with comical movements and word play in Japanese and English, in which animals drawn in ink paint are playing, accompanied by fun music and songs.
In the Big Yard Inside the Teeny-Weeny Pocket
ミニミニポッケの大きな庭で 「Mini-mini Pokke no Ookina Niwa de」
Release Date: January 27th, 2023
Duration: 7 mins
Director: Yoko Yuki
Writer: Yoko Yuki (Screenplay),
Starring: Honninman
Animation Production: Au Praxinoscope
Synopsis: A freeform Haiku-like text is animated and set to music. The synopsis from Locarno reads – When it shrinks, it expands. It floats and it sinks. It separates but connects. When I think I’m watching them, they’re actually watching me. A charming animation rhyme that weaves together many days of observing, recording, and experimenting.
Honekami (A Bite of Bone) 
骨嚙み 「Honekami」
Release Date: 2021
Duration: 10 mins.
Director: Honami Yano
Writer: Honami Yano (Script),
Starring: Ayamo Tano
Honami Yano is definitely a name to watch. This short animation was produced by Koji Yamamura and won the Grand Prize for Short Animation at the Ottawa International Animation Festival.
Synopsis: A little girl living on a small island recalls moments with her father in this impressionistic, pointillist-style animated work that reflects beautifully on loss and impermanence.
Genkinahito 
The short A bit of bone impressed me a lot expecially for the style. I loved it.
I haven’t seen this one yet, just one of her older films. I’ll keep your impression of it in mind if I ever watch it.
Thank you very much! I hope you will like it!