Event building continues at the J-Pop Summit, and we have more news about films to be screened and technology ideas to be cultivated at “idea-thons.” So whether you want to see the latest from Studio Ghibli or participate in the Internet of Things and the Maker Movement, there is something for you at the J-Pop Summit.
Films to be screened at the 2015 Japan Film Festival include The Kingdom of Dteams and Madness, Harajaku Denier, Little Forest–Summer & Autumn, The Wind Rises, Uzumasa Limelight, When Marnie Was There, The Case of Hana and Alice, Have a Song On Your Lips, Our Family, Kabukicho Love Hotel, 100 Yen Love, Tokyo Short Shorts 2015: A New Generation of Short Films, The Birth of Sake, The Tale of Princess Kaguya, Initiation Love, and 0.5MM. This is a great collection of films for film fanatics, and any anime fanatics that haven’t had a chance to see Studio Ghibli’s last three films on the big screen.
Official press release:
2015 J-POP SUMMIT ANNOUNCES TECH-FOCUSED KEYNOTES, PANELS, PITCH EVENTS AND “IDEA-THONS” FOCUSING ON INTERNET OF THINGS (IoT) AND THE GLOBAL MAKER MOVEMENT
S.F.’s Annual Japanese Pop Festival Adds A First-Of-Its-Kind Showcase Of Attractions That Showcase How Japanese Innovation Is Driving Creativity And Linking Technology And Culture
San Francisco, CA, July 14, 2015 – The 2015 J-POP SUMMIT, the Japanese pop culture event held annually in San Francisco, augments its just-announced “Interactive Pavilion,” with a special series of technology-focused keynotes, panel discussions, “idea-thons,” and pitch events focusing on the burgeoning “Maker Movement” and the evolving Internet of Things (IoT) to be led by several notable technology luminaries from San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, and Japan.
The J-POP SUMMIT “Interactive Pavilion” is a first-of-its-kind showcase of cutting edge Japanese technology, consumer product design and innovation from a diverse range of large, as well as start-up companies, pushing the limits of Japanese technical innovation and development. The 2015 J-POP SUMMIT takes places Saturday and Sunday August 8th & 9th at the historic Fort Mason Center in San Francisco’s Marina district.
Throughout the weekend, J-POP SUMMIT attendees to Fort Mason can enjoy a colorful assortment of Japanese pop-influenced culture, fashion, pop art, live music, technology,and travel attractions that will be complemented by celebrity Guests of Honor, Panels, Music live concert, and a wide assortment of vendors and other programming. Tickets and V.I.P Passes are available now at: www.J-POP.com.
J-POP SUMMIT Interactive Pavilion Keynote & Panel Discussion
An Interactive Technologies Keynote will be delivered by one of the world’s leading digital creators, Kaoru Sugano, on Sunday, August 9th on the Fort Mason Main Stage. The Creative Director of Dentsu Inc. will speak on how pop culture and technology are driving the creation of digital content. Through case studies of past projects such as Sound of Honda – Ayrton Senna 1989, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes Lions Titanium and Grand Prize at the Japan Media Arts Festival. The film features legendary Formula One driver Ayrton Senna driving through a dazzling environment of digital light and sound. Mr. Sugano will show how he utilizes data that is undetectable to the naked eye to create revolutionary emotional productions with lasting emotional resonance.
The Interactive Technologies Panel Discussion will take place on Sunday, August 9th on the Fort Mason Main Stage and will focus on “Manufacturing That Links Tech & Culture — The Future of the “Maker Movement.” This panel will examine the transition from mass production to an age of individual manufacturing, and what that means for the tech world. With the emerging “Maker Culture” as a theme, the J-POP SUMMIT presents this session specially focused on the maker movement.
Panelists will include:
Allen Miner, Chairman and CEO, SunBridge Corporation, a professional group that focuses on Japanese-American cross border investments, joint venture businesses, and consulting with operations in Japan and the U.S.
Jim Newton, chairman & founder of TechShop (http://www.techshop.ws), a membership-based, do-it-yourself (DIY) workshop and fabrication studio providing access to a vibrant community of creative people and more than $1 million worth of high quality machines, tools and software.
Redg Snodgrass, CEO & co-founder of Wearable World (http://wearableworld.co), an organization dedicated to creating the social fabric for business around Wearables and the Internet of Things (IoT) ecosystem.
Panel Moderator:
Tak Miyata, General Partner of Scrum Ventures (http://scrumventures.co), an early stage venture capitalist firm based in Silicon Valley.
J-POP SUMMIT Interactive Pavilion Technology Forum
The 2015 J-POP SUMMIT “Interactive Pavilion” also presents a special Interactive Technology Forum, to take place on Saturday and Sunday, August 8th & 9th at the Firehouse, located adjacent to the Fort Mason Festival Pavilion. As part of this event, a pair of “Idea-thons” and a technology “pitch event” will focus on the theme of the “Internet of Things” (IoT).
J-POP SUMMIT IoT Idea-thon Vol. 1: “Build-Up Smart Home with MESH!”
With the spread of Nest and Smartthings, there has been a surge of interest in smart homes being built around Silicon Valley. This Idea-thon will offer attendees a glimpse into a new type of IoT x DIY construction using MESH and a cardboard building kit to build a prototype design of a smart house.”
About MESH
MESH (Make, Experience, Share) is an intuitive DIY invention tool for making ideas real. It consists of wireless functional tags and visual coding canvas on a tablet. Make your own “smart projects” in just few minutes! http://meshprj.com
J-POP SUMMIT IoT Idea-thon Vol. 2: “Hack the Data with Yamaha Motor and more!”
With the growing popularity of activity tracking using technology like FitBit, Apple Watch and other devices that collect environmental data from sensors attached to homes and cars, a fast emerging topic is how to utilize all the acquired information. How will the world change when this data can be used to highlight areas of daily human life that were previously overlooked? This will be an IoT x Data Idea-thon debating the truel nature of IoT.
J-POP SUMMIT Interactive Pavilion Technology Pitch Contest
The 2015 J-POP SUMMIT “Interactive Pavilion” presents a Japanese-American start-up pitch contest “POP Tech Pitch / Innovation Weekend SF x Japan X” co-sponsored bySunBridge Global Ventures, Inc. and the Women’s Startup Lab that will take place Saturday, August 8th at the Firehouse.
Startups and entrepreneurs using premier technologies from Japan and America will gather to present a variety of innovative business plans. Judges will include a panel of technology investors and business accelerators active in various markets. The contest winner and runner-up will be awarded a trip to Japan and pitch at the ’Innovation Weekend Grand Finale’ in Tokyo at the end of the year along with other winners from all over the world!!
About SunBridge Global Ventures, Inc.
SunBridge Global Ventures is an early-stage IT investor firm born as a spin-off of SunBridge with a vision of nurturing global ventures from Japan. SunBridge Global Ventures seamlessly supports world-class entrepreneurs venturing into the global marketplace. Additional information available at: http://en.sunbridge-gv.jp
About The Women’s Startup Lab
The Women’s Startup Lab is a tech startup accelerator that nurtures and supports female entrepreneurs. The founder, Ari Horie, is a Japanese native and was recognized as one of CNN’s “10 Visionary Women” in 2014 and “40 over 40 women to Watch” in 2015. Additional information available at: www.womenstartuplab.com.
Emphasizing 3 distinct categories, the “Interactive Pavilion,” is presented with support and cooperation from the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) San Francisco Office and presents a dynamic array of technology and interactive product exhibits from 21 companies highlighting a diverse range of large, as well as start-up companies, pushing the limits of Japanese technical innovation and development. “HOME,” focusing on individuals and families; “WORK,” focusing on the office lifestyle; “MOBILITY,” focusing on links between home-life and office-life.
Official press release:
2015 JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL OF SAN FRANCISCO EXPANDS PROGRAM SLATE AND ADDS 16 MORE ACCLAIMED MOVIES
3rd Annual Japanese Film Festival For S.F. Bay Area Presents Biggest Program To-Date With Additional New Action, Sci-Fi Anime, Documentary, Historical Drama, Crime Drama, Short Film, And Romantic Mystery Films Scheduled To Premiere At NEW PEOPLE Cinema
San Francisco, CA, July 7, 2015 – The 2015Japan Film Festival of San Francisco (JFFSF), the first and only fully-dedicated Japanese film celebration for the S.F. Bay Area, has just announced 16 additional films that will screen as part of this year’s program.
Presenting a diverse array of current and acclaimed Japanese cinema, this year’s slate features a number of notable Japanese films across a variety of genres such as action, anime sci-fi, documentary, short film, historical drama, crime drama, coming-of-age, and romantic mystery. The just-announced films augment an extensive roster of titles already announced to run during the weekend of the 2015 J-POP SUMMIT, taking place at Fort Mason on Saturday and Sunday August 8th and 9th. A complete listing of film summaries, trailers, screening times and advance tickets are available at: www.JFFSF.org.
The 2015Japan Film Festival of San Francisco opens in conjunction with the 2015 J-POP SUMMIT onFriday, August 7th at the Castro Theatre, and runs thru Sunday, August 16th at NEW PEOPLE Cinema located inside the NEW PEOPLE entertainment complex in Japantown at 1746 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94115 (www.newpeoplecinema.com). Tickets to individual screenings are $13.00 each, unless otherwise noted.
The latest announced films will run at the NEW PEOPLE Cinema beginning the week of Monday August 10th with screenings continuing until Sunday, August 16th.
THE KINGDOM OF DREAMS AND MADNESS
Monday, August 10th, 7:00pm
Granted near-unrestricted access to the notoriously isolated Studio Ghibli, director Mami Sunada follows the three men who are the lifeblood of Ghibli – the eminent director Hayao Miyazaki, producer Toshio Suzuki, and the elusive and influential “other director,” Isao Takahata – over the course of a year as the studio rushes to complete two films, Miyazaki’s The Wind Rises and Takahata’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya.
HARAJUKU DENIER
Monday, August 10th, 9:20pm
This film unfolds in Harajuku, the melting pot of Tokyo and the epicenter of many popular sub-cultures. The lives of many young and dream-filled eccentrics, teenyboppers, narcissists, tourists, and workers from various countries – cutting-edge filmmaker Shuta Tanaka humorously captures the amalgamation of cultures found in today’s Harajuku in an ensemble cast comedy.
LITTLE FOREST – SUMMER & AUTUMN
Tuesday, August 11th, 7:00pm
Here comes the farm-to-table film for foodies! Little Forest, Summer & Autumn is a beautiful adaptation of the popular comic by Daisuke Igarashi about a young woman’s self-discovery through farming, cooking, and eating to live through the changing seasons. Ichiko moves back from the city to the tiny village in Northeastern Japan where she grew up and starts living a sustainable lifestyle that she learned from her mother.
THE WIND RISES
Tuesday, August 11th, 9:15pm
Hayao Miyazaki pays tribute to engineer Jiro Horikoshi and author Tatsuo Hori in his creation of the fictional character Jiro – the center of the epic tale of love, perseverance, and the challenges of living and making choices in a turbulent world. Inspired by the famous Italian aeronautical designer Caproni – Jiro dreams of flying and designing beautiful airplanes and grows to become one of the world’s most accomplished airplane designers.
UZUMASA LIMELIGHT
Wednesday, August 12th, 7:00pm
A nostalgic portrait of kirare-yaku – an actor whose forte is being “cut to death” with a sword in samurai films, Uzumasa Limelight goes behind the scenes of the distinctive film genre. A professional extra named Kamiyama (played by real-life kirare-yaku Seizo Fukumoto) has devoted 50 years of his life as a kirare-yaku. When the studio decides to discontinue its productions, he finds himself at a loss. Will the art of dying by the sword live on?
WHEN MARNIE WAS THERE
Wednesday, August 12th, 9:00pm
The newest feature from Japan’s famed Studio Ghibli is a sweeping story of friendship, mystery and discovery that delivers breathtaking animation that only Ghibli can bring to life. When shy and artistic Anna moves to the seaside to live with her aunt and uncle, she stumbles upon an old mansion surrounded by marshes, and a mysterious young girl named Marnie. The two girls instantly form a unique connection that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality.
THE CASE OF HANA AND ALICE
Thursday, August 13th, 7:00pm
Directed by multi-faceted filmmaker Shunji Iwai, The Case of Hana & Alice follows Tetsuko Arisugawa (a.k.a. Alice), a transfer student at Ishinomori Middle School. She hears a strange rumor about a murder case in school. Meanwhile, Alice’s classmate Hana is said to know something about the case… Was Judas really murdered? Hana and Alice embark on an adventure to solve the mystery of the “smallest murder in the world.”
HAVE A SONG ON YOUR LIPS
Thursday, August 13th, 9:00pm
This touching school drama unfolds around Yuri Kashiwagi, a former piano prodigy, who returns to her hometown to work as a temporary music teacher and supervise the chorus members at the local middle school. While practicing for the regional contest, chorus members get an assignment from Yuri to write a letter to themselves in 15 years. Facing their personal issues, Yuri and her students begin to find their own voices.
OUR FAMILY
Friday, August 14th, 7:00pm
From Yuya Ishii, the award-winning director of The Great Passage, comes this honest adaptation of a semi-autobiographical novel about a family that pulls together to fight a terminal illness will resonate close to the heart. Reiko’s daydreams and forgetfulness were not concerning to her broken family until a trip to the doctor reveals that she has brain cancer. With Reiko given only one week left to live, how will this dysfunctional family keep from falling apart?
KABUKICHO LOVE HOTEL
Friday, August 14th, 9:20pm
Directed by Ryuichi Hiroki, one of Japan’s leading directors in the erotic fantasy genre known as pinku (pink films), Kabukicho Love Hotel is an erotically charged drama that traces the intersecting stories of a group of employees and visitors at a notorious “Love Hotel” (a type of short-stay hotel in Japan used primarily for sexual activities) in Tokyo’s red-light district- from a sexless young couple with broken dreams to a middle-aged couple on the run.
100 YEN LOVE
Saturday, August 15th, 12:00pm
32-year-old slacker Ichiko lives with her parents until a fight with her disapproving sister escalates, prompting her to move out and start working at a local 100-yen shop. One day she meets boxer Yuji, whom she has seen passing by on his way home and becomes attracted to him. After her life takes more unexpected and unwanted turns, she takes up boxing herself and attempts to change her ways.
TOKYO SHORT SHORTS 2015: A New Generation of 5 Short Films
Saturday, August 15th, 2:30pm
Co-presented by Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia. By popular demand, JFFSF teams up again with the Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia to present the exclusive SF premiere of five outstanding short films directed by several up-and-coming filmmakers from Japan! Enjoy a colorful mix of comedy and drama that reflect life in Japan with a delicate and witty touch.
THE BIRTH OF SAKÉ
Saturday, August 15th, 4:30pm & Sunday August 16th, 12:00pm – Director Erik Shirai will attend both screenings followed by Q&A sessions
The Birth of Saké is a cinematic documentary that reveals the story of passionate saké-makers and what it takes to make world-class saké at Yoshida Brewery, a 144-year-old family-owned small brewery in Northern Japan. Director Erik Shirai and producer Masako Tsumura were granted unprecedented full access to film at the brewery and capture the intense and relatively unknown process (even within in Japan), of traditional saké making.
THE TALE OF PRINCESS KAGUYA
Saturday, August 15th, 7:00pm
This Academy Award nominated film is legendary Studio Ghibli co-founder Isao Takahata’s (Grave of the Fireflies, Pom Poko) rendition of Japan’s most famous folktale, that has been decades in the making. Found inside a shining stalk of bamboo by an old bamboo cutter, a tiny baby girl grows rapidly into an exquisite young lady. The mysterious young princess enthralls all who encounter her – but ultimately she must confront her fate, the punishment for her crime.
INITIATION LOVE
Sunday August 16th, 2:30pm
Co-starring ex-AKB star Atsuko Maeda and Shota Matsuda, this romantic mystery is based on the bestselling novel by Kurumi Inui. In the late 1980s, a college student in Shizuoka Prefecture named Suzuki begins a romance with a dental hygienist named Mayu. However, when Suzuki moves to Tokyo for his job and the two are forced into a long-distance relationship, their relationship starts to fall apart as Suzuki begins spending time with another woman named Miyako.
0.5MM
Sunday August 16th, 5:00pm
Co-presented by the Legacy Film Festival on Aging. Director Momoko Ando takes on the big subjects of Japan’s historical, social and emotional psyche with her second feature epic. Based on the director’s own novel and starring her sister Sakura Ando in the leading role of Sawa, an oddly determined caregiver for the elderly, the film is a lengthy yet magnetic road movie that brilliantly captures Sawa’s unexpected encounters and unique relationships with the elderly.
NEW PEOPLE Cinema is a 143-seat cinema located in the underground floor of NEW PEOPLE in San Francisco. Equipped with a cutting-edge HD digital projection and THX®-certified sound system, NEW PEOPLE Cinema is home for local film festivals and entertaining events. www.newpeoplecinema.com
About JAPAN FILM FESTIVAL OF SAN FRANCISCO
Launched in 2013, Japan Film Festival of San Francisco is the first and only fully dedicated Japanese film event for the SF Bay Area. This year’s edition will feature a colorful mix of narratives, anime and documentary film premieres and exclusive screenings with special guest appearance at the NEW PEOPLE Cinema in SF’s Japantown from August 8th (Sat) through August 16th (Sun), 2015. More details and ticket information is available at www.jffsf.org.