SIFF SCREENING | Japanese Film Festival is back, reveals first batch of films

【Opening Film】

Teki Cometh (2024)

敵

Gisuke Watanabe is a retired college professor who was admired by his students with his sincere and honest personality and sophisticated knowledge. His wife Nobuko had passed away 20 years ago in her 50's and Gisuke is now living alone, doing all the housework by himself.

His only income is the pension and lecture fee that he's asked to do few times a year. He knows that in six or seven years, his savings will be under 3 million yen, so when that time comes, he is thinking of taking his own life, leaving some money for his funeral.

Yasuko Takatsukasa is a former student of Gisuke, who always had great interest for the subjects he taught. She used to work as an editor for a women's magazine, and sometimes visited Gisuke to ask him to write an article. It was few times a year but every time she came, she enjoyed the hand-cooked meal Gisuke made. But Gisuke could never gather the guts to ask her to stay the night.

One day, Gisuke is surfing the internet like he always does, and finds a post that says "The enemy is coming from the north." He ignores it once as false rumor but the more he sees it, the more he feels this ominous emotion growing inside of him. And now he's hearing voices in an empty room and even Nobuko appears in front of him. Is this reality? Or is it the "enemy"?

Aimitagai (2024)

アイミタガイ 

Azusa (Haru Kuroki), a wedding planner, suddenly receives news that her best friend Kanami (Sawako Fujima) has passed away.

Azusa is considering marrying her boyfriend Sumito (Aoi Nakamura), but finds herself unable to take the plunge. Azusa continues to send messages to Kanami's chat screen, just like how they used to talk when she was alive.

Around the same time, Kanami's parents, Tomoko (Naomi Nishida) and Yusaku (Tomorowo Taguchi), receive a card addressed to their daughter from a children's care facility. They also discover a new notification on their daughter's smartphone, indicating unread messages.

Meanwhile, Azusa is assigned to plan a golden wedding anniversary celebration. She visits Komichi (Mitsuko Kusabue), a woman her aunt introduced her to, to ask that she play the piano during the celebration. At Komichi's house, Azusa suddenly recalls memories from her middle school days - the sound of the piano she and Kanami listened to together.

Kanami was always the one who encouraged her during important times. Azusa impulsively sends a message: "I can't move forward without you, Kanami." At that moment, all the messages she sent that were never meant to be read suddenly show as having been seen...

All About Suomi (2024)

スオミの話をしよう

A detective visits the mansion of a famous poet. He is told that “Suomi” has been missing since yesterday. Suomi is the poet's wife and the detective's ex-wife.

The detective insists that a formal investigation be launched immediately, but the poet balks, not wanting to make a big deal of it.

Before long, men from Suomi’s past come out of the woodwork and gather at the mansion.

Who loved Suomi the most? Who did Suomi love the most?

The men argue passionately, forgetting the fact that she’s missing.

But strangely, none of the husbands’ recollections of Suomi matches up. It’s as if they’re talking about five totally different women...

Where has Suomi disappeared to? Who exactly is Suomi?

The Real You (2024)

本心

Ishikawa Sakuya works at a small factory and though he doesn’t earn much, he is living an honest life. Brought up by a single mother, he was pretty much satisfied with the life that he had. Or he thought...

One day, he receives a call from his mother saying that she needs to talk to him after he comes home from work. But as he's rushing home, he finds her lying unconscious by the river close to their home. In the pouring rain, Sakuya tries to rescue her, but he gets himself hurt putting him into a coma.

A year later, Sakuya wakes up to a world that has completely changed. He is told by the police that his mother had chosen "elective death."

From that day on, Sakuya’s life is turned upside down. With some help from his friend Kishitani, Sakuya starts to work as a “real avatar,” who lends their body and moves around as instructed by his client.

At the same time, he decides to use what little insurance money his mother left him and order a virtual figure (VF) of her. During the process of VF creation, Sakuya learns about his mother’s closest friend Miyoshi Ayaka. To understand more about his mother, he contacts Miyoshi and hearing that she now lives in a shelter due to the fact that she lost her home in a natural disaster, he invites her to live with him. And thus, a strange communal living with Sakuya, VF Mother, and Miyoshi start, which is much more enjoyable than what Sakuya had imagined. Talking with his mother in the virtual world, he tries to figure out what her true intentions were. However, he discovers a new truth about her - there were sides of her and secrets from the past that he never realized. The more he tries to understand about his mother, the more he becomes uncertain about her truth. And moreover, he becomes uncertain about his own truth and the world.