During a suicide attack on an airport, the hand grenade of M, one of three terrorists, malfunctions and he is captured. Exposed to maltreatment in prison he slowly loses his grip on reality, as he is forced to confront his ide- ological convictions. Director Masao Adachi is a living legend of Japanese political cinema, known for his experimental film work in the early ’60s and his collaborations with Nagisa Oshima and Koji Wakamatsu in films like Diary of a Shinjuku Thief and Ecstasy of Angels. In 1974, disillusioned with Japanese cinema, Adachi left Japan for the Middle East, to join the pro- Palestinian cause. After being extradited back to Japan in 2001, Adachi’s first film in 35 years is inspired by the Japanese Red Army member Kozo Okamoto, who was imprisoned by the Israelis after perpetrating the infa- mous massacre at Lod Airport in 1972. Prisoner / Terrorist is not concerned with recreating the true life details PRISONER / TERRORIST [YÛHEISHA / TERORISUTO] of the attack or with Okamoto’s subsequent incarceration. Instead it tack- SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER AT 9PM les the immensely emotive subject of terrorism through a more abstract Country Japan Running Time 113 mins Format Digibeta SCREENING SPONSOR framework. Adachi analyses the imagination and the doctrine of a man Director/Screenplay Masao Adachi Producer Michio Koshikawa DoP Yuichi Nagata Cast Tomorowo Taguchi, Arata, driven to extreme acts and how his dogmatic ideas threaten to collapse Taka Okubo P/S Slow Learner E [email protected] under solitary confinement. A hugely provocative and ambitious work, this W www.prisoner-m.com is guaranteed to provoke a great deal of controversy and debate. JS This latest example of the Japanese softcore pink film to play at Raindance begins with squid-jigging Haruo as he attempts to land a legendary tenta- cled whopper reported to be hiding somewhere out in Tokyo Bay, while his girlfriend Rika lends her enthusiastic support despite the lingering pres- ence of a jealous ex named Iwata. Then Haruo’s roguish Uncle Takashi arrives in town to further rock the boat, looking for ‘a new start’ and a place to stay for a while. A natural born loser, Uncle Takashi proves quite a handful for Haruo, permanently quaff- ing vitamin drinks while trying to get it on with every female within reach and literally marking his territory by scrawling his name on their bare backs with a red marker pen once the act is done. Things take a more serious turn for the worse however, when while praying at a Shinto shrine, Takashi receives a deadly shot of venom from UNCLE’S PARADISE [OJISAN TENGOKU/ ZETSURIN…] a snake which transfixes itself to his privates, and he is whisked off to the MONDAY 1 OCTOBER AT 9:15PM land of the dead. It is left to Haruo to play Orpheus and take the trip down Country Japan RT 64 mins Ft 35mm Dir Shinji Imaoka Prod SCREENING SPONSOR to the underworld to rescue his errant uncle from the grasp of Enma, King Daisuke Asakura S’play Fumio Moriya DoP Kazuhiro Suzuki Cast Shiro Shimomoto, M Yoshioka P/S [email protected] of Hell, but it soon becomes pretty obvious that when you’re someone like Playing with How I Produced a Cherry Boy [Dotei Wo Uncle Takashi, hell ain’ t a bad place to be. JS Prodysu] 32 mins, and Dear Ms Ogi 32 mins Manabu Yazaki had big dreams of success in Tokyo, until he lost all his money, his social standing and his family, and is forced to return home to the Hokkaido heartland in midwinter. There his elder brother Takeo manages a stable for Banei horseracing, a sleigh-pulling race unique to Hokkaido. Their long overdue reunion exposes the distance and estrange- ment between the two brothers. At first Takeo refuses to let his brother meet their aged mother living in a nursing home. However, while he watch- es Manabu interact with the quirky characters working in the stables and the horses, as they face the challenges of racing on a daily basis, a new understanding soon develops between the two brothers. The unjustly neglected Kichitaro Negishi began his filmmaking career in the ’80s with some of the most interesting films of the era, including Crazed Fruit (1981) and Distant Thunder (1981). This touching tale of sib- WHAT THE SNOW BRINGS [YUKI NI NEGAUKOTO] ling rivalry and forgiveness boasts some of the best talents working in the SATURDAY 29 SEPTEMBER AT MIDDAY industry today, and won a raft of awards at the Tokyo International Film Country Japan Running Time 112 mins Format 35mm SCREENING SPONSOR Festival, including the Grand Prix, Best Director, Best Lead Actor and the Director Kichitaro Negishi Producer Masako Tanabe S’play Masato Kato DoP Hiro Machida Cast Yusuke Iseya, Koichi Audience Award. JS Sato, Kyoko Koizumi P/S Eleven Arts E [email protected] W www.elevenarts.net FIFTEENTH RAINDANCE FILM FESTIVAL 73 ?<8;FM<I ?<<CJ Gifl[jgfejfif]k_\ (,k_ =`cd=\jk`mXc% <XjkdXeBf[Xb:fdgXep)''. =fi]lik_\i`e]fidXk`feZfekXZk 8ee\>l`[\iXfe1'/.'/,'(0'+ nnn%bf[Xb%Zfd&LB&\e&dfk`fe Not to be confused with the British version of the tale directed by Michael Apted and released this year, Jeta Amata’s film is a historical landmark, in that it is the first 35mm feature ever made in Nigeria. In 1748, at the height of the slave trading era, English trader John Newton sails to the coast of Nigeria. Daily life is interrupted with great force and brutality; homes and villages are burned as families are rounded up before being placed captive in dungeons to await the transatlantic crossing. As Newton sets sail with his new cargo of slaves, his ship is afflicted by a violent storm which almost kills him. It is here that Newton is forced to re-evaluate his life. He attributes his miraculous escape to the amazing grace of God. Newton’s sensibilities change following this experience, but it isn’t until he comes into contact with a particular captive that he decides to renounce THE AMAZING GRACE the slave trade. Once home in England, in 1760, John Newton uses the SATURDAY 6 OCTOBER AT 5PM melody of a local Nigerian anthem sung in adversity by the captured slaves Country Nigeria Running Time 92 mins Format 35mm Director Jeta Amata Producers to compose the world’s most famous hymn: Amazing Grace. Amata has Jeta Amata, Alicia Arce Screenplay Jeta Amata, Scott Cleverdon DoP Joseph Taylor Cast Nick Moran, Mbong Odungide, Fred Amata Print Source Wienerworld E [email protected] created a fitting tribute to the slaves and the land that led Mr Newton on W www.theamazinggracefilm.com the path to redemption. JS This dazzling tribute to the silent movie owes much to cinematic masters such as Fritz Lang, Luis Buñuel and Tim Burton, but it still manages to exhibit a fresh imagination all of its own. The film takes place in an unnamed city where the inhabitants have had their voices stolen by the evil media mogul, Mr TV. He has the populace hooked on fast-food dinners and broadcasts featuring a mysterious and uniquely vocal female known only as The Voice. Mr TV has further plans for the city without a voice and only a young girl, her father and a blind boy stand in his way. La Antena brilliantly blends live-action and animation to create a beauti- IN COMPETITION ful expressionist vision which pays respectful homage to the early days of cinema whilst also having great fun with its conventions. Such silent film staples as wondrous machinery, evil henchmen and a blonde heroine are LA ANTENA all present here whilst the onscreen captions take on a life of their own in WEDNESDAY 3 OCTOBER AT 7PM a series of playful and ingenious jokes. Country Argentina RT 90 mins Format 35mm Director/ SCREENING SPONSOR Director Esteban Sapir’s screenplay conveys an intelligent message Screenplay Esteban Sapir Producer Juan Aguirre, Federico Rotstein DoP Cristian Cottet Cast Alejandro Urdapilleta, Valeria about the power of the media to hypnotise and suppress the masses. This Bertuccelli, Julieta Cardinali Print Source Dogwoof Pictures is a lavish, cinematic fairy tale which like all such stories exists on the bor- E [email protected] W www.dogwoofpictures.com der between the magical and the downright strange. AD Set in impoverished rural Brazil, this town is not the kind of place where a young girl can look to her grandfather for kindness and protection. Heitor, for instance, has his granddaughter, the pubescent Auxilidora, cleaning his house by day, while at night he parades her naked behind the filling station, where workers from the local sugar plantation pay to watch her while mas- turbating. In a land where misogyny and violence towards women is the norm she is lucky to be able to enjoy simple flirtations with the boy digging the cesspit beside Heitor’s house. But soon her beauty has caught the eye of violent thug Everado (played by City of God’s Matheus Nachtergaele) making her situation even more dangerous. With its tone similar to that of The Great Ecstasy of Robert Carmichael (Raindance ’05) Bog of Beasts is not exactly an easy watch, despite its most gruesome scene being given a welcome stylistic handling. For his BOG OF BEASTS [BAIXIO DAS BESTAS] second feature director Cláudio Assis casts an unblinking gaze over the WEDNESDAY 26 SEPTEMBER AT 8:45PM beauty of the landscape and its people while commenting on the byprod- Country Brazil Running Time 83 mins Format 35mm Director Cláudio Assis Producers ucts of poverty, lack of education and hopelessness.