This was at the Pusan International Film Festival this year, though I didn’t see it because it was a quick sellout. Now the film is set to get a release in Japan, and right-wing groups aren’t happy about it.
“The threats began about two months ago, when we started press screenings of the movie in Japan,” Li (Li Ying, the Chinese-born director) told The Hollywood Reporter in Berlin, where “Yasukuni” screened at the Berlin International Film Festival’s Forum sidebar. “The threats have gotten worse and worse as we have gotten closer to the Japanese theatrical release of the film in April.”
Here’s another piece about the film from last October.
(Via Japundit)
3 responses so far ↓
1 JP // Feb 24, 2008 at 3:27 pm
Saw this at the Sundance Festival this year. I didn’t know much about it…it wasn’t even the movie I wanted to see…but it was really interesting. Well filmed and …I hesitate to say…educational.
2 Simon Currie // Feb 25, 2008 at 12:54 pm
At least it’s getting a theatrical release in Japan, that’s better than some other countries where films that touch nerves high up get banned outright. Japan’s always sitting in a precarious position between Western values of free speech and Eastern tendencies to save face and not rock the boat (when compared to other non-Western nations).
3 Korea Beat // Feb 26, 2008 at 5:32 pm
I went to the shrine in January. There’s nothing offensive until you get into the museum, which unfortunately was closed when I was there.
The attitude of the Yasukuni Museum is in stark contrast to that of the museum in Hiroshima which is open about the crimes of Imperial Japan and talks about the importance of learning from other countries.
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