The Japan Foundation Touring Film Programme will present 26 Japanese features across U.K. venues, including acclaimed director Miike Takashi’s latest film “Sham” among diverse offerings spanning comedy, drama, horror, sci-fi and animation.
The annual celebration, billed as the U.K.’s largest showcase of Japanese cinema, centers on the theme “Knowing Me, Knowing You: The True Self in Japanese Cinema,” exploring identity and self-perception across multiple genres.
Miike, known for “13 Assassins,” “Ichi the Killer” and “Audition,” takes a more realist approach with “Sham,” adapting investigative journalist Fukuda Masumi’s report about a teacher falsely accused of child abuse. Go Ayano stars as an elementary school teacher forced into a public apology after allegations from a student’s mother, triggering a media storm and lawsuit. The social critique will receive its UK premiere during the tour.
Other U.K. premieres include Tsutsumi Yukihiko’s “The Hotel of My Dream,…