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In this video appreciation, created in 2009, we present filmmaker Masahiro Shinoda’s observations on THE HUMAN CONDITION and director Masaki Kobayashi.

Naomi makes lesbian porn. But it's not the over-the-top-dumb-dialogue-kind of lesbian porn that guys get off on, so her producers demand a re-shoot. At the same time she's directing the first lesbian love story for a pseudo-reality TV dating show, with her bubbly Gen-X pal Azusa and an office manager/dominatrix go-go dancer named Miki as the featured couple. All the while, Naomi spends her nights online, confessing her fears and dreams to a gentle, supportive soul known only by her screen name Sugar.

Titi, an Indonesian domestic worker, cares for her Taiwanese grandmother, who is obsessed with the past, while Titi dreams of a future with a man she sees daily. Despite their differences, Titi realises the grandmother’s complex love and support during difficult times.

The story starts with the next generation of the original Boonchu films. Boonchu and Molee send their son to Bangkok. How's Boonchoke going to handle the unexpected situation in the big city?

New Hefei was done in the winter of 2007/2008 during a stay in China for several months through a series of photographs and prepared in the spring of 2008 in the provincial capital Hefei in black and white on 16mm shot. Hefei has an extreme economy growth rate and is one of the fastest-growing mega cities of the new China. The conglomerates from private and state-dominated industry dominated the economic growth and repeated this in the Chinese provincial city. Currently the process of urban transformation has been completed here, as in other urban centers in China. The presentation of new urban areas is an important issue in contemporary Taiwanese and Chinese films.

The end of the 18th century. In California, in the "New World" of America, people suffer beneath Spanish despotism and hope their saviour will come. His face hidden by a black mask, his form disguised with a black cape, the legendary knight appears to punish evildoers as both Zorro and Lady Zorro. The deeds and loves of Zorro and Lady Zorro are portrayed in this swashbuckling play full of unrivaled delights.

Yukari Nishihara, 25, earns her living as an art model and aspires to become an actress. One day, while she was out, she saw “a man's face about to jump off the roof of a building”, and since then she has been suffering from a peculiar constitution: she sees a suicide while on her period, faints, and develops a fever. The goddess of love does not smile on Yukari, who is unable to become a sweet girl with a nice boyfriend. The only things that can save Yukari now are her best friend Hana, who has a keen intuition, and a suppository that can break a fever in one shot. On the day of an important audition, Yukari has decided that this is her last chance. However, Yukari realizes that she has forgotten her antipyretic suppositories, and her eyes meet those of another soon-to-be suicide victim. She is in a desperate situation. What does Yukari do?

Concert film featuring Otsuka Ai's LOVE is BEST Tour 2009 FINAL held at The Grand Cube Osaka on December 24, 2009. This specific concert, all tickets were sold in pairs to encourage those to come with their partner.

Mi-yo and jay-sung's marriage loses all the passion. Mi-Yu falls in love with Dong-hwi at first sight, and she has unlimited sexual fantasies and illusions of him. Dong-hwi works in a vehicle agency. Pretending as a customer, Mi-yo takes the initiative to get acquainted with him. They then kiss and make love fiercely and soon start to live together and pursuit the ecstasy of sex. However, Mi-yo soon finds out Dong-hwi still has ambiguous relationships with other girls and feels heartbroken.

Live Blu-ray release from Acid Black Cherry featuring footage from the 2008 tour Black List. Includes 15 songs.

Koda Kumi's concert tour of her 'PREMIUM LIMITED LIVE IN HALL' that took place at Yokohama Arena, supported by SANKYO.

Takarazuka Flower Troupe 2007 performance. Based on Edogawa Rampo's novel The Black Lizard, which has had many movie and play adaptations. The Takarazuka version will be brimming over with period romance, set at the turn of the Taisho/Heiwa Eras. As the tale of thrills and suspense between the gloomy and reclusive great detective Akechi Kogorou and the master of disguise and female thief the Black Lizard (who is forever switching between western clothing and kimono) unfolds, it comes to a conclusion different from Mishima Yukio's version. Tuxedo Jazz was the associated revue show.

Takarazuka special performance.

2008 release

A modern, fast paced Takarazuka Revue in keeping with the spirit of the Paris Revue, yet looking forward to the 21st century.

On April 28, 1986, two students, twenty-year-old Kim Se-jin and Lee Jae-ho, immolated themselves to death, shouting slogans, “No war, no nuclear weapons, Yankee go home,” “U.S. sign the peace treaty with North Korea,” and “Expel American imperialists.” This took place in the midst of a public demonstration against the forced conscription of students, joined by approximately four hundred students and held at the Sinrim crossroads facing the Seoul National University main gate. The manner of their deaths, the radicalness of their slogans (they were the first overtly anti-American statements to be heard in public since the conclusion of the Korean War) deeply shocked Korean society at the time. Twenty years have since passed. The world has changed.

2005 release

2004 release

2007 release

Japanese horror movie from 2001.

Contemporary art has become a trend for young people in China. Young artists often organize activities in the form of art groups or small groups — but this is not only looked down on by the government, but is also subject to punishments and restrictions. This film documents a gathering of more than 200 artists in Nanjing, all from different regions of China, who to engage in a modern art activity titled "Bask in the sunshine."

Set in the city of Hangzhou, the film takes as its focal point a restless young man, Zhu Zi, following him as he aimlessly wanders through the city. Through a series of distinct vignettes, Yang depicts Zhu Zi's inability to find comfort in friends, lovers or environment as a reflection of the existential difficulty of China's "nameless generation," cast adrift during the rapid changes at the turn of the millennium.

An old man and a fat cat live in a small house in the middle of a vast ocean. Their daily task is to push back the black sea that covers the blue sea. One day, a bird and a terrible storm descend upon them...

One summer day, the main character receives a letter from an unknown sender. The contents of the letter were to the effect that on this coming Saturday, we will dig up the time capsule that we buried during our fifth grade seaside school.

Takarazuka Revue Moon Troupe 2009 production of the Viennese musical Elisabeth

Short film made by Maho Shimao, featured in Tokyo Loop.

Kyoko is an aspiring writer whose artistic vision is yet to be formed. When her girlfriend Rie asks her to move in with her, Kyoko begins to wonder about their uncertain future as a lesbian couple in Tokyo.

An old man escapes from the hospital to visit his "ex-wife", and a young girl who has mother that about to give a birth, all board on a bus.

For most Chinese, the name "Xuan Zang" is very strange. People are familiar with the Tang monk in "Journey to the West". "Journey to the West" is a classic in the history of Chinese literature, and its power is beyond doubt. Since the creation of "Journey to the West" by Wu Chengen in the Ming Dynasty, a soft and weak Tang monk image has been deeply etched in the hearts of Chinese people. When people talked about Sun Wukong, Xuan Zang's prototype was distorted and misunderstood. For centuries, the real Xuanzang went farther and farther away from the sight of the Chinese, leaving only a blurred silhouette.

After SEO Taiji's comeback in August 2000, SEO Taiji fans experienced the subversive aspects of a live rock concert and became delighted with slam culture. The fans, while fighting the mainstream media and its inaccurate portrayal of SEO Taiji, stand firm in their opinions and desire for a new culture. This documentary enables us to discern the current situation of Korean pop culture through SEO Taiji fans.

The second film of Brahman Trilogy.

A short film made with a mobile phone, commissioned by Nokia as part of the promotion of the first model of a cellular phone with a built-in camera.

Mr. Tatsuo Ikeda, who is familiar with many TV programs as a psychic organizer. A request arrived to him. "I want her to use her psychic powers to find a grandmother who has been missing for several months." The client is her family. He tried his best but couldn't find it, so he entrusted his hope to Mr. Ikeda. With the permission of the family, we conducted a close interview with Mr. Ikeda's psychic investigation! Where on earth is Grandma? This work is a document that pushes the limits of the psychic world, where Mr. Ikeda searches for missing persons by his own psychic ability.

China's first new media (cell phone) movie, including "There" (Jia Zhangke, director, later the same), "A Moment of Silence" (Wang Xiaoshuai), "Watermelon" (Meng Jinghui), "It's Hard to Buy Happiness with Money" (Liu Hao), "I Want to Be Wild About You" (Xiao Jiang), "Starlight Dream Journey" (Sun Xiaoru), "A Little FU Eggs" (Li Hong), and "The Bride" (Jiang Lifen), and other eight 3-minute short films. Watermelon, which won the second prize in the Moving Screen section of the 2008 French Pocket Film Festival, switches back and forth between reality and dreams, telling the story of a man who searches for a toilet in his dreams but is unable to find one.The other seven short films have a complete story, or tell a state of life, or relate to a certain moment in the mind. Though their quality varies, they reflect the diverse postures of people's lives nowadays.

This is a 3-part love story. One girl is talking a story of her ex-boyfriend. He went aboard to chase for homosexual love. Although she stayed home, both of them are experiencing almost simultaneously unbounded sexual exploring journey in each end. The traditional narrative monologue is manipulated as a link to all the experimental segments. As the story goes on, the emotion of those original extremely abstract experimental footages are becoming touchable and understandable.

Respire is set in a fictional world transformed by a deadly, airborne virus in which people are required to wear masks at all times. A young girl who knows her time is short decides to enjoy one last day with the boy she likes.

2007 release

Takarazuka Moon Troupe 2005 production of the Viennese musical Elisabeth

When a high school girl and a young man meet inside a subway, the two start to cry. The black and white film incorporates aspects of documentary filming, by means of inserting interviews throughout the film.

2009 release

This is the third in a series of hair-raising omnibus horror stories from Japan's most famous horror storyteller, Junji Inagawa. Matsukawa is guided by Shinohara, the manager of a business partner, to a certain bar in Kamata. Sitting next to him is a pale, quiet woman. Shinohara tells him that there is a restaurant where a woman's ghost appears. At first Matsukawa makes fun of Shinohara's story, but...

This is the latest in a popular ghost documentary series that boasts an overwhelming number of submissions from the general public. Included are episode 1, "Suicide Ghosts," in which a photograph taken at the scene of a friend's suicide causes numerous horrors, and three other episodes related to ghost photography. It also introduces a number of ghost photos that have been submitted.

Failed in business, Ma and his family go to a strange mountain village to open an inn. No guests arrive at the inn for several days. Finally, some guests come to stay, but they are all found dead the next day. Helplessly, Ma's family choose to bury the dead bodies and continue the business. Soon, more guests come to the hostel.

A colourful feature about young criminals (Ominato Masao, Tachibana Kaoru, Tatesawa Sadoru), sex scenes and their bitter ends. Onishi again is using almost no dialogue, that does not make it easy to watch this film, but it makes so much sense. While killing and suffering or seldom enjoying nice and peaceful moments, what should they talk about?

17th entry in the popular "Honto ni Atta. Noroi no Video" series.

Experimental Short film by Shinkan Tamaki.

In the Chunqiu Period, after King You is murdered, the Zhou dynasty loest authority and becomes no more than a name. Large feudal lords on the outskirts of the empire start making a new order by themselves. They fight for supremacy, using any means possible. The days of coexistence ends, and the days of war without honor starts.

In December 1969, the band Zuno Keisatsu (The Brain Police) was formed, with Panta and Toshi as its core members. The camera follows them for three years leading up to the band’s reunion in 2008.

Delight, encounters, passion... A revue composed the different forms love takes, and the emotions of love. Unfolding from a brilliant opening, through passionate dance scenes set to Latin music, and the bright world of jazz. Every genre of the music world is brought forth, and the joy and beauty of love spreads out before you.

A fight between two ghosts set in a village where people still believe in superstition. When a wicked witch doctor summons a bloodthirsty, yet sexy ghoul from her grave, the only person who can stop the dangerous ghoul is a kind-hearted, pretty girl who holds her secret: a filth-eating spirit. Meanwhile, a group of college student set a trip to the village. The finally struggle in the middle of the ghoulish fight, and find the way to stop the thrill that threatening the village.

A film by Yasunori Kakegawa + Yasunori Ikunishi + Kuknacke

A white dream of a gay film maker. Two naked men on a white sofa. Yet it remains in the imagination. Pansittivorakul is the most outspoken gay filmmaker in Thailand. Or in the whole of Southeast Asia, you could say. The fact that last year he received a Silpathorn Award, an official state prize for artists, was one of the few encouraging events in a country with a military regime and unpredictable censorship. The film is an ode to the male body. Two naked men on a white sofa. And a film maker who restrains himself.

2007 release