June 11, 2016 - Movies at the Toronto Japanese Film Festival 2016

The Canada Japan Society is proud to be a sponsor once again this year at the 5th Annual Toronto Japanese Film Festival, taking place at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre (6 Garamond Ct, Toronto, ON M3C 1Z5), from June 9-23rd, 2016. This year we are proud to sponsor TWO films at this great showcase of contemporary Japanese films - The Emperor in August (日本のいちばん長い日) and Pearls of the Stone Man (愛を積むひと).

For Ticket Information please go to: http://jccc.on.ca/tjff/tickets/

THE EMPEROR IN AUGUST (日本のいちばん長い日)Saturday, June 11th, 7PM
Runtime: 135 min / 2015
Director: Masato Harada
Starring: Koji Yakusho, Masahiro Motoki, Tsutomu Yamazaki, Shinichi Tsutsumi, Tori Matsuzaka
Canadian Premiere

Masato Harada’s (Kakekomi, Chronicle of My Mother) powerful political drama tells the little known story of Japan’s surrender in the Pacific War.
It is August 1945 and Japan debates whether to end the war and open up peace negotiations through the Potsdam Declaration. Atomic weapons strike Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The War Council, established on behalf of the Emperor, assigns popular military general Anami as Minister of the Army. However, Anami has a seemingly impossible task ahead: reconciling his desire to see his nation’s sovereignty preserved and the military’s resistance to accepting defeat with his Emperor’s wish for peace.

戦局が厳しさを増す中1945年7月、日本に無条件降伏を求めるポツダム宣言が発表される。それを国民に伝えた玉音放送が敢行されるまでの陸軍大臣、天皇陛下、総理大臣など閣議に参加した人々とクーデターを企む青年将校たちの姿を描いた、半藤一利のノンフィクション小説をもとにした歴史ドラマ大作。「駆込み女と駆出し男」「クライマーズ・ハイ」「わが母の記」の人間ドラマに定評のある原田眞人監督が映画化。
監督：原田眞人　 出演：役所広司、本木雅弘、山崎努、堤真一、松坂桃李

PEARLS OF THE STONE MAN (愛を積むひと)
Saturday, June 11th, 1:30 PM 
Runtime: 125 min / 2015
Director: Yuzo Asahara
Starring: Koichi Sato, Kanako Higuchi, Keiko Kitagawa, Shuhei Nomura, Hana Sugisaki
North American Premiere

Earnest and hard-working, Atsushi has spent most of his life obsessed with his work. Retiring to Hokkaido with his loving wife Ryoko, he can’t seem to figure out what to do with himself. Out of concern, Ryoko asks Atsushi to build a stone wall around their country home and a troubled local boy is recruited to help. Ryoko discovers she has a terminal heart condition but hides the diagnosis from Atsushi as their daughter, estranged for many years, comes back on the scene. A powerful and heartfelt story of love, loss and reconciliation, based on the novel by Edward Mooney Jr.

*Proceeds from the screening will be donated in support of those suffering as a result of the April Earthquakes in Kyushu.

エドワード・ムーニー・Jr.の小説を基にしたヒューマンドラマ。豊かな老後を求めて北海道で第二の人生を過ごそうとする夫婦、篤史と良子。そんな中、妻に先立たれた篤史宛てに良子から手紙が届く。そのことをきっかけに周囲の人々や疎遠だった娘との関わりを再生していく姿をつづりながら愛情や絆を見つめ直す姿を追い掛けていく。

監督：朝原雄三　出演：佐藤浩市、樋口可南子、北川景子、野村周平、杉咲花

*チケット販売の収益は全て4月に九州にて発生した大地震で被災された人々の救済資金として寄付されます