Marking its 15th edition this year (March 6 – 15, 2020), The Osaka Asian Film Festival (OAFF), under programming director TERUOKA Sozo, will again select high-quality Asian films. The Competition section, which receives increased recognition every year, will again select films previously unreleased in Japan. The Indie Forum section, special programs and other sections will also feature a wide variety of excellent Asian films.

The full Programme will be announced on the 7th of February 2020

“The Garden of Evening Mists”

Osaka Asian Film Festival 2020 will open with the gorgeous Malaysian Historical Drama “The Garden Of Evening Mists“, directed by Tom Shu-yu LIN and starring LEE Sinje, ABE Hiroshi and Sylvia CHANG. The film, a historical drama based on a novel by Malaysian writer TAN Twan Eng, depicts the woman’s struggle to honour the memory of her sister through making a garden in post-war Malaysia. It will have its Japanese Premiere on March 6 at Umeda Burg 7.

ABOUT THE FILM

1950s Malaysia, a young woman named Teoh Yun Ling (LEE Sinje) travels to a British tea plantation in the Cameron Highlands to meet a famous but reclusive gardener named NAKAMURA Aritomo (ABE Hiroshi) in the hope of commissioning him to build a garden as a memorial for her later sister who died during the war. Aritomo declines the request, but proposes Yun Ling becomes his apprentice. Initially hesitant, Yun Ling eventually devotes herself to gardening and an attraction to the taciturn Aritomo takes root. Stronger emotions blossom but the two are entangled in the bitter history of the war and the unfolding Communist insurgency. 30 years later, Yun Ling (Sylvia CHANG) returns to the garden to unearth a mystery surrounding Aritomo as she digs through painful memories of her past.

“Kamata Prelude”

The closing work of the 15th Osaka Asian Film Festival is “Kamata Prelude“, an anthology film produced by and starring MATSUBAYASHI Urara and directed by four of the brightest talents from a new generation of filmmakers, NAKAGAWA Ryutaro, AKIYAMA Mayu, YASUKAWA Yuka and WATANABE Hirobumi. The film will be screened at ABC Hall on March 15th as a world premiere.

ABOUT THE FILM

A four-part film done in the unique style of each director, MATSUBAYASHI Urara gives a portrayal of a struggling actress named Machiko who lives in Kamata. Machiko is the central axis of the movie as the film comically depicts what it means to be a “woman” and an “actress” in society through showing the patterns of life as conducted by her and the people that surround her. The directors involved are a new generation of talent from the Japanese movie industry.

Check for updates on the Official Website