Japan

CHICAGO – The filmmaking community of Japan has given us many films dealing with the fallout of man’s modern interventions – usually in the form of giant creatures like Godzilla that reign terror on earth. But writer/director Shinobu Yaguchi is putting a different spin on this age-old theme. When an unusual event knocks out all electricity and electronic-powered devices, one group of kin must learn to keep going in “Survival Family.”

CHICAGO – What defines success? How about another Season, the Fourth, for the Asian Pop-Up Cinema Festival in Chicago. The premiere themed fest will kick off its 2017 Spring Season run with Shinobu Yaguchi’s “Survival Family” on Wednesday, March 1st, 2017, at the AMC River East Theatre in downtown Chicago. Filmmaker Yaguchi-san will be in attendance, as well as moderator Mark Schilling from the Japan Times. For complete details and to purchase tickets, click here.

CHICAGO – For gosh sakes, someone call the Vatican and make Marty Scorsese an honorary priest. He is overtly fascinated – in this work and his other films – with the notion of religious faith, particular within his Catholic roots. He approaches the subject again in the intense “Silence.”

CHICAGO – Put it in the books. The highly successful and popular Asian Pop-Up Cinema in Chicago closed their 2016 Fall Season with “Round Trip Heart,” a Japanese film from female director Yuki Tanada. Ms. Tanada tells the story of Hachiko, a food cart attendant who works on the “Romance Train.” She temporarily goes off track when a mysterious stranger reads a private note from her mother, and insists on taking the buttoned-up woman on a journey to find that mother. Tanada appeared on behalf of her film at the final Asian Pop-Up Cinema screening for 2016.

CHICAGO – The Asian Pop-Up Cinema Series, spotlighting a variety of diverse Asian films, concludes its 2016 Fall Season with two films in the next week, ”The Assassin” (Taiwan), on Wednesday, Nov 30th; and ”Round Trip Heart” (Japan), on Sunday, Dec. 4th (Director Yuki Tanada will attend). Click each individual title for more details.

CHICAGO – The Asian Pop-Up Cinema Series, spotlighting a variety of diverse Asian films, continues its 2016 Fall Season with three films in the next week, ”Paths to the Soul” (Tibet), on Wednesday, Oct. 5th; ”When the Curtain Rises” (Japan), on Sunday, Oct. 9th; and ”Siti” (Indonesia), on Wednesday, Oct. 12th. Click each individual title for more details.

CHICAGO – One of the gems of the Chicago film scene began last year, and is successfully finishing its second season. The Asian Pop-Up Film Festival is the invention of its founder, Sophia Wong Boccio, a Hong Kong native who has lived all over the world, but never forgot her background in film, rooted from her parents. With that passion, she began the festival to share her vast knowledge of films from China, Taiwan, Japan, Korea, Thailand and Vietnam, and expand access to them in Chicago.

CHICAGO – The Asian Pop-Up Cinema Series, spotlighting a variety of diverse Asian films, continues its 2016 season with the film, “I Am a Monk,” directed by Yukinori Makabe. Makabe-san will make an appearance at the screening, beginning at 7:30pm on Wednesday, March 16th, 2016, at the AMC River East Theater in Chicago.

CHICAGO – Named one of the best Japanese films of 2015, “Three Stories of Love,” directed by Ryosuke Hashiguchi, will be the next screening for the Asian Pop-Up Cinema series on Wednesday, April 6th, 2016 – at the AMC River East 21 in Chicago – and Sunday, April 10th at the Wilmette (Illinois) Theatre.

CHICAGO – An extraordinary filmed recently screened in Chicago, but not for the reasons that are expected. The Japanese film “Poison Berry in My Brain” was directed by Yuichi Satoh, and starred popular native actress Yoko Maki. What was extraordinary about the film is that the plot parallels the well-received animated movie, “Inside Out,” except “Poison Berry” is live action, and the character representations of the brain controllers are manipulating a frustrated woman, not a little girl. Funny they were both conceived around the same time, and were released in the same year.