What the Snow Brings

7.30pm, 22 September (UK premiere)

Director: Negishi Kichitaro

This film was the winner of four key awards (including the Grand Prix) at last year��s Tokyo Film Festival. Set in mid-winter Obihiro in Hokkaido, failed entrepreneur Yazaki Manabu (Iseya Yusuke) has run away from his debts and responsibilities in Tokyo and has sought refuge in the racing stables of his semi-estranged brother Takeo (Sato Koichi). During the following months, both brothers learn a lot about themselves and each other.

Route 225
2.00pm, 23 September (UK premiere)

Director: Nakamura Yoshihiro

Two kids, fourteen-year-old Eriko and her thirteen-year-old brother Daigo, suddenly find themselves trapped in a parallel universe. Most things are the same as in their own world, but their parents are missing from home and are only contactable when using one particular phonecard. Based on a novel by the Akutagawa Prize-winning Fujino Chiya, and directed by the writer of Nakata Hideo��s Dark Water.

The Goblin Wars

5.00pm, 23 September

Director: Miike Takashi

Inspired by the spooks and ghouls of Japanese folklore, this imaginative orgy of yōkai monsters, magic and special effects is one of Miike��s few family-friendly movies. At a local festival, twelve-year-old Tadashi is picked to assume the role of the Kirin Rider, the mythical protector of the village and sets off to claim a magic sword guarded by the Great Goblin. Tadashi must journey to the home of theyōkai and help them overthrow the dark overlord who preys on the ghosts and goblins. If you enjoyed Spirited Away, you may well love this bizarre, live-action fantasy. Though children beware - this is not for the faint-hearted!

Arigato

7.30 pm, 23 September (UK premiere)

Director: Manda Kunitoshi

Not yet released even in Japan, this is heavily fictionalized from the true story of a volunteer fireman and his family during and after the Kobe earthquake; losing everything except his golf clubs in the devastation of the city, Furuichi Tadao (played by ex-boxer Akai Hidekazu) eventually manages to hold his family together by becoming a pro-golfer. The earthquake scenes at the start are spectacularly well realised.

Into the Picture Scroll: The Tale of Yamanaka Tokiwa
2.00pm, 24 September (UK premiere)

Director: Haneda Sumiko

This remarkable documentary explores and ��dramatises�� the famous 12-part narrative scroll Yamanaka Tokiwa painted by Iwasa Matabei in the early 17th century. It tells the story (familiar from bunraku) of Ushiwakamaru��s revenge on the bandits who killed his mother Tokiwa Gozen. The film suggests a link between the story and the painter��s own life: Matabei��s mother Tashi was killed on Oda Nobunaga��s orders. It is accompanied by a newly composed jōruri performed by Toyotake Rosetayu, to shamisen music by Tsuruzawa Seiji.

First Love
5.00pm, 24 September (London premiere)

Director: Hanawa Yukinari

Starring the currently hot Miyazaki Aoi, this drama purports to reveal the truth about the famous robbery of 300 million yen on the streets of Tokyo on 10 December 1968. It is told from the perspective of a disturbed and withdrawn young woman who 'finds herself' in the company of a group of dissident young people in a Shinjuku jazz bar - and is led by one of the boys to become a key player in the 'political' robbery. Co-stars Koide Keisuke as Ryō, the charismatic leader of the jazz band.

Sea Without Exit
7.30pm, 24 September (UK premiere)

Director: Sasabe Kiyoshi

From the writers of The Twilight Samurai and The Eel, this dramatic war epic stars the popular kabuki actor Ichikawa Ebizō XI and examines the human tragedy of the Pacific War and a Japanese obsession: high school baseball. Star pitcher, Namiki Kōji, made a name for himself in the National High School Championships but having injured himself, and now at university, he is striving to find a pitch to replace his trademark fastball. As the dark shadow of war envelopes the country he and his friends feel compelled to volunteer for the navy. Once signed up, they are trained for death and to man Japan��s secret weapon - the suicide torpedo, or kaiten, ��return to heaven��.

(NB: Sea Without Exit is not a part of Tony Rayns�� selection.)

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