Chanpon

In May, one of the most unique Japanese movie directors, Ms Sachi Hamano is coming to Toronto, Canada. Her movie, YURISAI (Lily Festival), is going to be shown at the 13th Annual Toronto Lesbian + Gay Film + Video Festival (May 15-25, 2003).

I met Sachi online, and she had, in part, arranged to come to Toronto, hoping to meet me. Unfortunately I'll be in Romania staying in the town where Dracula was born. (grin) Energetic & enthusiastic Sachi has created more than 300 Japanese movies since the 70s. Working in the male-dominated Japanese film industry wasn't easy for her. But she is now seen as one of the first women to break into film in Japan. She is known for creating hundreds of porn films from a female prospective, and recently made a fictionalized biographical film about the mysterious and forgotten author Midori Ozaki. I bought a copy of this movie online. It is quite wonderful.

Sachi's YURISAI engages many topics such as the aging society in Japan, a new look at the lifestyles of elderly women, women's sexuality and so on. This year, YURISAI is to be shown in Australia, England, Turkey, the USA, Italy and Canada.

I was really happy to hear from Sachi about her activities (katsuyaku) overseas.

YURISAI official site http://www.h3.dion.ne.jp/~tantan-s/

Annual Toronto Lesbian + Gay Film + Video Festival http://www.insideout.on.ca/