The second period of the 13th Japanese Film Festival in Vietnam will be held between February 14 to 28, 2022, according to an announcement by the Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam.

The thriller film Masked Ward (2020) by Japanese director Kimura Hisashi will be screened online for free of charge. Photo: Japanese Film Festival Online 2022

This year, the number of movies has doubled compared to last year, embracing more different and diverse genres. Twenty Japanese movies are set to be screened during the two-week long film festival including the drama film Aristocrats (2002, Sode Yukiko), classic film Rashomon (1950, Kurosawa Akira), thriller film Masked Ward (2020, Kimura Hisashi), among others. All the motion pictures are shown with both English and Vietnamese subtitles. 

The “Aristocrats” tells not only a story about two women and their relationship with the same man, but also a story about social class in today's Tokyo, and Japanese society in general.

Meanwhile, the “Masked Ward” describes things happened around Shugo Hayami - a young doctor who tries to break free when a masked criminal takes a hospital hostage, but there's a deeper conspiracy and nothing is what it seems. Based on the medical mystery novel by real-life doctor Chinen Mikito, Masked Ward isn’t your average hostage thriller. Director Hisashi Kimura’s skillful cinematography creates spine-tingling tension, as the story unravels a series of intertwined mysteries.

A scene from the movie Aristocrats (2002) by director Sode Yukiko. Photo: Japanese Film Festival Online 2022

The film festival organizers hope that these highly-rated Japanese movies of such different genres like romance, comedy, family, musical, animation, and documentary would lift the audience’s mood with bright colors and the feeling of cheerfulness after a long time of social distancing over Covid-19.

Previously, the first period of the film festival took place last November, with five Japanese movies selected for being premiered.

Japanese Film Festival is a project of the Japan Foundation that was created with the aim to share the finest productions of Japanese cinema with the world. The last event was held across five continents and 20 countries from November 2020 to March 2021. A total of 30 Japanese films, from new releases to classics, were streamed for free, recording over 210,000 views around the world.  

In 2022, the festival will expand its outreach to 25 countries, focusing on areas where access to Japanese cinema is limited. Viewers located in the countries where the online festival will take place would be able to watch these 20 films with subtitles in 15 languages for free.

People who are interested in the film festival can register for free at https://www.facebook.com/JFF.VIE/.