A Silent Voice joins The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2017 line-up!

Every year The Japan Foundation offers a list of Japanese films for new audiences to explore, and not long ago their latest line-up was revealed! Here’s a look at what they have in store.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme have been around for over a decade and each year they have provided a variety of unique Japanese films from any decade or form, ranging from adaptations of a source material or films based on real-life events.

Since 2004, the Japan Foundation, London has organised a Japanese film programme in close partnership with distinguished film venues and programme advisors in the UK. Each year, a programme of six to seven, largely contemporary, Japanese titles are put together under a carefully chosen theme to highlight trends in Japanese cinema and showcase the versatility and uniqueness displayed by Japanese filmmakers. The programme also showcases directors and works which, while being worthwhile, may have slipped under the radar of other film festivals or programmes.

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme is one of only a few contemporary Japanese film programmes which tours beyond London to venues across the UK, presenting the best selection of Japanese cinema to regional audiences.

For us anime fans, the 2016 Kyoto Animation movie A Silent Voice (Koe no Katachi) will join the line-up alongside other live-action Japanese films also being screened across select cities throughout the country this February and March.

The following films that will be screened are as follows:

The Mohican Comes Home
モヒカン故郷に帰る (Mohikan kokyo ni kaeru)
Director: Shuichi Okita
Starring: Ryuhei Matsuda, Akira Emoto, Atusko Maeda
2016, 124 min, English subtitles

Destruction Babies
ディストラクション・ベイビーズ
Director: Tetsuya Mariko
Starring: Yuya Yagira, Masaki Suda, Nana Komatsu
2016, 108 min, English subtitles

Somebody’s Xylophone
だれかの木琴 (Dareka no Mokkin)
Director: Yoichi Higashi
Starring: Takako Tokiwa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Aimi Satsukawa
2016, 112 min, English subtitles

Flying Colours
ビリギャル (Birigyaru)
Director: Nobuhiro Doi
Starring: Kasumi Arimura, Atsushi Ito, Shuhei Nomura
2015, 117 min, English subtitles

Pieta in the Toilet
トイレのピエタ (Toire no Pieta)
Director: Daishi Matsunaga
Starring: Yojiro Noda, Hana Sugisaki, Lily Franky
2015, 120 min, English subtitles

A Stitch of Life
繕い裁つ人 (Tsukuroi tatsu hito)
Director: Yukiko Mishima
Starring: Miki Nakatani, Takahiro Miura, Hairi Katagiri
2015, 104 min, English subtitles

Kabukicho Love Hotel
さよなら歌舞伎町 (Sayonara Kabukicho)
Director: Ryuichi Hiroki
Starring: Shota Sometani, Atsuko Maeda, Kaho Minami
2014, 135 min, English subtitles

Lady Maiko
舞妓はレディ (Maiko wa redii)
Director: Masayuki Suo
Starring: Mone Kamishiraishi, Hiroki Hasegawa, Eri Watanabe
2014, 135 min, English subtitles

Pale Moon
紙の月 (Kami no tsuki)
Director: Daihachi Yoshida
Starring: Rie Miyazawa, Sosuke Ikematsu, Satomi Kobayashi
2014, 126 min, English subtitles

A Sparkle of Life
燦燦 (San san)
Director: Bunji Sotoyama
Starring: Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Akira Takarada, Gaku Yamamoto
2013, 81 min, English subtitles

Flora on the Sand
砂の上の植物群 (Suna no ue no shokubutsugun)
Director: Ko Nakahira
Starring: Noboru Nakaya, Kazuko Inano, Mieko Nishio
1964, 95 min, English subtitles

Odd Obsession
鍵 (Kagi)
Director: Kon Ichikawa
Starring: Machiko Kyo, Ganjiro Nakamura, Junko Kano
1959, 107 min, English subtitles

Tsukiji Wonderland
築地ワンダーランド
Director: Naotaro Endo
2016, 110 min, English subtitles

A Silent Voice
聲の形 (Koe no katachi)
Director: Naoko Yamada
With the voices of Miyu Irino, Saori Hayami, Koichi Yamadera
2016, 129min, English subtitles

Here are the select venues that all of these films will be available:

ICA, London – 3th February to 9th February
Watershed, Bristol – 4th February to 20th February
HOME, Manchester – 5th February to 1st March
Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast – 5th February to 26th March
Showroom Cinema, Sheffield – 7th February to 27th March
Exeter Phoenix, Exeter – 8th February to 29th March
QUAD, Derby – 10th February to 12th February
mac Birmingham, Birmingham – 10th February to 28th March
Phoenix, Leicester – 11th February to 29th March
Eden Court, Inverness – 15th February to 11th March
Macrobert Arts Centre, Stirling – 19th February to 23rd February
Dundee Comtemporary Arts, Dundee – 25th February to 1st March
Brewery Arts Centre, Kendal – 10th March to 16th March
Broadway, Nottingham – 17th March to 23rd March
Filmhouse, Edinburgh – 20th March to 29th March

For more information about when each film will be screened, feel free to check out The Japan Foundation’s main webpage for their Film Tour.