Here's some good news if you are interested in Japanese culture.

The Japanese Film Festival (JFF) has returned and is currently running from Dec. 10 to Dec. 20 with a hybrid of both physical and virtual screenings.

The event had originally been scheduled to launch earlier this year on Feb. 20. However, it was postponed as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.

Event brought back because of "enthusiastic support"

Nevertheless, it was brought back as a result of "enthusiastic support", according to the Japanese ambassador to Singapore, Jun Yamazaki.

As per the ambassador:

"Encouraged by people asking for its return really nudged us on. Their enthusiastic support was instrumental for it to bounce back."

A similar sentiment was voiced by the Chairman of the Singapore Film Society, Kenneth Tan, who highlighted, "The pandemic has caused us to have the longest planning and preparation period ever for a JFF. Almost double in fact."

He added, "Many of you have kept in touch with us during the extended planning period, beseeching us almost to make sure that we carry on to do a Japanese Film Festival this year."

In addition, the cultural insights that can be gleaned from watching the films are particularly important in light of the inability to travel overseas, he further noted.

What are some of the movies being screened?

There are a total of 27 movies being screened.

This includes films such as:

• 'Children of the Sea', directed by Watanabe Ayumu,
• '12 Suicidal Teens', directed by Tsutsumi Yukihiko,
• 'Stray Dog', by Akira Kurosawa, and
• Violence Voyager, by Ujicha, among others.

It's worth noting that some of the movies will also be screened online.

More information on tickets and the schedule of the festival can be found here.

Totally unrelated but follow and listen to our podcast here

Top image collage from Japanese Film Festival SG Facebook