Showcasing an exciting mix of recently released contemporary works, anime and rare classics, The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme 2022 returns to Sheffield for its 19th edition this March. With industry partners from across Japan, the tour features the cinematic voices of both experienced and emerging filmmakers whose films, for the most part, have only recently been released in their home country. This year’s theme explores the ‘Dark Mind’ lurking beneath the surface in contemporary Japan. Whilst the breadth of films vary in tone and style, from crime films to charming dramas, they all deal in some way with the theme of human darkness.  

Coming up next in the programme is Okita Shuichi’s Ora Ora Be Goin’ Alone on Tuesday 22nd March. It is the story of septuagenarian housewife, Momoko, who is faced with spending her golden years alone after the sudden death of her husband. Mysterious figures and voices begin to appear to her, livening up Momoko’s life – sometimes with song and dance! The film is a thoroughly fun and charming take on what loneliness means for older people in modern life, seen through the eyes of an immeasurably positive woman determined to keep living into old age.  

In The Sound of Grass – screening on Wednesday 23rd March – director Saito Hisashi tells the story of Kazuo, who decides to move back to his hometown after leaving his high-pressure job in Tokyo due to mental health problems. He begins seeing a psychiatrist who advises him to take up jogging. As he religiously adopts this activity into his daily routine, Kazuo gradually gets to know the young people he meets on his outings, and things soon begin to change. This adaptation of Sato Yasushi’s novelis a striking portrayal of the realities of living with mental ill-health in Japan.  

Also showing as part of the tour is Nobuhiro Doi’s The Voice of Sin (Tues 29th March) - an award-winning film inspired by one of the biggest cold cases to shake Japan. As two men try to solve their own mysteries, their paths cross, leading them to face the shocking truth behind the crime that connects them. Finally, we’ll be screening Tsutsumi Yukihiko’s edge-of-your-seat psychological thriller, First Love, a thrilling deep dive into the psychology of women who suffer from the repressed memories of their past in silence.  

The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme is screening at Showroom Cinema throughout March. Tickets are now on sale.