Eiga-sai film festival marks 100 years of Czech-Japanese formal relations

The festival opens with It’s A Beautiful Life (Barvy života), a 2012 film about three elderly women in a rural area who start a food garnish business in an effort to attract people back to live in the area. It is based on a true story.

The romantic drama The Tokyo Night Sky Is Always the Densest Shade of Blue (Noční obloha je vždy nejmodřejší) charts the relationship of a construction worker and a waitress. It is based on a book of poetry by Tahi Saihate.

The documentaryBon Uta: A Song From Home (Bon uta: píseň domova) shows residents who cannot return to their homes in the Fukushima area. They go to Hawaii to stage their traditional festival of song and dance.

A middle-aged man’s happy family life is thrown into turmoil when his wife starts to expect a baby in Dear Etranger (Máme dceru). This sets off a some domestic drama with his step-daughters. It won a special prize of the jury at the Montreal Film Festival.

Different vignettes with previously unknown actors comprise Three Stories of Love (Milenci), written and directed by Ryōsuke Hashiguchi. It won several awards at the 37th Yokohama Film Festival.

A woman with cancer tries to reconnect with her husband and daughter in Her Love Boils Bathwater (Láska na bodu varu). The film was submitted for Oscar consideration, but was not nominated.

A popular morning show from the 1980s has been given feature film treatment in 2013’s Oshin (Ošin). The story takes place in the early 1900s, with a young girl from a poor family as the focus.

Documentary clips on the 1964 Tokyo Olympics, a children’s animated film called Rudolph and Gottalot and a documentary on storytelling called His Master’s Voice will also be shown.

For more information, visit the festival website or Facebook page.