Short Shorts Film Festival & Asia (Ssff & Asia) 2024, an Academy Awards® accredited and one of the largest international short film festivals in Asia and originating in Japan, is pleased to announce the official jury members for the festival. The best short films in each category and section that will be nominated for the Academy Awards® in the following year.
In addition to the festival directors and programmers who have been involved in the selection process at international film festivals, the jury will judge this year's short films from a variety of perspectives, including filmmakers, actors, and cultural figures.
■Live Action Competition/International Category Judges
33 nominated films among 2104 submissions form 94 countries and regions
■Non-Fiction Competition Judges:
15 nominated films among 313 submissions form 55 countries and regions
Hiromi Nagasaku(Actor)/Ema Ryan Yamazaki(Documentary Film Director)/Tim Redford(Co-Director of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival)
■Live Action Competition/Asia International Category Judges:
25 nominated films...
In addition to the festival directors and programmers who have been involved in the selection process at international film festivals, the jury will judge this year's short films from a variety of perspectives, including filmmakers, actors, and cultural figures.
■Live Action Competition/International Category Judges
33 nominated films among 2104 submissions form 94 countries and regions
■Non-Fiction Competition Judges:
15 nominated films among 313 submissions form 55 countries and regions
Hiromi Nagasaku(Actor)/Ema Ryan Yamazaki(Documentary Film Director)/Tim Redford(Co-Director of the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival)
■Live Action Competition/Asia International Category Judges:
25 nominated films...
- 5/14/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
The program of the 24th Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection is complete! From May 28 to June 2, the festival offers the opportunity to delve into Japan's film and cultural scene. The festival presents around 100 short and feature-length films at eight venues, including numerous premieres. Over 60 filmmakers and artists will travel from Japan to Frankfurt am Main, Germany, to present their works to the audience. At the freely accessible grounds of the festival centers Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm and Produktionshaus Naxos, visitors can enjoy the festival atmosphere with a large Japanese market featuring numerous food and craft stands. Detailed information and tickets for all films and events are available at NipponConnection.com.
This year's film selection promises exciting discoveries. Fans of genre films can enjoy Shinji Araki's acclaimed time-loop thriller Penalty Loop, Kaz I Kiriya's apocalyptic drama From The End Of The World, and Shimako Sato's action-packed fantasy adventure The Yin Yang Master Zero.
This year's film selection promises exciting discoveries. Fans of genre films can enjoy Shinji Araki's acclaimed time-loop thriller Penalty Loop, Kaz I Kiriya's apocalyptic drama From The End Of The World, and Shimako Sato's action-packed fantasy adventure The Yin Yang Master Zero.
- 5/13/2024
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Ema Ryan Yamazaki has spent the past few years working on two very different films.
The Making Of A Japanese, which screened at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festiva (Tidf) this month, pictures life at an idyllic Japanese primary school; Black Box Diaries, which she edited and coproduced, is directed by Shiori Itō, and tells the harrowing story of Itō’s own sexual assault.
The film follows her attempt to bring to justice her high-profile rapist, the journalist and media personality Noriyuki Yamaguchi.
The Making Of A Japanese aims to show Japanese society at its best. The second reveals the misogyny, corruption...
The Making Of A Japanese, which screened at Thessaloniki International Documentary Festiva (Tidf) this month, pictures life at an idyllic Japanese primary school; Black Box Diaries, which she edited and coproduced, is directed by Shiori Itō, and tells the harrowing story of Itō’s own sexual assault.
The film follows her attempt to bring to justice her high-profile rapist, the journalist and media personality Noriyuki Yamaguchi.
The Making Of A Japanese aims to show Japanese society at its best. The second reveals the misogyny, corruption...
- 3/18/2024
- ScreenDaily
Considering that Japan is one of the most well-organized countries in the world, with a system that works on more levels than the overwhelming majority of other nations, it is quite interesting to see how this result is achieved, and how the specific Japanese identity plays a crucial role in it. Ema Ryan Yamazaki, a British Japanese filmmaker attempts to highlight the aforementioned by closely following the 1st and 6th graders for one year at a public elementary school in Tokyo, as well as their teachers, in the midst of the pandemic.
The Making of a Japanese is screening at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
The documentary starts in April, at the beginning of the school year, upon the entrance ceremony for the incoming 1st graders. Obviously out of their depth, they have to be taught essentially everything, which, in a Japanese school amounts to learning how to line-up, care for their personal safety,...
The Making of a Japanese is screening at Thessaloniki Documentary Festival
The documentary starts in April, at the beginning of the school year, upon the entrance ceremony for the incoming 1st graders. Obviously out of their depth, they have to be taught essentially everything, which, in a Japanese school amounts to learning how to line-up, care for their personal safety,...
- 3/14/2024
- by Panos Kotzathanasis
- AsianMoviePulse
In the middle of Black Box Diaries, journalist Shiori Ito’s debut documentary, Ito grins at the camera as she strolls through downtown Tokyo on the day of her book launch. It’s October 18, 2017. The New York Times broke the Harvey Weinstein news two weeks ago. Alyssa Milano popularized the hashtag #MeToo two days ago. Ito, fresh-faced and 28, happily recounts these events to the camera. The world may finally be ready to listen to her.
It’s hard to imagine a time before the #MeToo genie was let out of its bottle, but that’s what Ito asks of viewers as they journey back with her to 2015, when she says she was raped by a senior journalist with connections to then-president Shinzo Abe. Through an incredible amount of personal documentation––primarily videos, audio recordings, and journal entries––she grants viewers unprecedented access into her experience as a woman seeking justice for sex crimes in Japan.
It’s hard to imagine a time before the #MeToo genie was let out of its bottle, but that’s what Ito asks of viewers as they journey back with her to 2015, when she says she was raped by a senior journalist with connections to then-president Shinzo Abe. Through an incredible amount of personal documentation––primarily videos, audio recordings, and journal entries––she grants viewers unprecedented access into her experience as a woman seeking justice for sex crimes in Japan.
- 1/29/2024
- by Lena Wilson
- The Film Stage
Amid the surfeit of films about women’s rights and men’s abuses of power that have emerged in the wake of the #MeToo reckoning, we haven’t yet seen one quite like “Black Box Diaries.” A tightly wound, heart-on-sleeve procedural documentary, Shiori Ito’s directorial debut identifies a world of systemic iniquities through the prism of a single, long labored-over case of sexual assault — crucially, the director’s own. That raw first-person perspective, untempered by the interests of another filmmaker and given narrative rigor by Ito’s substantial journalistic skills, makes “Black Box Diaries” not just a damning analysis of patriarchal power structures in contemporary Japan, but a vivid evocation of the day-to-day psychological swings and breaks that come with living as a survivor. The title’s allusion to diary-keeping is on point: Ito’s vulnerabilities can be discomfiting to witness, even with her consent.
A standout of the...
A standout of the...
- 1/26/2024
- by Guy Lodge
- Variety Film + TV
Cinematography retrospectives are the way to go—more than a thorough display of talent, it exposes the vast expanse a Dp will travel, like an education in form and business all the same. Accordingly I’m happy to see the Criterion Channel give a 25-film tribute to James Wong Howe, whose career spanned silent cinema to the ’70s, populated with work by Howard Hawks, Michael Curtz, Samuel Fuller, Alexander Mackendrick, Sydney Pollack, John Frankenheimer, and Raoul Walsh.
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
Further retrospectives are granted to Romy Schneider (recent repertory sensation La piscine among them), Carlos Saura (finally a chance to see Peppermint frappe!), the British New Wave, and groundbreaking distributor Cinema 5, who brought to U.S. shores everything from The Man Who Fell to Earth and Putney Swope to Pumping Iron and Scenes from a Marriage.
September also yields streaming premieres for the recently restored Bronco Bullfrog, Ang Lee’s Pushing Hands,...
- 8/22/2022
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Next month’s Criterion Channel selection is here, and as 2021 winds down further cements their status as our single greatest streaming service. Off the top I took note of their eight-film Jia Zhangke retro as well as the streaming premieres of Center Stage and Malni. And, yes, Margaret has been on HBO Max for a while, but we can hope Criterion Channel’s addition—as part of the 63(!)-film “New York Stories”—opens doors to a more deserving home-video treatment.
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
Aki Kaurismäki’s Finland Trilogy, Bruno Dumont’s Joan of Arc duology, and Criterion’s editions of Irma Vep and Flowers of Shanghai also mark major inclusions—just a few years ago the thought of Hou’s masterpiece streaming in HD was absurd.
I could implore you not to sleep on The Hottest August and Point Blank and Variety and In the Cut or, look, so many Ernst Lubitsch movies,...
- 8/25/2021
- by Leonard Pearce
- The Film Stage
Japan Society is pleased to present a slate of online film offerings on view through its virtual cinema this October and November. Titles include three new releases by documentary filmmakers from the U.S. and Japan—Linda Hoaglund’s “Edo Avant Garde”, Tokachi Tsuchiya’s “An Ant Strikes Back”, and Ema Ryan Yamazaki’s “Koshien: Japan’s Field of Dreams”—and two partial retrospective film series—”Tomoyasu Murata: Stop Motion Master” and “Three by Ryusuke Hamaguchi”. Full details can be found below and at film.japansociety.org; additional programs will be announced as they are confirmed.
“An Ant Strikes Back“
*Starts October 23
Dir. Tokachi Tsuchiya, 2019, 98 min. After years of toiling for a large moving company under dehumanizing and illegal labor conditions—including enforced unpaid overtime, unregulated salary reductions, and restricted socializing with other employees—Yu Nishimura was on the brink of literally working himself to death, a phenomenon in Japan...
“An Ant Strikes Back“
*Starts October 23
Dir. Tokachi Tsuchiya, 2019, 98 min. After years of toiling for a large moving company under dehumanizing and illegal labor conditions—including enforced unpaid overtime, unregulated salary reductions, and restricted socializing with other employees—Yu Nishimura was on the brink of literally working himself to death, a phenomenon in Japan...
- 11/1/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
While there are fewer Japanese titles than usual at this year’s streamlined Tokyo International Film Festival, it’s a varied selection, with numerous international co-productions and films tackling contemporary issues, as well as retrospectives, anime and a few classics. Here are five, new and old, that are worth catching.
“Along the Sea”
After highlighting the plight of Burmese refugees in debut feature “Passage of Life,” director Fujimoto Akio turns his attention to Japan’s controversial technical trainee program for foreign workers. The film follows three young Vietnamese women who migrate to the country, only to find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
“Underdog”
Director Take Masaharu and screenwriter Adachi Shin scored their most memorable collaboration with 2014 boxing drama “100 Yen Love.” They return to the ring for TIFF’s opening film, a bruising drama with a marathon running time of nearly five hours. A bulked-up Moriyama Mirai...
“Along the Sea”
After highlighting the plight of Burmese refugees in debut feature “Passage of Life,” director Fujimoto Akio turns his attention to Japan’s controversial technical trainee program for foreign workers. The film follows three young Vietnamese women who migrate to the country, only to find themselves on the wrong side of the law.
“Underdog”
Director Take Masaharu and screenwriter Adachi Shin scored their most memorable collaboration with 2014 boxing drama “100 Yen Love.” They return to the ring for TIFF’s opening film, a bruising drama with a marathon running time of nearly five hours. A bulked-up Moriyama Mirai...
- 10/31/2020
- by James Hadfield
- Variety Film + TV
From April 10 to April 25 2020 Japan Society will present its new series which follows the topic of sports within the landscape of Japanese cinema.
“Like cinema, sports have been integral to the development of modern Japan since the late 19th century when the country opened its borders to the West. Intersecting these two major cultural forces is the multifaceted and ubiquitous sports film, a fluid genre that offers fascinating insight into issues related to Japanese national identity, gender roles and the clash between tradition and modernity. Organized in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, this series celebrates the Japanese sports film in its myriad iterations—covering a wide range of athletic disciplines and filmmaking styles, from wartime Japan to the present—including classics, documentaries, anime and commercial crowd-pleasers.”
Screenings:
“Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t” by Masayuki Suo
“Sanshiro Sugata” by Akira Kurosawa
“I Will Buy You” by Masaki Kobayashi
“The Sword...
“Like cinema, sports have been integral to the development of modern Japan since the late 19th century when the country opened its borders to the West. Intersecting these two major cultural forces is the multifaceted and ubiquitous sports film, a fluid genre that offers fascinating insight into issues related to Japanese national identity, gender roles and the clash between tradition and modernity. Organized in anticipation of the Tokyo 2020 Summer Games, this series celebrates the Japanese sports film in its myriad iterations—covering a wide range of athletic disciplines and filmmaking styles, from wartime Japan to the present—including classics, documentaries, anime and commercial crowd-pleasers.”
Screenings:
“Sumo Do, Sumo Don’t” by Masayuki Suo
“Sanshiro Sugata” by Akira Kurosawa
“I Will Buy You” by Masaki Kobayashi
“The Sword...
- 2/14/2020
- by Rouven Linnarz
- AsianMoviePulse
Japan’s film industry is still highly insular, making films mostly by Japanese for Japanese audiences. But over the past two decades Japan-resident, non-natives have been making inroads.
They include Australian scriptwriter Max Mannix with the Kiyoshi Kurosawa drama “Tokyo Sonata,” Welsh director John Williams and Canadian producer Jason Gray with the futuristic anthology “Ten Years Japan”.
Simultaneously, more Japanese talent is going abroad to study and work. Examples include “Pacific Rim” star Rinko Kikuchi, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa who shot his upcoming “To the Ends of the Earth”) in Uzbekistan.
Two people emblematic of these trends, are husband and wife Eric Nyari and Ema Ryan Yamazaki. Son of Balazs Nyari, the president of New York post-production house Cineric, Nyari came to Japan at age 21 and in 2009 at age 28, produced his first film, the Atsushi Ogata comedy “Cast Me If You Can.” Since then Nyari has amassed more than 20 producing credits,...
They include Australian scriptwriter Max Mannix with the Kiyoshi Kurosawa drama “Tokyo Sonata,” Welsh director John Williams and Canadian producer Jason Gray with the futuristic anthology “Ten Years Japan”.
Simultaneously, more Japanese talent is going abroad to study and work. Examples include “Pacific Rim” star Rinko Kikuchi, and Kiyoshi Kurosawa who shot his upcoming “To the Ends of the Earth”) in Uzbekistan.
Two people emblematic of these trends, are husband and wife Eric Nyari and Ema Ryan Yamazaki. Son of Balazs Nyari, the president of New York post-production house Cineric, Nyari came to Japan at age 21 and in 2009 at age 28, produced his first film, the Atsushi Ogata comedy “Cast Me If You Can.” Since then Nyari has amassed more than 20 producing credits,...
- 11/22/2018
- by Mark Schilling
- Variety Film + TV
This year’s Los Angeles Film Festival, better known as Laff if you’re fun, has unveiled its full slate of 2017 offerings, including new offerings from Vincent Grashaw, Leena Pendharkar, Hong Sangsoo, Lea Thompson and many more. The slate includes 48 feature films, 51 short films, 15 high school short films and 10 short episodic works representing 32 countries. The festival’s five competitions feature 37 World Premieres, 2 International Premieres and 9 North American Premieres. Across the competition categories, 42% of the films are directed by women and 40% are directed by people of color.
“Our competitions reflect who Film Independent is as an organization,” said La Film Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. “Within each section you’ll find discovery, diversity, and promising talent both in front of and behind the camera.” Programming Director Roya Rastegar added, “The films curated for the 2017 competition reflect the changing political climate’s impact on emerging independent filmmakers, who are compelled to tell stories about the power of conviction,...
“Our competitions reflect who Film Independent is as an organization,” said La Film Festival Director Jennifer Cochis. “Within each section you’ll find discovery, diversity, and promising talent both in front of and behind the camera.” Programming Director Roya Rastegar added, “The films curated for the 2017 competition reflect the changing political climate’s impact on emerging independent filmmakers, who are compelled to tell stories about the power of conviction,...
- 5/9/2017
- by Kate Erbland
- Indiewire
The days are getting longer and the nights are getting warmer, which means that we're edging ever closer to this year's La Film Festival. Taking place June 14th–22nd, the La Film Festival's 2017 competition lineup has been unveiled, and of particular interest for genre fans is the Nightfall section, which includes Colin Minihan's It Stains the Sands Red, Julius Ramsay's Midnighters, and Amanda Evans' Serpent.
Press Release: Los Angeles (May 9, 2017)— Today the La Film Festival, produced by Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, unveiled the official U.S. Fiction, Documentary, World Fiction, La Muse and Nightfall sections. The 2017 La Film Festival will screen a diverse slate of feature films, shorts and episodic series, along with programs such as Coffee Talks and Future Filmmakers Showcase. The La Film Festival takes place June 14 – June 22, 2017 headquartered at ArcLight Cinemas Culver City, with additional screenings at ArcLight Hollywood,...
Press Release: Los Angeles (May 9, 2017)— Today the La Film Festival, produced by Film Independent, the nonprofit arts organization that also produces the Film Independent Spirit Awards, unveiled the official U.S. Fiction, Documentary, World Fiction, La Muse and Nightfall sections. The 2017 La Film Festival will screen a diverse slate of feature films, shorts and episodic series, along with programs such as Coffee Talks and Future Filmmakers Showcase. The La Film Festival takes place June 14 – June 22, 2017 headquartered at ArcLight Cinemas Culver City, with additional screenings at ArcLight Hollywood,...
- 5/9/2017
- by Derek Anderson
- DailyDead
Rooftop Films has announced its lineup for the 2017 Summer Series. This year’s series will feature more than 45 outdoor screenings in more than 10 venues, including films like Michael Showalter’s Sundance hit “The Big Sick” Ana Lily Amirpour’s “The Bad Batch,” (dates still Tbd).
The series kicks off on Friday, May 19 with “This is What We Mean by Short Films,” a collection of some of the most innovative, new short films of the past year. The screening will take place on the roof of The Old American Can Factory, in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The following night, Saturday, May 20, Rooftop will present a sneak preview screening of Zoe Lister-Jones’ 2017 Sundance entry, “Band Aid,” free and outdoors at House of Vans in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The entire lineup so far is below. Tickets are already for sale.
Friday, May 19
“This is What We Mean by Short Films”
Saturday, May 20
“Band Aid” (Zoe Lister-Jones)
Saturday,...
The series kicks off on Friday, May 19 with “This is What We Mean by Short Films,” a collection of some of the most innovative, new short films of the past year. The screening will take place on the roof of The Old American Can Factory, in Gowanus, Brooklyn. The following night, Saturday, May 20, Rooftop will present a sneak preview screening of Zoe Lister-Jones’ 2017 Sundance entry, “Band Aid,” free and outdoors at House of Vans in Greenpoint, Brooklyn.
The entire lineup so far is below. Tickets are already for sale.
Friday, May 19
“This is What We Mean by Short Films”
Saturday, May 20
“Band Aid” (Zoe Lister-Jones)
Saturday,...
- 5/5/2017
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
Keep up with the wild and wooly world of indie film acquisitions with our weekly Rundown of everything that’s been picked up around the globe. Check out last week’s Rundown here.
-Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films have acquireed “Youth in Oregon,” directed by Joel David Moore and written by Andrew Eisen. The film stars Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place, Josh Lucas, Nicola Peltz and Alex Shaffer. “Youth in Oregon” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and will screen at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January. The movie will be released theatrically and on demand in the U.S. on February 3, 2017.
Per the film’s official synopsis: “When 79-year-old curmudgeon Raymond (Langella) makes arrangements to be euthanized in Oregon, his family refuses to accept his decision. But when another family emergency arises, Raymond’s daughter Kate (Applegate) turns to her husband...
-Orion Pictures and Samuel Goldwyn Films have acquireed “Youth in Oregon,” directed by Joel David Moore and written by Andrew Eisen. The film stars Frank Langella, Billy Crudup, Christina Applegate, Mary Kay Place, Josh Lucas, Nicola Peltz and Alex Shaffer. “Youth in Oregon” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and will screen at the Palm Springs International Film Festival in January. The movie will be released theatrically and on demand in the U.S. on February 3, 2017.
Per the film’s official synopsis: “When 79-year-old curmudgeon Raymond (Langella) makes arrangements to be euthanized in Oregon, his family refuses to accept his decision. But when another family emergency arises, Raymond’s daughter Kate (Applegate) turns to her husband...
- 12/23/2016
- by Graham Winfrey
- Indiewire
The distributor has finalised a deal for global rights to Monkey Business: The Adventures Of Curious George’s Creators.
Ema Ryan Yamazaki directed and Sam Waterston narrated the film about Hans and Margret Rey, the creators of the renowned Curious George character and children’s book series who fled Nazi-occupied France on hand-made bicycles before settling in the Us.
The film is in post and will open in 2017. The Orchard’s recent slate includes Neruda, Cartel Land, The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Life, Animated, and Christine.
London and Montreal-based creative studio Cinesite has hired Marianne O’Reilly as COO for its feature animation studio in Montreal, which will increase its capacity to span two floors within the building to support of current productions on 3Qu Media’s four-film slate. O’Reilly most recently served as head of animation and visual effects at the Vancouver Film School.Andrew Garfield will receive the 28th Palm Springs International Film Festival...
Ema Ryan Yamazaki directed and Sam Waterston narrated the film about Hans and Margret Rey, the creators of the renowned Curious George character and children’s book series who fled Nazi-occupied France on hand-made bicycles before settling in the Us.
The film is in post and will open in 2017. The Orchard’s recent slate includes Neruda, Cartel Land, The Hunt For The Wilderpeople, Life, Animated, and Christine.
London and Montreal-based creative studio Cinesite has hired Marianne O’Reilly as COO for its feature animation studio in Montreal, which will increase its capacity to span two floors within the building to support of current productions on 3Qu Media’s four-film slate. O’Reilly most recently served as head of animation and visual effects at the Vancouver Film School.Andrew Garfield will receive the 28th Palm Springs International Film Festival...
- 12/20/2016
- by jeremykay67@gmail.com (Jeremy Kay)
- ScreenDaily
The Orchard is ready for some Monkey Business.
The distribution company has acquired the worldwide rights to the Sam Waterston-narrated documentary Monkey Business: The Adventure of Curious George's Creators, which tells the largely unknown story of George’s creators, Hans and Margret Rey.
The Reys fled from Nazi-occupied France, ending up in America, where they created one of the most treasured children's-book protagonists, Curious George, who has starred in TV series and movies, including a live-action film currently in the works at Universal.
First-time feature director Ema Ryan Yamazaki helmed Monkey Business, which was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.
Yamazaki obtained 300 boxes of the Reys’ personal archives for the...
The distribution company has acquired the worldwide rights to the Sam Waterston-narrated documentary Monkey Business: The Adventure of Curious George's Creators, which tells the largely unknown story of George’s creators, Hans and Margret Rey.
The Reys fled from Nazi-occupied France, ending up in America, where they created one of the most treasured children's-book protagonists, Curious George, who has starred in TV series and movies, including a live-action film currently in the works at Universal.
First-time feature director Ema Ryan Yamazaki helmed Monkey Business, which was crowdfunded through Kickstarter.
Yamazaki obtained 300 boxes of the Reys’ personal archives for the...
- 12/20/2016
- by Mia Galuppo
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Orchard has acquired worldwide distribution rights to the documentary Monkey Business: The Adventures Of Curious George’s Creators, with a planned release sometime next year. The film is directed by Ema Ryan Yamazaki with Sam Waterston narrating. Monkey Business chronicles the largely unknown story of George's creators, Hans and Margret Rey. From fleeing Nazi-occupied France on self-made bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, the Reys lived lives of…...
- 12/20/2016
- Deadline
Here’s your daily dose of an indie film, web series, TV pilot, what-have-you in progress — at the end of the week, you’ll have the chance to vote for your favorite.
In the meantime: Is this a project you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.
Curious George Documentary
Logline: “Curious George Documentary” explores the extraordinary lives of “Curious George” creators Hans & Margret Rey and how their narrow WWII escape brought us the world’s most beloved monkey.
Elevator Pitch:
We all know Curious George. But what about his creators, Hans and Margret Rey? From fleeing Nazi-occupied France on handmade bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, this mixed-media documentary explores the untold story of “Curious George” – the life-long journey of Hans and Margret Rey, whose creation continues to touch the hearts and minds of children around the world today.
Production Team:
Ema Ryan Yamazaki – Director...
In the meantime: Is this a project you’d want to see? Tell us in the comments.
Curious George Documentary
Logline: “Curious George Documentary” explores the extraordinary lives of “Curious George” creators Hans & Margret Rey and how their narrow WWII escape brought us the world’s most beloved monkey.
Elevator Pitch:
We all know Curious George. But what about his creators, Hans and Margret Rey? From fleeing Nazi-occupied France on handmade bicycles to encounters with exotic animals in Brazil, this mixed-media documentary explores the untold story of “Curious George” – the life-long journey of Hans and Margret Rey, whose creation continues to touch the hearts and minds of children around the world today.
Production Team:
Ema Ryan Yamazaki – Director...
- 8/10/2016
- by Steve Greene
- Indiewire
Generations of children grew up with Curious George, but very few know the incredible true story behind his very first adventure - a daring escape from Nazi Germany. The little-known tale of George and his creators, Hans and Margret Rey, is finally coming to light with the new mixed-media documentary Monkey Business by filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki, who was granted unprecedented access to the Reys' archives by their estate. "I actually grew up in Japan thinking George was a Japanese monkey, not realizing that every country was claiming him," Yamazaki tells People. "It's really been a global phenomenon from the beginning.
- 7/26/2016
- by Michael Miller @write_miller
- PEOPLE.com
Generations of children grew up with Curious George, but very few know the incredible true story behind his very first adventure - a daring escape from Nazi Germany. The little-known tale of George and his creators, Hans and Margret Rey, is finally coming to light with the new mixed-media documentary Monkey Business by filmmaker Ema Ryan Yamazaki, who was granted unprecedented access to the Reys' archives by their estate. "I actually grew up in Japan thinking George was a Japanese monkey, not realizing that every country was claiming him," Yamazaki tells People. "It's really been a global phenomenon from the beginning.
- 7/26/2016
- by Michael Miller @write_miller
- PEOPLE.com
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