From screening award-winning movies to celebrating Indo-Japan’s biggest movie collaborations, three-day-long theatrical edition of JFF comes to an end today. SUPRIYA RAMESH tells you more

It is not just K-pop that people are obsessed with these days. Over the years, more Indian viewers have taken a liking to international cinema. With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic and OTT platforms garnering more demand, people now have the luxury of choosing from among several good options of movies, TV shows, documentaries and watching them from the comfort of their homes. It has brought the audience closer to understanding world cinema. From DC to Marvel to Anime, a six-year-old to an adult, everyone seems to enjoy and relate with these films.

However, Indian viewers, overtime, have developed a great interest in Japanese films as well. Viewers can now see more of these films at the Japanese Film Festival (JFF). Unlike any other submission-based film festival, JFF, since its inception in 2017 in India, has annually curated a selection of the best of contemporary Japanese films to be showcased either theatrically or via streaming.

Koji Sato, Director-General, The Japan Foundation, tells us that there has been a remarkable expression of interest and enthusiasm by Indian audiences for Japanese culture and their  content. “JFF is honoured to receive this sheer enthusiasm from the people of India and continues to bring more and better experiences to the audience here,” he says.

This year the online festival was held in 25 countries with 20 films presented with subtitles in 15 languages for two weeks. With 11 films slated for screening, a three-day-long theatrical edition is also being hosted at PVR Select Citywalk, New Delhi.

The JFF journey started in 2016 when The Japan Foundation, as part of the JFF Asia-Pacific Gateway Initiative, established the film festival with the aim of sharing Japanese cinema with 10 ASEAN countries, including Australia. “Starting in 2017 with China and India, the festival expanded to Russia in 2018. In 2019, the festival was held in 12 countries and 56 cities, attracting over 170,000 visitors over the course of the year. In 2020, it was held both physically and online, and the first JFF Plus 2020-2021 recorded a total of more than 220,000 views from 20 countries around the world,” Sato tells us. 

Over the last five years, the festival has evolved from being showcased at theatres to including a streaming platform. Restricted not just to Delhi or Mumbai, the festival has been organised in multiple cities to reach the fans. “With the online edition we have achieved national accessibility. We expect that once the pandemic is over, the festival will re-emerge on a larger scale with steady growth in our theatrical reach across India,” Sato adds.

Since JFF is a curated festival, the lineup for the festival is finalised by the central festival team in Tokyo, with feedback loops from their offices in host countries. Sato tells us that the curation of JFF is based on the idea of exhibiting an eclectic yet intimate experience of life in Japan, their culture, aesthetics and everyday lives. They visualise the curation as a whole and choose films that fit this mosaic of experiences that their audience can encounter and enrich.

When you have an array of fantastic options, choosing an opening and a closing film can be a task. Having said that, this time, the opening film was Wife of Spy, chosen for its award-winning reception globally. Today, the festival will close with two films. The Night Beyond The Tricornered Window, a live-action mystery-horror adaption of a famous manga of the same name and Ramayana: The Legend of Prince Rama, an Indo-Japanese production directed by Yugo Sako. It will receive its first ever theatrical screening in India. “The closing films have been selected for their status as an iconic young adult genre entertainment that J-fans love to watch and an exclusive theatrical throwback to one of the biggest collaborations between our industries,” says Sato.

The online festival which was held from February 14 to 27, 2022, didn’t have a dedicated opening or closing film.

This year marks the 70th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan. Perhaps, says Sato, there’s a lot more to look forward to. “I can't reveal the details yet, but we have something in store that we hope will please the people in India. For the past two years we have had very few face-to-face events, so we hope that things will settle down and we will have the opportunity to meet in person,” Sato tells us.

“We have had a lot of internal discussions and postponements because of the pandemic. So, we have substantially scaled down the scale of the event this year and limited it to Delhi,” says Sato, adding that the festival will run at 50 per cent capacity and bookings are only available online.