Japanese cinema will come to the fore when the Japan Film Festival opens next weekend in Bahrain.

It is being organised by the Japanese Embassy, in association with the Bahrain Japan Friendship Society and the Shaikh Ebrahim bin Mohammed Al Khalifa Centre for Culture and Research.

Films will be shown from 7pm to 9pm every Thursday at the centre in Muharraq, beginning with Swing Girls on January 27. All four movies will be screened in Japanese, with English subtitles.

“Last June when we held the festival, in which movies were subtitled in Arabic only, we received requests from expats to also screen English subtitled Japanese movies,” said embassy cultural attaché Hiroto Asaoka.

The 2004 comedy Swing Girls depicts the story of high school student Takuo who finds himself the sole member of the school’s brass band after the other musicians suffer food poisoning. He desperately tries to find replacements and is approached by a group of lazy girls who want to join the band so they can avoid summer maths classes.

Crime drama Dora Heita will be screened on February 3. The 2000 film throws light on the story of town magistrate Koheita Mochizuki who deliberately cultivates a false reputation for his debauchery to rid the town of three yakuza gangster bosses.

Aiki, a 2002 drama, will be screened on February 10. It tells the story of boxer Ashihara Taichi whose life is thrown into limbo after a motorcycle accident leaves his lower body paralysed. After a chance meeting with a woman, Samako, he gains admission into the Aiki Jujutsu school of Aikido and begins to gradually lead a better life.

Science-fiction drama Hinokio tells the story of a traumatised young boy who shuts the world out after his mother is killed in an accident. His father designs a robot, Hinokio, to coax him into coming out of his shell and making contact with the outside world. The 2005 film will lower the curtain on the festival on February 17.

Entry to all screenings is free. Contact the embassy on 17716565 for details.-TradeArabia News Service