JFF 2016 : A Cultural Bridge Beetween Japan and Indonesia
On Thursday (11/17), we attended Japanese Film Festival 2016 Press Conference and Movie Screening at fX Sudirman, Jakarta. In 2015, Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan in corporation with Embassy of Japan, Japan Foundation, and Japan Image Council had succeeded in presenting Japanese Film Festival (JFF) in Jakarta. Since the festival had stolen many audience’s hearts, starting from this year JFF is decided to be held annually. Now JFF Indonesia is also incorporated with JFF Asia Pacific Gateway which are also released in 10 South East Asia countries and Australia. This festival will be held in FX Sudirman on November 24th to 26th and is supposed to bridge Indonesia and Japan cultural relation by representing 14 fresh Japanese featured films.
Source: JFF Facebook
Other than the films, the guest stars also become the attraction of JFF this year. Shuhei Nomura, actor from Japanese popular film, “Chihayafuru”, will attend the festival opening in 24 November accompanied by the director, Norihiro Kozumi. Not only Japanese stars, Indonesian favorite actress, Chelsea Olivia, will also be there. Chelsea confessed her adoration toward Japanese culture during JFF movie screening and press conference. She said that Japanese Anime filled her childhood memory and she admires the discipline of Japanese people when she was shooting the film “When You Wish Upon A Sakura”. Chelsea also believed that JFF provides an opportunity for her to introduce Indonesian culture to Japan through films and vice versa. President of Japan Foundation, Tsukamoto Norihisa, also explained that they purposely chose the films in various genres (starting from fiction, animation, drama, horror, and so on) because they want Indonesia to really know many sides of Japan from its various films.
We also had a chance to watch an animation movie called “The Boy and The Beast” and it was superb. The movie although could be said as a fantasy movie, perfectly combines comedy, family, action and romance into one spectacular film. We did not dare to divert our eyes from the movie screen because we were too engrossed in watching the film unfolded its story seamlessly. “The Boy and The Beast” is one of the must-watch movie during JFF among many others (the complete list can be found on the image below).
Besides the film screenings, there will also be side event called Japan Fun Day show in 26 November, and there is also a chance for the audience who give the best film review to win a trip to Tokyo. The tickets are available on Cinemaxx for online booking, or you can come directly to JFF booth at FX Sudirman to buy the ticket on the spot. For more information, you can go to Japanese Film Festival Indonesia official website. Can’t wait to see you guys there, Sayōnara!
