Time for animation

ONE OF JAPAN’S most-loved film mediums – animation – takes centrestage in this year’s Japanese Film Festival, which is being held in Bangkok and Chiang Mai.
“From Classic to Contemporary: A Lively Animation Collection” features eight screenings, ranging from child-friendly stories to rollicking adventure tales as well as romance and serious subjects, such as death and loss. Highlights include the 1968’s “Little Norse Prince Valiant” and the well-known 2006 feature “The Girl Who Lept Through Time”,
The fest opens with “The Garden of Words”, the latest work of Makoto Shinkai. The lavishly rendered romantic fantasy is about an aspiring shoemaker who keeps meeting a mysterious woman whenever it rains.
Feel-good anime is in store with “Chibi Maruko-chan: Ono Kun and Sugiyama Kun”, a 1990 feature adaptation of the popular manga and long-running TV series about Momoko Sakura, a nine-year-old schoolkid.
Swashbuckling adventures await in 1982’s “Arcadia of My Youth”, an origin tale of Space Pirate Captain Harlock, the seminal character of Leiji Matsumoto, the creator of what anime fans refer to as the “Leijiverse”, a place that also includes “Space Battleship Yamamoto”.
Short subjects are offered in a package that comprises Koji Yamamura’s “Franz Kafka’s A Country Doctor” from 2007, 2008’s “The House of Small Cubes”, about an old man who adds blocks to his house as his town is flooded, and 1993’s “Karo and Piyobupt”, a colourful mix of drawing and clay animation by Koji Yamamura.
Popular studio Production IG chips in with 2011’s sentimental drama “A Letter to Momo”, about an 11-year-old having trouble coping with the death of her father. This is considerably more kid-friendly material than Production IG’s best-known works, which include “Ghost in the Shell” and “Blood: The Last Vampire” as well as contributions to “Kill Bill Volume I”.
From 1968 comes the classic “Little Norse Prince Valiant”, aka “Hols: Prince of the Sun”, about the epic fantasy adventures of a Viking boy. It’s the debut film of Isao Takahata, who co-founded Studio Ghibli with his friend Hayao Miyazaki. He later made the grim, critically acclaimed war drama “Grave of the Fireflies”.
Another popular entry is “The Girl Who Lept Through Time”, the award-winning 2006 feature by Mamoru Hosoda, about a 17-year-old schoolgirl who mysteriously gains magical abilities.
The closing entry is 2010’s Mainichi and Japan Academy award winner “Colourful”, a drama adapted from a novel by Eto Mori. Directed by Keiichi Hara, it’s about about a soul that is given a second chance at life, only to be placed in the body of a suicidal 14-year-old boy.
The festival is organised by the Japan Foundation and the Consulate-General of Japan in Chiang Mai with support from the Embassy of Japan and Japan Airlines.

 USE YOUR IMAGINATION
The Japanese Film Festival runs from February 20 to 23 at the Lido cinemas in Bangkok’s Siam Square and from February 28 to March 2 at Major Cineplex Chiang Mai Airport Plaza.
Tickets are Bt50 and can be purchased in advance at the box offices (no booking by phone).
For more details, see www.JFBKK.or.th.