♪ Tokyo Peace Film Festival Announcement ♪ - 5 min 25 sec - 1.3MB

The Third Annual Tokyo Peace Film Festival will be held this coming weekend... don't miss it! Listen to my interview with 12 year old Steven Sotor, director of the film ‘Genie In A Bottle: Unleased’ and in the accompanying podcast. Below you can find details on all the films that will be shown.

Date: Saturday, July 22, 2006

Time: 10:00 AM - 9 PM (see schedule of films below)

Place: National Institution for Youth Education
(National Olympic Youth Center)
Arts Building Large Hall (カルチャー棟大ホール）
3-1. Yoyogi Kamizono-cho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0052
TEL. +81-3-3467-7201
Map to venue: http://nyc.niye.go.jp/e/02informations/cont05.html

Entrance fee: 1500 yen for those aged 25 and younger, 2500 yen for those aged 26 and over

Fee includes membership to the "Tokyo Peace Film Club" , which includes discounts for upcoming films, announcements for future events, etc. Fee covers all films, and may be paid at the door. Because seats are filling up fast, it is best to make a reservations via the festival website (www.peacefilm.net, Japanese only) or e-mail: info@peacefilm.net (English OK).

Film schedule:

10:05 AM (104 min.): Little Birds
(http://www.littlebirds.net/eng/index.htm)
Directed by Watai Takeharu

After the U.S. armed forces entered Iraq in April 2003, Watai Takeharu remained in Iraq to continue shooting portraits of Iraqi citizens in the war-ravaged country. In Baghdad, Samawa, Falluja, and at Abu Ghraib, Watai listened to the voices of the Iraqi people, and succeeded in catching glimpses of the truth about the Iraq War that mainstream media have failed to capture. From the footage of over 123 hours which resulted from his one-and-a-half-year-long research in Iraq, a film has now been competed. (in English and Japanese)

12:04 PM (88 min.): Life and Debt
(http://www.lifeanddebt.org)
Directed by Stephanie Black

Utilizing excerpts from the award-winning non-fiction text "A Small Place" by Jamaica Kincaid, Life & Debt is a woven tapestry of sequences focusing on the stories of individual Jamaicans whose strategies for survival and parameters of day-to-day existence are determined by the U.S. and other foreign economic agendas. By combining traditional documentary telling with a stylized narrative framework, the complexity of international lending, structural adjustment policies and free trade will be understood in the context of the day-to-day realities of the people whose lives they impact. (in English and Japanese)

1:45 - 2:55: Lunch with the Directors!

Have lunch with directors Stephanie Black, Kamanaka Hitomi, John Junkerman, and Tanaka Yu. Seats available on a first-come, first-served basis only...reserve by e-mail at lunch@peacefilm.net or by FAX at 03-3393-2207 (English OK). Fee: 1500 yen.

3:00 PM (16 min.): Genie In A Bottle: Unleashed
http://www.lachildrensfilm.org/film.psp?id=145
Directed by Steven Sotor

What did the genie have to say about the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? This film was screened at the United Nations and all around the world. It also was shown at the Los Angeles International Childrens Film Festival in December 2005. Steven and his 12 year old friend directed and produced this film. Check out this review here. (in English and Japanese)

3:33 PM (121 min.): Rokkashomura Rhapsody
(http://www.rokkasho-rhapsody.com/en/_links/links)
Directed by Kamanaka Hitomi

Documentary about the nuclear fuel reprocessing plant in Rokkasho-mura, Aomori-ken. Kamanaka also directed the acclaimed documentary film "Hibakusha". (in Japanese; no English subtitles)

5:50 PM (92 min.): How to Make Peace　("平和の作り方")
by Kikuchi Yumi, Imamura Kazuhiro, Tanaka Yu

Film made by the Tokyo Peace Film Club, which takes an in-depth look at issues of war and peace and Japan's role therein. Original film that is not to be missed! (In Japanese only; no English subtitles.)

7:37 PM (80 min.): Japan's Peace Constitution (http://www.cine.co.jp/kenpo/english.html)
Directed by John Junkerman

In 2005, sixty years after the end of World War II, the conservative Japanese government is pressing ahead with plans to revise the nation's constitution and jettison its famous no! -war clause, Article 9. This timely, hard-hitting documentary places the ongoing debate over the constitution in an international context: What will revision mean to Japan's neighbors, Korea and China? How has the US-Japan military alliance warped the constitution and Japan's role in the world? How is the unprecedented involvement of Japan's Self-Defense Force in the occupation of Iraq perceived in the Middle East? (in English and Japanese)

Festival sponsors include:

Department of Peace Project, Global Peace Campaign, Be Good Cafe, Japan Jiritsu Project

For more information, contact the Peace Film Club:

URL: http://www.peacefilm.net
E-mail: info@peacefilm.net (English okay)
Tel: 090-4459-3020
FAX: 0479-62-1327