Japan Film Festival 2008

Date & Time

April 5th (Sat)　Entrance opens at 3pm, Start at 3:15pm, Close about 7pm

Venue

UCLA Anderson School of Management　Korn Hall, 110 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA 90095

Theme

Japanese Films in the US: Past, Present, and Future

If you are a fan of Japanese culture or foreign films in general this event promises to be both enlightening and entertaining!

At the closure of the symposium we will be giving away posters and movie tickets to the 2008 Japan Film Festival screenings of your choice!

Guest speaker

Junichi Suzuki
Junichi Suzuki was born near Tokyo, Japan and graduated from Tokyo University,　the most prestigious university in Japan, specializing in ethics. Upon graduation, he began working for Nikkatsu, the most time-honored film studio in Japan. Suzuki made his debut as director in 1981 with FUJIN-KA BYOTO, which won him the New Director Award at the Osaka Film Festival. His first major break as a film director was with SIRO AND MARILYN (1986) which had become a huge success in Japan. Suzuki co-executive produced IN THE SOUP (starring Steve Buscemi, directed by Alexandre Rockwell), which was awarded the Best Picture and Special Jury Prize at the 1992 Sundance Film Festival.

He is a 30 years veteran in the film industry, and has directed 20 feature films. He received a green card from American government as an excellent artist and started living in Los Angeles in 2001. (www.junichisuzuki.com)

Nicholas Rucka
Nicholas Rucka was born in 1975 in California. He is a graduate of NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts - Maurice Kanbar Graduate School for Film and Television. He has lived in Japan, speaks Japanese, and holds a second master’s degree in International Policy Studies from the Monterey Institute of International Studies. He was a directing intern on Spike Lee’s “She Hate Me” and has himself directed several award winning short films.

The US correspondent for Midnighteye.com (the “latest and best in Japanese cinema”), Nicholas has lectured on Japanese cinema at the Japan Society in NYC and also has written DVD liner notes for Home Vision Entertainment and Synapse Films as well as having been interviewed for TV (IFC Channel), DVD (”Appleseed: Ex Machina”) and print. For more information, please visit www.mab-pro.com.

Robin Menken
Robin Menken is a screenwriter, film archivist, programmer and critic. Ms. Menken taught film at Berkeley’s Pacific Film Archive, (where she first met the great Donald Richie, who annually programmed and lectured on Japanese film) She programmed Special Events for the PFA, Museum Of Modern Art, San Francisco, Telluride, Rio & Havana Film Festivals. She worked in the Brazilian Film Industry in the early 80’s, worked on projects with Eugene Ionesco &Yevgeny Yevteshenko, was Roberto Rossellini’s assistant and served as the Artistic Director of The Second City Workshops. She has taught writing for theatre and film at Chile’s University of Vina Del Mar, Esalon, USC and Barcelona’s Ateneu.

YOSHIFUMI HOSOYA (Director/ Producer/ D.P.)
Born and raised in Tokyo, Japan, Yoshifumi Hosoya studied photography and film at New York University before transferring to the film department of the School of Visual Arts to concentrate on cinematography. There, he received the Best Cinematography Award at graduation. Hosoya recently produced Anthology Horrer Trapped Ashes in 2006 which is directed by Joe Dante (Gremlin), Ken Russell (Altered States), Sean. S Cunningham (Friday the 13th), Monte Hellman (Two Lane Black Top) and John Gaeta who is an Oscar winning VFX supervisor of The Matrix Trilogy. Trapped Ashes was selected Cannes Film Festival and Toronto Film Festival in 2006 and will be distributed by Lionsgate in 2008. Also Hosoya wrote, directed and produced two other feature films. His first feature film Sleepy Heads, won the Silver Award at World-Fest Houston in 1997 and convinced the Hollywood Reporter that Hosoya is definitely one to watch. The film was released theatrically in Los Angeles by Phaedra Cinema and shown on the Sundance Channel. The film was also released theatrically in Japan and acquired by NHK.

His second feature film Home Sweet Hoboken starring Ben Gazarra, Elizabeth Ashley and Aida Turturro premiered at the Slamdance Film Festival in 2000 and acquired by Allied Entertainment. Home Sweet Hoboken was also released theatrically in Japan in 2002. Before Hosoya started working as producer and director, he shot seven independent features as director of photography. Of these, Naked Jane was selected for the 1995 Sundance Film Festival dramatic competition and Combination Platter received the Waldo Salt Screenwriting Award at the 1993 Sundance Film Festival. Combination Platter was also selected for numerous film festivals including the 1993 New Directors/New Films at MOMA and the International Critics Week at the 1993 Cannes Film Festival. Arrow Entertainment distributed Combination Platter theatrically in the U.S. in the fall of 1993. Hosoya has also worked as director for Fox s TV series, Power Ranger Time Force in 2001. His other directing and cinematography credits include numerous Japanese TV documentaries, commercials and music video productions.

Elephant Studio the lot 1041 N. Formosa Ave., Formosa Building #221A West Hollywood, CA 90046 Tel. 323-850-2933 Fax. 323-850-2934 www.myspace.com/trappedashesthemovie