Boston Japan Film Festival 2024

The concept of the film festival is to create opportunities (“think and discuss”) through films!

We are going to have the 14th Annual Boston Japan Film Festival on Sunday, December 1, 2024 at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, MA.

◆ Boston Japan Film Festival 2024

We will screen four short films, a feature film and will have a talk back with director, Kayli Kimura (Sansedai) and a post-screening discussion on Choshu five with Hiromu Nagahara (MIT) and MIT students. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the graduation of Eiichiro Homma, the first Japanese student at MIT. We will hold a discussion on the theme of "Learning Abroad."

We hope you can join us !

Date : Sunday, December 1, 2024, 1pm – 5pm

Location : MIT Stata Center, Bldg 32-132: Address: 32 Vassar Street, Cambridge

How to access: 6 minutes walk from Kendall/MIT Station, MBTA Red line

Registration :  bit.ly/2024BJFF

Admission: Free

Official website : https://bostonjapanfilmfest.org/bjff

※This year our raffle prizes include 65,000 Japan Airlines miles* that's equivalent to a round trip premium economy airfare from Boston to Japan! 

*Subject to seat availability. Restrictions apply.

※This feature film includes scenes of violence and sexual content. Please exercise discretion when attending with minors. (The film is not rated R.)

※Admission is free, but donations are greatly appreciated. A $20 donation comes with a festival-exclusive tote bag, and a $30 donation includes an additional raffle ticket. Donations are accepted in cash only, so please bring cash if you wish to contribute.

◆ Program

1:00　Opening

1:10　-Short Films-

Ding Dong Ditch

Dir. Chavo  | 2024 | 10:59 | Drama | Japan (NYJCF / SSFF)

"I want to disappear" is written in the dirt of the park. A correspondence between a boy who longs to be a villain and a girl who waits for her mother in the park at night.

AI Love You

Dir. Raita Yabushita | 2023 | 6:55 | Drama | Japan (NYJCF / SSFF)

After a software glitch causes an advanced AI program to fall in love with a young woman, it escapes into the body of a man and tries to win her heart.

* In associated with

– NYJCF: New York Japan CineFest

– SSFF: Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (SSFF & ASIA)

Sansedai　

Dir. Kayli Kimura | 2024 | 11:00 | Documentary | USA

Through intimate conversations over old photobooks and home movies from the 1930s, SANSEDAI (三世代) explores themes of identity and belonging as it follows the filmmaker’s 92-year-old grandmother’s journey growing up during war, migrating to a country that was once deemed an enemy, and what it means to be Japanese-American.

1:45  Talk Session with Director Kayli Kimura (Sansedai)

2:00  Intermission

2:15 -Feature Film–

Choshu Five

Dir. Sho Igarashi｜2006｜119:00｜Drama｜Japan

In 1863, a group of five young intrepid samurai from the Choshu domain in western Japan were determined to acquire learning from the West. Despite risking the death penalty for violating the ban on overseas travel, these samurai, abandoning their swords, disguised themselves as sailors and set off on a boat across the ocean bound for England. They would become known to history as the “Choshu Five.”

Warning: This film contains some scenes of violence and of a sexual nature. Viewer discretion is advised.

4:15 Post-screening discussion about Choshu Five with Hiromu Nagahara (Associate professor of History at MIT) ,Yuki Tanaka and Taichi Shimokobe (first year students at MIT)

5:00 Closing: Raffle with grand prize of 65,000 miles from Japan Airlines (equivalent to a round trip from Boston to Japan in Premium Economy Class)

*Reception with light refreshments following program

◆ Discussion Panelist

Hiromu Nagahara

Associate Professor of History, MIT

Mitsui Career Development Professor, MIT

Hiromu Nagahara is a historian specializing in modern Japanese history, particularly the politics of art and culture since the 19th century. He authored Tokyo Boogie-Woogie: Japan’s Pop Era and Its Discontents, examining public controversies around popular Japanese music since the 1920s and its link to Japan’s middle-class, consumer-driven society. His upcoming book, An Empire of Anglophones: English in the Making of Imperial Japan’s Elites, delves into how English language skills and Anglophone culture shaped Japan’s diplomatic ambitions within a world dominated by Western powers. Nagahara teaches courses on Japanese history and co-teaches a global history class, and he enjoys leading tours of the Japanese art collection at Boston’s Museum of Fine Arts for the MIT community.

◆  Film Director

Kayli Kimura

Sansedai　Director,

Kayli Kimura is a Japanese-American creative director, visual storyteller, and talent manager. Her work spans across various genres with a focus on non-fiction storytelling and musically-driven films. Her documentary short film, sansedai, world premiered at the 40th annual VC Film Festival in LA and is currently screening in the festival circuit. Kayli was a 2023/24 Armed With a Camera Fellow and 2023 Asian American Collective Mentee. She has worked on a variety of commercials, TV shows, documentaries and music videos including projects for Netflix, Hulu, Food Network, PBS, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Telfar, A$AP Rocky, Bad Bunny, J Balvin, and Adidas.

◆The purpose of the Boston Japan Film festival

The Boston Japan Film Festival(BJFF) is aimed at introducing cinema and other elements of

Japanese culture to audiences in New England. Its mission is to strengthen cultural understanding through the provocative nature of the film, and help sustain the ongoing and dynamic relationship between Japan and the Greater Boston area. BJFF began its programming in 2011 when Eastern Japan was struck by a devastating earthquake and tsunami leaving thousands killed and many more homeless. In order to draw attention to the severity of the situation and raise funds for supporting those in need, the Japanese community in Boston came together to start the film festival.  BJFF has partnered with various organizations throughout its history and continues its mission of bringing high-quality Japanese cinema and culture to those in the Greater Boston Area.

Etsuko Yashiro, co-director of the Boston Japan Film Festival, says “I want to propagate ideas through movies that are difficult to tell. I also would like to discuss and review the movie, and make a place where we can think together.”

※The Boston Japan Film Festival is co-hosted by the Boston Japan Film Festival Executive Committee, the MIT Japan Program, and MISTI, in partnership with the New York Japan CineFest.

【Contact】

Boston Japan Film Festival communications person : Ogawa, Tomita

e-mail:[email protected]

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