Japan is not only home to the most spirited animes.
If you’re one for classic animation like me (seeing Rene Laloux’s “Fantastic Planet” and Fred Wolf’s “The Point” for the first time have a lingering effect), then check out these Japanese animation classics scored by HJH Composers Collective, composed of Hiroko Nagai, and Filipino musicians Jordan Peralta and Harold Andre Santos, at the 14th International Silent Film Festival Manila.
Organized by The Japan Foundation and curated by Benshi Kataoka Uchiro, the filmfest will run from Dec. 4 to 6 for free at iwatchmore.com. A tribute to the 100th anniversary of Japanese pre-war animation, this 14th edition of the first and oldest Silent Film Festival in Asia will feature such films as Junichi Kouchi’s “The Dull Sword.” The story of a samurai who gets a new sword and tests it on a blind person, is considered a pioneering animated film since it was first produced in 1917.
Along with it are the equally astounding “Burglars of Baghdad Castle,” “The Animal Olympics,” “Two Worlds,” “Old Man Goichi” and “A Day after a Hundred Years.”
The festival also features a webinar on “Saving Memory: Making Silent Films Talk to Us” on Dec. 4, with panelists that include Daibo Masaki, currently the head of film collections at the National Film Archive of Japan. The online talk tackles the importance of silent films in the digital age and the challenges that go in the preservation and archiving of such valuable cultural material.
To catch this virtual film fest, head on to iwatchmore.com and sign up for an account to watch the festival for free.
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Art by Yel Sayo