Winners of the 60th Blue Ribbon Awards (2017)

Best Japanese Movie: Aa, Kouya

Best Foreign Movie: Hidden Figures

Best Director: Shiraishi Kazuya (Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi)

Best Leading Actor: Abe Sadao (Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi)

Best Leading Actress: Aragaki Yui (Mix)

Best Supporting Actor: Yusuke Santa Maria (Aa, Kouya / Dorobo Yakusha)

Best Supporting Actress: Saito Yuki (Sandome no Satsujin)

Best Newcomer: Ishibashi Shizuka (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da)

Winners of the 91st Kinema Junpo Best Ten & Individual Awards (2017)

Top 10 Japanese movies
1) Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da
2) HANAGATAMI
3) Aa, Kouya Parts 1 & 2
4) Osanako warera ni umare
5) Sanposuru Shinryakusha
6) Bangkok Nites
7) Kanojo no jinsei wa machigai janai
8) Sandome no Satsujin
9) Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi
10) Karera ga honki de amu toki wa

Top 10 foreign movies
1) I, Daniel Blake
2) Paterson
3) Manchester By The Sea
4) Dunkirk
5) The Woman Who Left
6) Silence
7) The Other Side of Hope
8) Hidden Figures
9) Moonlight
10) La La Land

Best Leading Actor: Suda Masaki (Aa, Kouya / Hibana / Teiichi no Kuni / Kiseki - Ano hi no sobito)

Best Leading Actress: Aoi Yu (Kanojo ga sono na wo shiranai toritachi)

Best Supporting Actor: Yang Ik-Joon (Aa, Kouya)

Best Supporting Actress: Tanaka Rena (Osanako warera ni umare)

Best Male Newcomer: Yamada Ryosuke (Namiya Zakkaten no Kiseki / Hagane no Renkin Jutsushi)

Best Female Newcomer: Ishibashi Shizuka (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da / PARKS / Misshi to bannin)

Best Director: Obayashi Nobuhiko (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da)

Best Scriptwriter: Ishii Yuuya (Yozora wa itsudemo saikou mitsudo no aoiro da)

Best Foreign Director: Ken Loach (I, Daniel Blake)

Source: Kinema Junpo

"Karera ga honki de amu toki" to be shown in Singapore during GV's Love & Pride Film Festival

For those who are in Singapore, you may wish to take note of the dates 30 Sep i.e. next Saturday and 6 Oct i.e. the Thursday in the week after next. As part of Golden Village's Love & Pride Film Festival which will be held for the 9th time this year, the film "Karera ga honki de amu toki" starring Ikuta Toma and Kiritani Kenta will be shown on these dates. Detailed timing and location of the two screenings are here.

If you are a member of GV's movie club, you can get the tickets at SGD 10 each. Otherwise, the public price is SGD 13.

Do support the movie if you can make it especially if you are a fan of the actors who play lovers in this movie. For more details on the film, you can click on the title tag on the bottom of this post for my past posts on this movie.

Personally, I'm keen to watch this movie but the days, location and timing aren't that suitable for me. Will have to see if I can do something about it.

First-day-screening event of new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa"

The first-day-screening event of new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" was held at Shinjuku Picadilly on 25 February which was attended by the director Ogigami Naoko and cast members Ikuta Toma, Kiritani Kenta and Kakihara Rinka. Ikuta plays the role of 32-year-old Rinko who has been troubled since young due to gender dysphoria. Despite being born as a boy, Rinko has always felt that he should be a girl and later underwent a sex change surgery to become a woman. Nonetheless, despite Rinko's physical appearance, she is still listed as a man on her family register and works as a carer at an old folks' home. Rinko lives with her lover Makio played by Kiritani and his niece Tomo (Kakihara) who was abandoned by her mother and she showers Tomo with love as if she is her real mother. The movie was featured in the Panorama and Generation categories of the 67th Berlin International Film Festival recently and had won the Teddy Award for LGBT-themed movies.

Ikuta recounted that when they were at the film festival, they got positive responses from people of various races about the film. He also revealed that there were strangers he met on the streets there who told him that they had watched the movie so he felt really happy about it. In particular, he was extremely pleased that their movie was voted as the winner for the award unanimously by the judges so he hopes that more people will see the potential of Japanese movies and that they are very interesting.  Although it was only a few weeks of filming for them, they had put in their all and was honoured about their film being well-received overseas. During the event, Ikuta held the trophy and walked on stage like a ring girl to show it off to the audience who were tickled by his action.

Ogigami commented that in the US and Europe, there has been a movement to call for real transgender actors to play transgender roles. As such, when she was trying to pick someone to play the lead actor, there were views like this as well. However, she was glad that Ikuta performed beyond their expectations.

As for Kiritani, Berlin was his first appearance at an international film festival so he was really happy when the audience gave a standing ovation for the movie after it ended. Kakihara recounted that she got a nice experience walking on the red carpet in Berlin for the first time in her life.

Source: Eiga.com

"Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" wins Teddy Award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival

The movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" directed by Ogigami Naoko and starring Ikuta Toma won the Teddy Award at the 67th Berlin International Film Festival as announced on 17 February. During the festival, the award which was first established in 1987, is presented to the best film among those with a LGBT theme. In this year's edition, a total of 37 films were shortlisted in this category and this is the first time that a Japanese film has won this award.

The movie was conceptualised by Ogigami after she returned to Japan from the United States in 2013 where she went for further studies. While there, she felt that Japan was still far behind in terms of its acceptance of the sexual minority and got the idea for the movie after reading an article about a mother who knitted fake breasts for her transgender son. The movie also features Kiritani Kenta, Mimura, Koike Eiko, Kadowaki Mugi, Lily and Tanaka Misako in its cast.

Ogigami commented that she hopes that the movie will be the trigger for people to think about the various forms a family can take and be more accepting of the differences among people. In addition, she also hopes that people will develop a better understanding of the LGBT community and change their perception of what is the norm.

Source: Oricon

"Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" participates in the 67th Berlin International Film Festival

The new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" was featured in the 67th Berlin International Film Festival held during 9th to 19th February which was attended by the director Ogigami Naoko and cast members Ikuta Toma, Kiritani Kenta and Kakihara Rinka. After the screening of the movie on 15 February, the 800-strong audience gave a 8-minute-long standing ovation to the director and cast.

Ikuta plays the role of 32-year-old Rinko who has been troubled since young due to gender dysphoria. Despite being born as a boy, Rinko has always felt that he should be a girl and later underwent a sex change surgery to become a woman. Nonetheless, despite Rinko's physical appearance, she is still listed as a man on her family register and works as a carer at an old folks' home. Rinko lives with her lover Makio played by Kiritani Kenta and his niece Tomo (Kakihara Rinka) who was abandoned by her mother and she showers Tomo with love as if she is her real mother.

Before the screening, Ikuta greeted the audience in English and expressed his joy at being able to take part in the film festival for the first time. When it came to Kiritani's turn, he threw flying kisses to the audience first before speaking to the audience in Japanese.

Source: Oricon

Completion screening event of new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa"

The completion screening event of new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" was held at Marunouchi Picadilly on 18 January which was attended by the director Ogigami Naoko and cast members Ikuta Toma, Kiritani Kenta, Kakihara Rinka, Mimura, Kadowaki Mugi and Tanaka Misako. The movie which will be shown in cinemas from 25 February, describes the 60-day period of how a transgender woman Rinko (Ikuta) and her lover Makio (Kiritani) live together with the latter's niece Tomo (Kakihara) who has never experienced what it means to be loved after she is abandoned by Makio's sister.

When asked to comment on the role of Rinko, Kiritani said that he could see that Ikuta went through a lot to make his acting convincing because he not only had to portray a transgender woman's feelings but also pay attention to the mannerisms and physical appearance. However, Ikuta's efforts paid off as Kiritani praised him for looking more beautiful as Rinko as the days went by. In response to the praises from his co-stars, Ikuta remarked that he will probably never get another role to play a woman again so that was why he decided to take up the offer. However, it was a fulfilling experience to learn how to play a woman and he felt a natural surge of maternal instinct during the filming as he immersed himself fully into the role. Although Ikuta thought that he might get a father's role now that he is in his 30s, he was surprised to be getting a "mother's role" first so he was very thankful to his co-star Kakihara for helping him feel like a real mother.

On the other hand, Kiritani revealed that it was important for the movie to show the beautiful side of Rinko which everyone in the story had a part to play in. In the past, he usually tried to make himself stand out as much as possible when acting so it was a totally different feeling this time to be making someone stand out more than him.

It was also announced that the movie will be competing in the 67th Berlin International Film Festival's Panorama Category and be screened as a special film in the Generation Category. The director, Ikuta, Kiritani and Kakihara will be representing the cast and crew to go to Berlin for the screening.

At the end of the event, Ikuta mentioned actress Lily who was part of the cast but passed away in November last year as a source of courage for him when he lacked confidence in playing Rinko. However, Lily kept assuring him that he was doing fine. As such, Ikuta called upon the audience to give a round of applause to Lily who couldn't be with them to witness this.

Sources: Eiga.com / Modelpress

Further cast announcements for new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa"

The announcement for the cast lineup of new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" was made on 20 June. The film which will be shown from 25 February 2017, features Ikuta Toma as Rinko, a transgender who lives together with his lover Makio (Kiritani Kenta) to take care of the latter's niece Tomo who was abandoned by her mother.

Mimura will play Hiromi, Makio's elder sister and Tomo's mother who loves her daughter but finds it difficult to cope with being a single mother so decides to abandon her. Tanaka Misako will play Fumiko who is Rinko's mother while Koike Eiko will play Naomi who is the mother of Tomo's classmate Kai and tries to keep her son away from Tomo who has complicated family circumstances. As for Lily, she will play Sayuri who is the mother of Makio and Hiromi. Last but not least, Kadowaki Mugi will play Yuka who is Rinko's colleague but has a masculine character unlike Rinko and is about to get married.

Source: Modelpress

Ikuta Toma to star in new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" as a transgender

Ikuta Toma will be starring in the new movie "Karera ga honki de amu toki wa" (When they are serious about knitting) which is directed by Ogigami Naoko and due to be shown in cinemas from 25 February next year where he will play a transgender for the first time. The movie is an original script by Ogigami who has been known for her previous works such as "Kamome Shokudo" and "Megane".

Ikuta plays the role of 32-year-old Rinko who has been troubled since young due to gender dysphoria. Despite being born as a boy, Rinko has always felt that he should be a girl and later underwent a sex change surgery to become a woman. Nonetheless, despite Rinko's physical appearance, she is still listed as a man on her family register and works as a carer at an old folks' home. Rinko lives with her lover Makio played by Kiritani Kenta and his niece Tomo (Kakihara Rinka) who was abandoned by her mother and she showers Tomo with love as if she is her real mother. Other than the flashback scenes, Ikuta will appear as a woman during most of the movie and he will have to do scenes where he's knitting or cooking.

Despite having put on women's clothing before for stage plays such as "Mishima Double" in the past, this is Ikuta's first attempt at becoming a "complete" woman. He commented as he began filming for the movie, he has come to realise how difficult it is to play Rinko and that it is rare for a role like this to come his way so he will strive to make it a success. The director Ogigami said that Ikuta was chosen partly because of his appearance which still looks pretty and natural even when dressed as a woman and thinks that he will be able to bring his character to life.

On the other hand, Kiritani who has been playing many manly characters in the past, will change to become a gentle and mild-mannered man this time. He commented that both Ikuta and him considers this movie to be a turning point in their careers and will strive to do well.

Filming is currently in progress.

Sources: Nikkansports / Sanspo / Yomiuri Hochi / Sponichi