Japan Foundation Center for Cultural Exchange, Vietnam’s largest Japanese film festival is celebrating its 13th edition. This year, through its virtual cinema, Japan Foundation in Vietnam will give local audiences free access to outstanding Japanese films in a variety of genres, including documentaries, comedies, animations, and dramas. 

According to the film organizing committee, as the coronavirus in 2021 keeps raging and causes negative impacts on the live screening, the Japanese Film Festivals worldwide including Vietnam once again will be held online and in two periods.

The Japanese musical film Dance with Me (2019) was directed by Shinobu Yaguchi. Photo: Japan Foundation in Vietnam

The streaming site of the Japanese Film Festival Online (JFF Online) 2021-2022 will officially open to the public on November 15 (Monday). The first screening period running between November 15 and21, 2021 will feature five selected Japanese movies from the JFF Online 2020 and the Japan Hour 2020.

The second JFF Online screening falls on February 14 - 27, 2022 with 20 Japanese movies set to be screened. This year’s number of movies has doubled compared to last year’s, embracing more different and diverse genres.

The JFF Pre-Event will bring five highly-rated Japanese movies of such different genres like romance, comedy, family, musical, animation, and documentary that can lift the audience’s mood with bright colors and the feeling of cheerfulness after a long time of social distancing over Covid-19.

Films to be shown at the JFF Pre-Event are “The Great Passage”, “Dance With Me”, “Little Nights, Little Love (C13)”, “Tora-san of Goto” and “Gon, Little Fox”.

The audience can sign up for free and watch all JFF movies on any device and at any time at https://jff.jpf.go.jp/watch/jffonline2022/vietnam/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email.

Each movie will be available within 48 hours after audiences click the Play button.

JFF, or the Japanese Film Festival, is a project of the Japan Foundation created with the aim to share the excitement of Japanese cinema with the world. The first 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 its second year, the festival will expand 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 will be able to watch 20 films presented with subtitles in 15 languages for free.