Honoka Ishibashi

Kentaro is an unsocial 35-year-old who lives with his parents and has never dated a woman. When Kentaro’s parents set up an arranged marriage interview with a girl named Nahoko and her parents, he falls in love for the first time in his life. However, the pair soon run into unexpected obstacles. Nahoko is vision impaired and can’t seem to break free of her doting parents. Meanwhile, Kentaro has no idea how to deal with the surge of new emotions he’s feeling.

A Japanese schoolgirl makes quirky gestures in an abandoned classroom, the jerky movements of the glitch-editing creating a unique choreography.

Imaoka Shinji, one of Japan's best-known adult film directors and The Drudgery Train scriptwriter, tells a couple's secret tale. One day, Koji (Kaneko Noboru)'s wife Kaori (Miyaji Mao) suddenly dies. He learns from the doctor that Kaori was three months pregnant, but Kenji knows it can't be him. Eventually, he discovers an unknown side of Kaori.

When theater director Naoko (Saori) holds auditions for the first production of her newly established all-female theater troupe, she is mesmerized by Haru (Arisa Nakamura), who barges into the old garage where they rehearse. Naoko chooses Haru to be the lead as she leverages her power as director to pursue the romantic connection that fuels her voracious creativity. However, as opening night approaches, jealous entanglements threaten the artistic and ideological aims of the project, as well as the relationship with Haru pulling Naoko from her womanizing ways. Based on her own semi-autobiographical novel Kokan, cult theater director and actress Junko Emoto makes her directorial debut in this playful drama relishing the toil and passion of a struggling creative life on and off stage. -JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film

Sayonara, Band Apart