Other Screening Program
Current D-Cinema 2013
A Sparkle of Life
７.12(Fri) 14：00
＜2013／Japan／81min.＞
♦World Premiere♦
Looking for new love at age 77
Losing her husband after nursing him for years, Tae Tsurumoto (played by Kazuko Yoshiyuki) leads a monotonous life. To live again, Tae decides to look for a new partner. Despite the warnings of her late husband’s best friend (played by Akira Takarada) and her family. She embarks on a quest to find the right man and finally meets the one (played by Gaku Yamamoto).
A Sparkle of Life, the 4th film to be produced through D-MAP, stars Kazuko Yoshiyuki in the lead role and veteran actors including Akira Takarada and Gaku Yamamoto. Also featuring members of Saitama Gold Theater, a theater group with average age of 74, the film is brimming with charm and was shot on various locations in Saitama with Sony CineAlta 4K Camera F65.
Cast: Kazuko Yoshiyuki, Akira Takarada, Gaku Yamamoto
Screenplay,Director: Bunji Sotoyama
Produce: Saitama Pref., SKIP CITY Sai-no-Kuni Visual Plaza
Production: C&I Entertainment Co., Ltd.
Cooperation: UNITED CINEMAS Co., Ltd. Sai-no-Kuni Saitama Arts Theater
Distributor: Tokyo Theatres Co., Inc. DIGITAL SKIP STATION, INC.
Director Bunji Sotoyama’s short film On This Side, about nursing services for the elderly, won Best Short Film and four other awards at the Monaco Film Festival. A Sparkle of Life is his first feature film.
Director／Bunji Sotoyama
Born September 25th 1980 in Fukuoka, Sotoyama graduated from the Japan Institute of the Moving Image. His short screenplay Stardust Serenade won the Grand Prize and the Staff Award at Isama Studio Film Festival 2005 and it was made into a short film the year after and awarded Honorable Mention / Kawaguchi Citizen’s Award at SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL in 2007. His next short film, On This Side about elderly nursing services won five awards including Best Short Film at Monaco International Film Festival. His feature length screenplay A Sparkle of Life won the Grand Prize and the SKIP CITY Prize at the 6th Cinema Plot Competition 2011. Sotoyama continues to put a spotlight on the challenges of the aging population.
What is D-MAP?
As part of an ongoing support system for emerging filmmakers and for the development of a new kind of audio-visual industry, SKIP CITY Sai-no-kuni Visual Plaza presents D-MAP, a digital cinema production support program where emerging filmmakers are given an opportunity to make their commercial debut and support is provided for planning, producing and releasing a theatrical feature film.
Cinema Kabuki
Kagotsurube Sato No Eizame
７.16(Tue) 14：00
＜Performed in February, 2010/Japan/113min.＞
The tale of a country merchant who sacrificed everything for a courtesan takes you to Yoshiwara, old Tokyo's pleasure quarter featuring an All Star Cast!
Jirozaemon, a wealthy silk merchant (played by Kanzaburo Nakamura) is in Edo on business with his servant Jiroku. Before they return, they decide to visit Yoshiwara to see what it’s all about. Jirozaemon encounters the most beautiful courtesan in Yoshiwara named Yatsuhashi and he becomes transfixed by her otherworldly beauty.
Original Story: Kawatake Shinshichi III
Cast: Kanzaburo Nakamura, Tamasaburo Bando, Nizaemon Kataoka
Distributor: SHOCHIKU Co.,Ltd
SKIP CITY Selection
Glyndebourne Festival Opera Don Giovanni
７.18(Thu) 10：00
＜Performed in July, 2010/UK/190min.＞
Mozart’s revolutionary opera masterpiece featuring a star cast
Don Giovanni is an infamous lady-killer. One day, he visits Donna Anna, the Commendatore's daughter in an attempt to seduce her, but the Commendatore finds him and challenges him for a duel. Don Giovanni kills him and continues his escapades with no sign of remorse. The statue of the Commendatore warns Giovanni of his fate and demands a repentance.
Conductor: Vladimir Jurowski
Stage Director: Jonathan Kent
Cast: Gerald Finley, Luca Pisaroni, Anna Samuil
Orchestra: Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Distributor: Sony“Livespire”(Sony PCL Inc.)
Screening Partner：
*With an intermission
*No English Subtitles
*“Livespire” is a registered trademark owned by Sony Corporation.
