By Liza Foreman
GRAND PLANS FOR OKINAWA: AMERICAN BASES TO BECOMEPOSSIBLE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY VILLAGES?
OKINAWA
They say that laughter is the best medicine and thepeople of Okinawa should know.
The southern outpost of Japan is famous for the longevityof its inhabitants, many of whom flocked to the 4th OkinawaInternational Movie Festival (March 24 – March 31, 2012), where the core themeswere laughter and peace.
The peace section is for good reason. Here o...
By Liza Foreman
Tsunami Documentary Moves Auds to Tearsat Okinawa International Movie Festival
Okinawa
When Stu Levy flew from Los Angeles to Tokyo on March 9, 2011, he had no idea that he would return a filmmaker with some up-close footage of one of the worst natural disasters in living memory. It lead to his moving documentary, Pray for Japan.
The purpose of his trip was to inform hisJapanese business associates that Tokyo Pop, ...
By Liza Foreman
OKINAWA, JAPAN
They say that laughter is the best medicine and the residents of Okinawa should know.
On Friday,the inhabitants of this tropical prefecture in the south of Japan, which has been dubbed the longevity island thanks to having the highest known number ofcentenarians worldwide, welcomed around 50 of the country’s leading comedians to launch the 4th edition of the Okinawa International Movie Festival (March 24 - 31: 2012), whi...
By Liza Foreman TOKYO –
Winnerss of the 24th edition of the Tokyo International Film Festival were announced on Sunday.
President of the International Competition Jury, Edward R.Pressman said:
“Especially this year, it has been difficult to keep films alive in Japan but I would like to thank festival chairman, Mr. Yoda, and all the people for making TIFF possible. The prevalent theme in some of the best films such as Play, When Pigs Have Wings, and Untouchable was imm...
Europeans Dominate Competition In TokyoBy Liza ForemanTOKYO - The competition section of this year's Tokyo International Film Festival (October 22-30) will see Greece compete with France, Turkey, Sweden, England and Belgium, with this year's competition section dominated by films from the Euro zone. Only a handful of Asian titles compete this year, including Japan's The Woodsman and the Rain, which makes its world premiere; Oxide Pang's Sleepwalker which makes its world premiere also; Thai direc...
By Liza Foreman TOKYO -
The rain stopped just in time for the celebrities to walk the green carpet, laid out for the opening of the 24th Tokyo International FilmFestival (October 22-30th) on Saturday.
TIFF chairman Tom Yoda welcomed guests, including Jackie Chan, whose 100th film“1911” kicked off events as the special opening film.
Highlights of the night included the cast of the “Fukushima Hula Girls,” participating as part of the national caravan for the recons...
By Liza Foreman Los Angeles - Considering that The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF), (22-30October 2011), and its market arm TIFFCOM, two of Japan’s premiereentertainment industry events, place such a dedicated focus on initiatives tosave the planet – in keeping with Japan’s generally eco-friendly positioning - lastweek’s tragedy there seems all the more poignant. Still, as the Japanese government works to find a solution to its nuclearpower crisis and the devastating consequenc...
By Liza Foreman It seems that TIFFCOM, the market arm of the Tokyo International Film Festival (October 23-31, 2010), is not the highest-grossing film market in Asia for nothing.Drawing in all of the major players from the Asian industry and a handful of key European companies, this year’s market took place in a luxurious high-rise building, offering fabulous views of Tokyo, perfect organization and just the right mix of business and pleasure. With a bustling scene at the four-day event ...
By Liza Forman Tokyo International Film Festival Winners 2010/TIFFCOM WrapAt this year’s Tokyo International Film Festival (October 23-31, 2010),Intimate Grammar took home the $50,000 Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix -- the second time Israeli director Nir Bergman has won the main award.Bergman’sBroken Wings also took the mainprize at TIFF in 2002, making him the only director to win it twice. 98-year-old Japanese director, Kaneto Shindo won the special jury prize, for POST CARD, a film about the...
By Liza Foreman Now entering its sixth year,TPG (Tokyo Project Gathering), an international co-production market organizedby METI (Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry) and UNIJAPAN, is presenting28 films this year up from 25 in 2009, during TIFFCOM, the market arm of theTokyo International Film Festival.“More and more inspiringprojects were submitted this year, and thus we selected in total of 28projects, which was increased from 25 projects from last year,” the festivalsaid in a statem...
By Liza Foreman TIFFCOM 2010 (October 25-28), the Contents Business Marketaffiliated with TIFF, opens today after a set-up day yesterday in the toweringskyscraper in the middle of Tokyo which is home to the annual market. TIFFCOM2010has registered a record-breaking number of exhibitors, participating countriesand pre- registration, putting it on track to make Tokyo a mainhub for the content business in Asia.The numberof exhibitors this year is 222, up 4 percentage points from last year.Exhi...
By Liza Foreman By the end of day one, the Tokyo International Film Festival (23-31 October, 2010) was in full swing.Throngs of fans gathered to witness arrivals at the green carpet for openingnight. But by the next day it was down to business with TIFF head Tom Yoda holding a discussion with journalists about the work Japan has to do to catchup with the American content business which Yoda estimated to be five times its size. Still, business and culturego hand in hand at he festival. Cultura...
By Liza Foreman Catherine Deneuve, Jesse Eisenberg and The Social Network scribe Aaron Sorkin all made the trek tothe Japanese capital to join Asian glitterati on the Tokyo International FilmFestival’s green carpet, which snaked through a mass of neon-clad high-rises in Downtown Tokyo to celebrate opening night.After speeches from the festival head Tom Yoda and top Japanese politicos, including the country’sminister for economics, industry and culture, who spoke about the country’s ...
By Liza ForemanThe Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) will hold a press conference to announce the lineup of films and events of the 23rd edition on September 30th, 2010at the Roppongi Hills Mori Tower. The doors open at 1:00 p.m. and the press conference starts at 2:00 p.m. We cordially invite the press members to attend the press conference and obtain the latest information about the 23rd TIFF. ...
By Liza ForemanThe Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced that the award-winning Irish filmmaker Neil Jordan will be the Jury President for the International Competition at the 23rd TIFF. Jordan's films have been honored with numerous awards worldwide including the Oscar (The Crying Game), and BAFTAs for (Crying Game, The End Of The Affair). Company Of Wolves, his second film, was selected for the first year of TIFF's Competition section in 1985. The 23rd edition of the Tokyo Int...
By Liza Foreman This year, the TokyoInternational Film Festival (TIFF) will commemorate Bruce Lee, the king of Asianaction movies, with a showcase of Lee's movies as part of the festival'sWinds of Asia Middle-East section.This special tribute entitled"The 70th Anniversary: Bruce Lee to the Future", will screen the following films -Bruce Lee’s most successfulfilm "Enter the Dragon," and his last film, "Game of Death"(the version that was distributed in Japan in 19...
By Liza ForemanThe 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival will hold a special-focus on films by the nextgeneration of directors from Taiwan to have emerged since the golden age of the great masters HouHsiao-hsien, Tsai Ming-liang, and Edward Yang. "Taiwanese CinemaRenaissance 2010: New Breeze of the Rising Generation," will be part of thefestival’s Winds of Asia Middle-East section.Titles set for thesection include: - "The FourthPortrait" from director: Mong-Hong Chung. ...
By Liza ForemanThe 23rd Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced another eight films for the competition section.The films in the competition section will be competing for six awards, including the prestigious “Tokyo Sakura Grand Prix.” The winners will be announced at the festival's Closing Ceremony on October 31st.The Competition So Far -“Beautiful Boy” - U.S.ADirectors: Shawn KuA shooting massacres in a college. Parents fear their son's safety, but the news they receive ...
By Liza Foreman The Tokyo International Film Festival (TIFF) has announced that “The Social Network,” by the director, David Fincher, has been selected as the opening film for the 23rd TIFF. The film tells the story of Mark Zuckerberg, the founder of the world's biggest social-networking website, "Facebook," and stars Jessy Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. The closing film, “The Town,” the second directorial feature by Ben Affleck, is a compelling and powerf...
Los Angeles may mean mainstream when it comes to movie-making, but when it comes to ‘la mode' think maverick. Liza Foreman reports. Paris - The poster boy for far-out fashion, L.A. designer, Jeremy Scott, stuck to his trademark of outrageous, comic designs at Paris Fashion Week Tuesday, with his aptly named Happy Daze Fall/Winter 2007 ready-to-wear collection.Scott’s eccentric line-up of retro-clothing included psychedelic dresses and outlandishly colorful coats. Models sported giant cone ...
<object width="500" height="300"><param name="bgcolor" value="#0000000" /><embed type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.iklipz.com/flashplayer/FLVPlayeriKlipz.swf?configFile=http%3A//www.iklipz.com/flashplayer/servers.xml&streamName=4f7c419a-af37-4cda-87e5-afa0ca70ae04&movieID=07337d53-f3c0-4295-89f9-2886e685badd&photoName=56587b22-9e5d-424a-845b-92bc74ec1834.jpg&isFullScreen=false" allowScri...
Half the joy, or the downright pain in the neck for fashion week regulars, is carting yourself from one end of Paris to the other to watch the next show. At lunchtime Monday guests gathered on gold rimmed seats round the edge of a lavish, age-old ballroom in the Grand Hotel at Opera to wait for the fall/winter collection from Gaspard Yurkievich. As usual, proceedings didn’t get underway until an hour’s wait when the boos from photographers were embellished with gasps from the front row where...
PARIS - The Oscars last night may be the biggest celebration of the year for the movie biz. But for serious fashionistas the focus was not on the red carpet, but on the City of Lights, where Paris Fashion Week - prêt à porter fall/winter 2007 - kicked off Sunday.If the first days shows were anything to go by, there really is no excuse for not dressing right on the night. Think past winners of worst-dressed Oscar lists, such as Cher and Demi Moore. Paris fashion house Balmains collection Sun...
The Berlin International Film Festival has long reflected the character of its bohemian host city. Think avant-garde filmmaking in the Forum section; gay-themed pictures in Panorama; and the political polemic popular among competition directors, including this time, the Holocaust film, The Counterfeiters.This year’s festival (February 8th-18th, 2007), however, went one step further, taking fest-goers back in time to a bygone era of cinema and the city’s golden age. The opening film La Vie En...
By Liza Foreman
Los Angeles - Bizarre characters are a fact of life at the American Film Market, the annual independent-film bazaar. But this year’s event reached a new level Tuesday when Faye Dunaway emerged from the regular crowd of low-rent producers and Hollywood wannabes.
The last conference staged during the eight-day gathering (November 1st – 8th) was already wild enough with fifteen cinematographers crammed onto a small stage.
They were busy discussing the selected topic of making ar...
Foreman Liza 
