The Consulate General of Japan and the High Museum will present a Japanese film festival every Saturday from March 6-20, 2010.

All screenings begin at 8:00 p.m. in Rich Theatre, Woodruff Arts Center, 1280 Peachtree Street NE, Atlanta, GA 30309. The Rich Theatre is located at 15^th and Peachtree Streets, next to the High Museum of Art at MARTA stop N-5.

Tickets are $7 general admission, $6 students, seniors, and Museum members. Patron level members enter free. To purchase tickets in advance, go to www.High.org, visit the Woodruff Arts Center Box Office, or call 404-733-5000. 

For more information about the film festival, contact the Consulate General of Japan at 404-365-9240 or info@cgjapanatlanta.org or visit http://www.atlanta.us.emb-japan.go.jp/filmfest2010.html.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Directed by Kichitaro Negishi.  Starring Yusuke Iseya, Koichi Sato, Kyoko Koizumi, and Kazue Fukiishi.

Manabu Yazaki, who had big dreams of success in Tokyo, loses his high-class lifestyle as well as his family and returns home to the Hokkaido heartland in midwinter.  There his elder brother Takeo manages a stable for "Banei horserace", a sleigh-pulling race unique to Hokkaido. Their long overdue reunion exposes the gap between them even more. Takeo does not let his brother met their aging mother who is living in a nursing home. However, while he watches Manabu interact with the sometimes quirky stable workers and the horses as they face the challenges of racing day in and day out, Takeo decides to have his brother met their mother. Gradually the two men develop an understanding each other. In the end, Manabu puts his all into taking care of the horse that was supposed to be killed for not taking home the prize money in its rode to recovery. For Manabu, this becomes his chance to "reset" his own life and a hope for his new start.

Grand Prix winner, Best Director, 2005 Tokyo International Film Festival, Best Director, 2006 Mainichi Film Awards