The Japanese Film Festival Australia (JFF) is presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney. The JFF started in 1997 with three free film screenings and is now one of the largest celebrations of Japanese films in the world.

In 2019, the Festival celebrated its 23rd year with an audience of over 30,000 Australia-wide. The Festival has enjoyed great success over the years, with the opportunity to showcase a vast variety of cinematic delights from 35mm film classics to newly-released titles currently screening in Japan.

JFF Australia is part of JFF Asia-Pacific Platform initiated by The Japan Foundation Head Office based in Tokyo. This initiative aims to support and grow interest in Japanese films and cinema culture throughout the Asia-Pacific region, including Australia.

Learn more about the Japanese Film Festival Australia here.

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The Reverse Diaries (リバースダイアリー)

Year: 2018 / Runtime: 99 min / Genre: Mystery, Suspense, Romance / Classification: Suitable for 15+ (Contains violence and suicide attempt)

Languages: In Japanese with English subtitles

Story: Rihito Shiraishi (Gen Ogawa) has found an unhappy niche as a talented ghostwriter, but though he desperately aspires to be a novelist under his own name, he has yet to find the courage to move out from under others’ shadows. Then, Saki Honda (Iku Arai), an eccentric, whirlwind of a woman enters his life and begs Rihito to pretend to be her boyfriend to get a stalker off her back. Taken by surprise, Rihito agrees to help her out and the pretend relationship becomes real very quickly, bringing light and laughter into Rihito’s monotonous life. However, things aren’t always so happy-go-lucky for Saki, and one day she attempts suicide.

Upset and confused, Rihito starts to investigate why she decided to take her life when she always seemed so upbeat around him. When he stumbles across her diary, he starts to realise that there’s more to Saki than meets the eye, and perhaps their chance encounter wasn’t just a lucky coincidence.

Director, writer and producer Shin Sonoda takes a light-hearted rom-com about being true to oneself and twists it into a genre-bending suspenseful thriller of desperation, manipulation and revenge.

Director: Shin Sonoda

Screenplay: Shin Sonoda

Production Company: CiNEAST

Distributor: CiNEAST

Cast: Gen Ogawa, Iku Arai. Marie Ono

Copyright: ©CiNEAST

Awards

2019 SNOWDANCE Independent Film Festival - Best feature film

2018 SOMA Film Festival - Best screenplay

2017 London Film Awards - Best feature film

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