St. Petersburg Hosts Festival of Japanese Films

A festival of modern Japanese films opens in St. Petersburg's House of Cinema on Thursday. The event was organized by Japan's Consulate General in the Northern Capital, the Center of International Cooperation, and the Russia-Japan Friendship Society.

According to a source in the Japanese Consulate General, Russia has been hosting festivals of Japanese films for over 40 years now. For St. Petersburg, it is the 36th event of the kind.

The program of the festival envisages the screening of four films created in 2000 and widely acclaimed in the Country of the Rising Sun. The festival opens with Yoji Yamada's melodrama, "The 15-year-old." Further on, St. Petersburg's cinemagoers will have a chance to watch "Idlers" /a fantastic blockbuster/, "Actor" /an historical and psychological tragicomedy/ and "First Love" /a romantic melodrama/.

Moscow already had a chance to see the aforementioned films. After St. Petersburg, the festival moves on to Vladivostok and Khabarovsk.

The St. Petersburg festival runs until February 2nd. To get as many people as possible acquainted with modern Japanese cinematography, Japan's Consulate General made all the screenings free.