Press Release2021/9/1

SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL 2021

Full line-up announced!

Held virtually from Saturday, September 25th to Sunday, October 3rd.
To Press
SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL which started in 2004 in Kawaguchi City, Saitama
Prefecture, has been held every year as a "gateway for emerging talent" centered on the International

Competition and the Japanese Film Competition (features and shorts). The festival launched the careersof Kazuya Shiraishi (Last of the Wolves), Ryota Nakano (The Asadas), Shinichiro Ueda (One Cut of theDead), Shinzo Katayama (Siblings of the Cape) and many other directors who are leading the Japanesefilm industry as top runners and whose new movies audiences are looking forward to seeing.

The 18th edition will be held virtually on the streaming platform “Cinema Discoveries” for 9 days from Saturday,

September 25th to Sunday, October 3rd, in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus infection and ensure thesafety of audience and related visitors.

On Wednesday, September 1st, we held an online press conference to announce the full line-up consisting of the titles of theInternational Competition and the Japanese Film Competition. The details are as follows.

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues around the world and the power of culture is being questioned once again, our festival

will continue to discover new talent that will play a leading role in the future of cinema. We would appreciate it if you could

share this information with your media.

All 24 films will be screened on the streaming site "Cinema Discoveries"!
<What is “Cinema Discoveries”?>

A carefully-curated subscription movie streaming service that started in April 2020. While mainly
handling independent films and arthouse films, the site has a rich line-up of content with a spotlighton filmmakers. https://cinemadiscoveries.co.jp/

1,084 films from 104 countries and regions were submitted in the three competition categories.

International Competition is the centerpiece of the festival. The very best 10 films
are selected from the record number of submissions. All films are Japan Premiereat least.
We received a total of 889 entries from 104 different countries and regions for the International Competition, and through thecompetitive preminiary judgement process, 10 film are nominated.

<Films from Malta and Curaçao are nominated for the first time>
This year's International Competition line-up includes the Netherlands-Curaçao film Buladó, the Netherlands’ officialsubmission to the Academy Awards of this year, depicts the growth of a girl who becomes fascinated by the mystical island's
traditions in the Curaçao in the Caribbean Sea which has a history colonized by the Dutch. Luzzu tells a story of a man who isin agony to make his decision if he will choose the family fishery business or a better life to his family. The film received theBest Actor award in the World Cinema Dramatic section of this year’s Sundance Film Festival.

Press Release2021/9/1<Documentary, suspense, comedy, social issue drama…world directors capture “the present”>
A Red Cross volunteer, Andriy, who moved to Ukraine to escape the Syrian civil war, goes to visit a refugee evacuation site in
Kurdistan to see relatives from whom he's been separated, a documentary This Rain Will Never Stop. The flames ofvengeance flares in the mother's heart when she learns of the woman whose betrayal led to her daughter's death under thechaos in Iran in 1980s, Mitra. although an old man has lived as a bird warden for nearly half a century, he is informed by hisduties have been repealed and tries to somehow come to grips with this situation, in a modest drama containing a grandmessage, The Warden. A social issue drama overwhelmed by a 9-year-old boy from Ukraine who travels to Germany where

his mother works illegally and is forced into a lonely battle in the country where he does not know the language, Rival. A romcom about the wedding turmoil of same-sex marriage couple with the white-hot spice of political correctness, Kiss Me Before
It Blows Up. A suspense that cleverly depicts an immigrant man who came from Africa to America hit by an unexpected

accident, Cinema of Sleep. From Asia, Festival, stirring in Ha Jun “Bad Papa” and So Joo-yeon “Dr. Romance 2”, depicts thebrother and sister who face with the sudden death of their father and have to manage to earn the money for the funeral. It

took home four awards including the award for best film at the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival. The secondfeature from Director Ryuichi Mino, whose feature debut ROJIN FARM was released throughout the country including Tokyo's

Eurospace despite being an independent, self-distributed work, deals with the prejudices of society toward criminal offenders

and their families in addition to the social problem of disposable foreign laborers, Make the Devil Laugh.

Make the Devil Laugh will have its World Premiere, Mitra, The Warden, Kiss Me Before It Blows Up and Cinema of Sleep
will do their Asian Premiere, and the rest will do their Japan Premiere at SKIP CITY!

<The President of the Jury for International Competition is Naoto Takenaka, a renowned actor /film director>

Naoto Takenaka, who is highly regarded for his multi-talented talent as a film director while actively working as an actor anda comedian, has been appointed as the President of the Jury for the International Competition!

FestivalBuladó

Cinema of Sleep©Gregg Telussa©Inferno Pictures©2020 Storyteller Pictures & Kyeom Film All
rights reservedLuzzu

Make the Devil Laugh

MitraRival©Léo Lefèvre©2021 ALPHA Entertainment LLP 映画「鬼が笑う」©Jurre Rompa©Mila Teshaieva

Director: Eché JANGANetherlands, Curaçao

Director: Alex CAMILLERI
Malta

Director: Jeffrey ST. JULES
CanadaDirector: Ryuichi MINOJapan

This Rain Will Never StopThe Warden©Square Eyes Film

©Mark de Blok

Director: Alina GORLOVA
Ukraine, Latvia, Germany, Qatar

Director: Threes ANNA
Netherlands

Director: KIM Lok-kyoung
South Korea

Director: Kaweh MODIRINetherlands, Germany, Denmark

Kiss Me Before It Blows Up
Director: Shirel PELEG
Germany©Fireglory Pictures GmbH

Director: Marcus LENZ
Germany, Ukraine

Press Release2021/9/1

In the Japanese Film Competition, for the purpose of discovering talents who will

carry the future of Japanese films, 6 feature films and 8 short films are nominated.
There are films set in India, France and Cambodia, and also a Japanese feature

animation for the first time among them.These chanllenging titles imply the newway of Japanese cinema.

<All 6 films are World Premiere for Japanese Feature Competition>

Battlecry

Double Red

Journey Beyond the Night©2021battlecry©Double_RED 2021 HACHI NEKOME FILM

©夜を越える旅フィルムパートナーズ

Director: Yanakaya
Japan

Director: Hachi NEKOME
Japan

Director: Takayuki KAYANOJapan

Resident of AliceThe River: Flow of LifeSong for Laurel©2021 reclusivefactory© 2021 YOKO MOCHIZUKI All Rights Reserved©2021 東京藝術大学大学院映像研究科

Director: Keiichiro SAWAJapan

Director: Yoko MICHIZUKIJapan, India

Director: Takumi HABUTOJapan

6 films are nominated for Japanese Feature Competition section. The Japanese feature animation, Battlecry, is nominated forthe first time in the festival history. Hachi Nekome, one of the cast members of a poplar title from 2019 Japanese Film

Competition nominations, Me and My Brother’s Mistress, directs Double Red. A road movie Journey Beyond the Night isdirected by Fukuoka-based Takayuki Kayano. The emotional hurt and rebirth of young girls who live in a foster home aredepicted, Resident of Alice. Director Yoko Mochizuki tells a story of a shy woman who happens to visit India alone, which isbased on the director’s own experience, The River: Flow of Life. A fable-like film based on a Greek myth about lopsided loves

is Director Takumi Habuto’s thesis film of the Graduate School of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts, Song forLaurel.

These 6 powerful films show each director’s characterics. All 6 films are World Premiere.

Press Release2021/9/1<6 films are World Premiere and 2 films are Japan Premiere for Japanese Short Competition>

At (10) Centimeters Ahead
Director: Masaya MATSUIFrance, Japan© Masaya MATSUIOne Night, Two Threads

Psychology Counselor©KAIJU FILMS©DrunkenBird 2020

Director: Emi SAITO
Japan

Director: Zenzo SAKAI
Japan

Until It Cools Down

Director: Kyoko SATO
Kanon OKAMOTOJapan©早稲田大学映像制作実習 2020

Kikutaro's Journey

Director: Yuan Ting CHIANG
Japan

Echoes from a Bridge
Director: Bilal KAWAZOEJapanMomA Little Circus©釣部東京©Yoshiro Osaka

Director: Kenta MURAMATSU
JapanDirector: Yoshiro OSAKAJapan, Cambodia

This year, the 8 Japanese Short Competition films are more international than regular years.

Tokyo and Paris-based director Masaya Matsui renders this heartbreaking love story entwining two men and a woman whowould look at home on a Paris street, At (10) Centimeters Ahead. Emi Saito, who is selected as one of the directors for anomnibus film DIVOC-12 which will be released on October 1, depicts the one-night encounter between a Taiwanese woman
and a Japanese woman, One Night, Two Threads had its world premiere at the Brisbane International Film Festival in Australia.

A psychological horror film that will stoke the audience's terror in the limited setting only with dialogues between a counselingpsychologist and a patient, Psychology Counselor is directed by Zenzo Sakai, who wrote Since Then and Sharing by Makoto

Shinozaki. Until It Cools Down is an invigorating initiation story co-directed by Kyoko Sato and Kanon Okamoto, who madethis film under the guidance of instructors including Hirokazu Kore-eda and Makoto Shinozaki at the "Film Production Training

Initiative 2020" offered by Waseda University School of Fundamental Science and Engineering. Yuan Ting Chiang from Taiwan

made a drama about one family with a unique witness through the motifs of “bear” and “renting people”, Kikutaro’s Journey.

Bilal Kawazoe, whose Whole (19) received the Japan Cuts Award Special Mention at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. portrays thequiet communication between an old guard and a lonely office worker in a city under the coronavirus pandemic, In near future,a holed-up son and his deceased mother are reconciled through “Deceased Reconstruction Program”, Mom. A Little Circus

tells the story of the influence of the coronavirus pandemic on the boys chasing their dreams at the actual Cambodian circus
school. The film is directed by Yoshiro Osaka and had its world premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June.

A selection of short films that are condensed in a limited time and are filled with full of passion of young directors!
One Night, Two Threads and A Little Circus are Japan Premiere and all the others are World Premiere.

Press Release2021/9/1

Comments from each President of the Jury of international Competition and Japanese Film
Competition.

Naoto Takenaka (President of the Jury for the International Competition, Actor, Film Director)

Wow! What's this! Scary! How touching! I think that a lot of such wonderful movies will be gathered. I am looking forward tothe day from the bottom of my heart. Also, I'm really looking forward to meeting you and the very best movies.

Mizue Kunizane (President of the Jury for the Japanese Film Competition, )Continuing from last year, we are still suffered from coronavirus pandemic. However, I am very pleased that the film festival

will be held. I think everyone has had a lot of troubles to shoot films under harsh conditions, but I'm looking forward to seeing
wonderful works again this year.

SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL 2021 (the 18th edition) Outline
Date: Saturday, September 25 - Sunday, October 3, 2021 (9 days)
Screening (online): Cinema Discoveries https://cinemadiscoveries.co.jp/
Sections: International Competition, Japanese Film Competition (Feature Length), Japanese Film Competition (Short Length)
Organizers: Saitama Prefecture, Kawaguchi City, SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL Committee, Saitama Visuals
Volunteer Group
Website: https://www.skipcity-dcf.jp/en/「Cinema Discoveries × SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL2021」Special Site
https://cinemadiscoveries.co.jp/pub/skipcity-dcf2021*You can retrieve all kinds of press materials including film information and images from the URL:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1eHjsDJNiWAvKBVYcOoyU4R3Tb75zsxot?usp=sharing*You can apply for a press accreditation from the URL: https://www.skipcity-dcf.jp/en/press/<Contact>
SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL Office

PR: Kenta Horikiri (Mr.)

TEL: +81-48-263-0818 /FAX: +81-48-262-5635 / E-Mail: press@skipcity-dcf.jp