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By Jaspearl Tan

The slate of movies for the 2024 Japanese Film Festival is better compared to last year, the director of the Film Institute of the University of the Philippines (UP) said Tuesday.

UP’s Film Institute will be showing Japanese films at its campus theater until March 2 as part of the film festival.

The movies being shown at the theater include The First Slam Dunk, Gold and Water Kingdom, We Made a Beautiful Bouquet; And Yet, You Are So Sweet; A Man, Not Quite Dead Yet, Father of the Milk Way Railroad, Voltes V: Legacy- The Cinematic Experience, Voltes V: The Liberation, Tokyo Story, and Mondays: See You “This” Week.

According to UP Film Institute Director Robert Rownd, the selection of movies in this year’s film festival has a wider range of genres.

“I like this year's selection better. It's a little more broad and there are some unusual choices. Like Voltes V, it is a cartoon, which has a massive social-political impact in the Philippines but it's not what's traditionally considered good cinema or grand cinema, none of that. It's just been clean fun. So I like the fact that they were showing that and then they're also showing a nod to more serious work,” Rownd told The Daily Manila Shimbun in a Zoom interview.

“I like the fact that they're not all serious. I like the fact that they're not all, you know, very, very focused artistic work. Some of them are just plain fun movies..and just really, really made. pieces of escapism, which is not a horrible thing,” he added.

Based on his UP profile, Rownd is a film professor, actor and editor known for the movies America and Chasing Fire.

Rownd said his favorite movie was the remastered Tokyo Story, a film about an elderly couple who travel to Tokyo to visit their grown children.

“It never disappoints. It was a very singular thinker and a singular director so it’s a really unusual take on the films,” Rownd said.

Rownd said was the first time since the pandemic that the Japanese Film Festival has been held “fully live” at movie theaters, with the event being held fully online in 2022 and a hybrid event being held in 2023.

He did not expect the reception to the Japanese films being shown at the university to be received so warmly.

“Everybody is having a good time. Everybody’s really enjoying themselves at this point. We had a little bit of a problem at the beginning over selling the house. We didn't expect as many people to show up and people didn't confirm. So we didn't know how to do without, they just sort of walked in. But I thought the foundation rebounded quite well from that and made the best of a bit of a complex situation. They managed to get it done,” he said.

Rownd said it was important to promote Japanese films in the Philippines because it allows them to see works that influence directors in a local setting and gives Filipinos a chance to learn about other cultures.

“It's always good to expand your horizons…To be able to go into the cinema and see something which is, which isn't your culture, which isn't something you'd expect. It's a chance to learn about somebody else's life and what they're interested in and what they care about,” Rownd said.

“I think it's important to get outside your comfort zone. Like I said, try to experience something new. So you take away a little more but equally important is everybody loves to laugh,” he said.

“You know, it's not quite Filipino humor, it's certainly not American humor or Canadian humor, but it's still fun. It's really revealing to look at what's funny in another culture. A great way to learn about each other is to trade movies with other people,” he added.

The Japanese Film Festival is a yearly event hosted by the Japan Foundation to promote Japanese movies to international audiences.

As part of the event, Japanese films are also being screened in Cebu as well as Baguio, Davao, and Iloilo. DMS