The Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange in Vietnam will hold the annual Japanese Film Festival in Vietnam later this month to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between Japan and Vietnam. 

A scene from the movie We Made a Beautiful Bouquet by Director Doi Nobuhiro. Photo: Screenshot

The festival will take place in Ho Chi Minh City from October 27 to November 9 (at CineStars Hai Ba Trung); Danang from November 17 to 19 (Metiz Cinema); Haiphong (Galaxy Nguyen Kim Cinema) from December 1 to 3; and in Hanoi from December 8 to 21 (National Cinema Center).

Japanese movies presented at the Japanese Film Festivals in Vietnam have been known to be the latest released ones in Japan with a variety of titles and genres that brings the audience the opportunity to see Japan from different perspectives.

Eight Japanese movies are set to be screened during the nearly two-month film festival including the drama titled The Water Flows To The Sea, the comedy/ romance film Liar x Liar, the anime The First Slam Dunk, and others.

The highlight of the festival is the drama The Water Flows To The Sea by Maeda Tetsu, featuring the chaotic life of Naotatsu, a high school student. As the boy decides to move in with his uncle Shigemichi to live closer to school. However, on the day of his arrival, the one who came to pick him up at the station was a woman named Sakaki. She takes him to the shared house where Shigemichi lives.

Actress Hirose Suzu (Sakaki) in the film The Water Flows To The Sea by Director Maeda Tetsu. Photo: Screenshot

From that day on, a chaotic yet amusing life begins with the residents of the shared house. Naotatsu is drawn to Sakaki, who rarely expresses her feelings, only to learn that she promised herself never to fall in love. What he doesn't know is that he is connected to her past and her decisions.

Meanwhile, the romance film entitled We Made a Beautiful Bouquet (Director Doi Nobuhiro) has gained many film awards in Japan. In the film, the last train at midnight leaves a group of stragglers stranded at the station, who opt for a bar rather than paying for a taxi home. Among them are twenty-two-year-olds Mugi and Kinu, whose curiosity for one another is fated to have a lasting and more intricate outcome than initially expected.

The Japanese Film Festival is a project of the Japan Foundation that was created with the aim of sharing the finest productions of Japanese cinema with the world. The latest event was organized online in February 2022.  

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