A few months ago, Japanese Film Festival Magazine, a platform launched by the Japan Foundation to promote Japanese film, launched JFF Online. JFF Online volume 1 made 12 films, a mixture of short and feature-length movies from the MOOSIC LAB series, available worldwide for free streaming for a limited time, and I covered these films as part of the Your Japanese Film Insight movie column here at Otaquest. JFF Online volume 2 brings 10 more more MOOSIC LAB productions to worldwide audiences for a limited time.
MOOSIC LAB is a Japanese movie award and film project that brings upcoming film directors and musicians together to create films centered on a single song and the idea of music’s ability to impact people and the world around us. Each year a number of films are produced as part of the MOOSIC LAB series and this has helped to bring up-and-coming actors and directors into the public spotlight through successful showings at these awards.
A number of successful films from MOOSIC LAB 2018 and 2019 will be streamed as part of JFF Online volume 2. This includes MOOSIC LAB 2019 winner The Sleeping Insect, which follows a woman named Kanako Seri as she rides the bus to band practice. She becomes interested in a melody being hummed by an old man on the bus and chooses not to get off the bus at her stop in order to hear more, taking her on a weird adventure. Directed by Yurina Kaneko with music by Tokiyo (And Summer Club), the fact this won the 2019 edition of the awards show makes it a must-see film for me.
Honestly, I’m interested in almost every film being shown in this new selection of films. Dong Teng Town by Kohei Inoue follows singer-songwriter Sora after stumbling onto a bunch of old cassettes with the ‘inner voice’ of a former resident, while All About ‘Chiaki Mayumura’ (Provisional) looks to be a fascinating sham-documentary film following a Tokyo-based pop idol whose secret ‘threatens to shake the very foundations of world peace’. The short film romantic comedy Beats Per Mizu also sounds like a cute way to spend 30 minutes.
All 10 MOOSIC LAB films being streamed as part of JFF Online volume 2 will be available for free from now until September 30th worldwide except Japan on the Japanese Film Festival Magazine website.