New from Japan: Get to Know Hirobumi Watanabe

Despite festival awards and praise from critics, independent filmmaker Hirobumi Watanabe has managed to remain below the radar. A partial retrospective of his work was the surprise hit of the streaming Udine Far East Film Festival this year. We are proud to present three of his most charming films, followed by a live Q&A with Watanabe and film critic Mark Schilling, who programmed the Udine retrospective.

Life Finds a Way

Available worldwide from September 25–October 9

In this semi-autobiographical comedy, filmmaker Hirobumi Watanabe plays, well, filmmaker Hirobumi Watanabe, who bumbles around his hometown of Otawara struggling to come up with ideas (and money) for his next project. As film critic Mark Schilling writes, “The film combines self-deprecating humor and stylistic invention in ways funny and thought provoking….But Watanabe is not only after laughs; he is also a stylist and a surrealist who finds the bizarre in the everyday, somewhat like a Japanese David Lynch. As his doppelganger director moves through his daily round, we see repeated motifs that range from the unexpectedly beautiful to the strange and unsettling.” Watanabe’s I’m Really Good and Party ‘Round the Globe are also streaming in our program. (Hirobumi Watanabe, Japan, 2018, 127 min., Japanese with English subtitles)

Stream it here: https://watch.eventive.org/newfromjapan 

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKtSJFyo-hw

Learn more about Hirobumi Watanabe here: https://www.fareastfilm.com/eng/essays/watanabe-hirobumi-poeta-comico-del-quotidiano/?IDLYT=7803

Hirobumi and Yuji Watanabe Discuss Life Finds a Way 

Stream it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjJzfSBf3SY 

HIrobumi Watanabe and his brother Yuji, who composes the music for his films, introduce Life Finds a Way in an interview conducted by film critic Mark Schilling and Sabrina Baracetti, president of the Udine Far East Film Festival. PLEASE NOTE: The interview is in Japanese, Italian and English and is not subtitled.