Dir. KINEMURA Haruki (New Director) (Cafune) Born in Nishinomiya City, Hyogo Prefecture in 2001, Japan. After enrolling in Osaka University of Arts, he ventured into the world of independent films as a cinematographer. In 2022, his debut directorial work, "Cafune," undertook a full
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Jun 11, 2023 • Subscribe
More like this


Director Spotlight #3: “Copo a Copo”
Born in Sakai City, Osaka Prefecture. After working as an assistant director for notable productions, including the TV dramas like From the North Country '98, Private Detective Mike…


Director Spotlight #13:
Dir. SHIOTA Akihiko (The World of You) Born in Maizuru City, Kyoto Prefecture in 1961, Shiota has been a regular participant in the…


Director Spotlight #12:
Dir. NISHIKORI Yoshinari (The Takatsu River) Film director and screenwriter. Born in January 1962 in Izumo, the birthplace of Kabuki, Sake and Sumo…
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Izumo, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life
Director Spotlight #11:
Dir. SATO Yoshinori (Shinjuku Tiger) Yoshinori Sato was born in Aichi, Japan on February 1975. After graduating high school, he went to the…


Director Spotlight #2: “Backlight”
Dir. SUDO Ren (New Director) (Backlight) Born in Tokyo in 1996. While studying law at Keio University, he began working as a…


Director Spotlight: Takayuki Hirao
One of the most promising young anime directors that has come on the scene during the last decade is Takayuki Hirao [平尾隆之], who first came into my…


Director Spotlight #10: “Underdogs”
Dir. KUMETA Tsuyoshi (Underdogs) Born in Aichi Prefecture in 1969. Graduated from the Department of Sociology and Cultural Anthropology at…


Director Spotlight #7: “Resonance”
Dir. TANAKA Toshinori (Resonance) Born in 1981 in Fukuyama City, Hiroshima, Japan, Tanaka is a Filmmaker, a Lecturer at Fukuyama University, and the…


Director Spotlight #10: “Qualia”
Born in 1980, he first gained recognition as a finalist in the 1996 Junon Super Boy Contest, leading to work primarily as a model in advertising. In 2001,…
Director Spotlight #6: “NOT BEER”
Dir. NAKAGAWA Hirotaka (NOT BEER) Hirotaka Nakagawa was born in Aichi Prefecture and studied film production at university in Japan. He has worked…


Director Spotlight #8: “Toward Zero”
Dir. ITO Takashi (Toward Zero) ITO was born in Fukuoka in 1956. While studying in university, his experimental film SPACY(1981), premiered at MATSUMOTO…


Director Spotlight #5: “The Girls”
Born on April 20, 1984, in Tokyo, the director debuted with Dynamite Graffiti (2016), exploring Japan’s GAL culture. His next feature, Goodbye Silence (2018), depicts young people discovering…
News - Chicago Japan Film Collective
Nichijou - My Ordinary Life, Nichijou - My Ordinary Life: Episode 0


Director Spotlight #1: “Angry Son”
Dir. IIZUKA Kasho (Angry Son) Born in 1990 in Gunma Prefecture. He studied under film director NEGISHI Yoshitaro and screenwriter Masato Kato while…


Director Spotlight #9: “Not Born Yesterday”
Born in Niigata Prefecture in 1949, FUKUMA Kenji was a widely active poet, critic, and translator. He became engrossed in cinema during middle school, influenced by directors such…


Director Spotlight #1: “99% Cloudy... Always”
SANAGOUMI Midori is an actor and voice actor who began studying filmmaking in 2020. Her short film Under the Bridge won the newly introduced Special Jury Award at…


Director Spotlight #6: “House of Sayuri”
Born on June 1, 1973, in Fukuoka Prefecture, Shiraishi made his mark on the film scene with Violent Man (1997), co-directed with Akihiro Kasai, which won the Screenplay…


Director Spotlight #9: “Twilight Cinema Blues”
Dir. JOJO Hideo (Twilight Cinema Blues) Born in 975 in Hachioji City, Tokyo. Jojo graduated from Musashino Art University and accumulated a career…


Director Spotlight #7: “Leave in Summer”
Born in Hokkaido in 1996. “Tokeru” (2016) which Igashi made in college was officially selected for the 70th Cannes Film Festival, Cinéfondation category. She made her theatrical debut…


Director Spotlight #2: “Bring Minyo Back!”
Born in 1982, Moriwaki began his career in advertising after graduating from Waseda University and later moved into production editing, establishing his independent career in 2011. Based in…


Director Spotlight #5: “I Quit Being “Friends””
Dir. IMAMURA Ayako (I Quit Being “Friends”) From Nagoya/President of Studio AYA Graduated from Aichi Education University, Faculty of Education/Studied film…


Director Spotlight #4: “Hoarder on the Border”
Dir. KAYANO Hirotaka (Hoarder on the Border) Kayano graduated from the Department of Image Design, Faculty of Arts and Engineering…
![Featured image for Cafune (2023) review [OAFF 2023]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20230328/1679965210.56239.89158.jpg)
![Background image for Cafune (2023) review [OAFF 2023]](https://cdn.aniblogtracker.com/live/20230328/1679965210.56239.89158.jpg)
Cafune (2023) review [OAFF 2023]
A very strong debut by Haruki Kinemura.


Cafune (カフネ, Haruki Kinemura, 2023)
A pair of teenagers with differing priorities struggle to deal with the discovery of an unplanned pregnancy in Haruki Kinemura’s evenhanded indie drama.


Director Spotlight #8: “New Nemuro Pro Wrestling Story”
Born in 1976 in Sapporo, Hokkaido, he graduated from the Nihon University College of Art, majoring in film directing. He has directed a wide range of television programming,…


Otome Shimai | Podcast | Community Spotlight #3
If you listen to any otome podcast – make it this one. I love Vka and Vki’s energetic dynamic, and you can clearly see their passion for the…


Miss Hokusai || Summer Film Spotlight #3
THE UNTOLD STORY 🌊✍️


Melanin Monday Spotlight: 3 Season (Hamilton Hour)
3 Seasons is a modern fantasy indie otome developed by Hamilton Hour for Otome Jam 2022. Job hunting can be daunting, and after a slew of rejections Ivy…


Melanin Monday Spotlight: 3 Seasons (Hamilton Hour)
3 Seasons is a modern fantasy indie otome developed by Hamilton Hour for Otome Jam 2022. Job hunting can be daunting, and after a slew of rejections Ivy…


Director Spotlight #4: “Esper X Private Detective Agency - Searching for Good-Bye -”
Born September 1, 1973, in Tokyo and raised in Saitama, Koba is known for his unique blend of comedy, sci-fi, and fantasy. He launched his feature film career…


Director Spotlight #11: “Till The Day I Can Laugh About My Blues”
Born in 1997, Takeda is a graduate of Tokyo Polytechnic University’s Department of Imaging Arts. Since her university days, she has worked on numerous professional and amateur film…


Persona 3 P3 ペルソナ3 Director: Katsura Hashino
Persona 3 is a fun game split between dungeon crawler and visual novel, where the depth of the latter really makes the dull action of the former a…


Introducing Spotlight!
I’m pleased to announce a new addition to the blog: Spotlight.Starting this week, every Friday, I’ll shine a spotlight on various aspects of anime, movies, books, and other…


Vtuber Spotlight: Trinkbell
The Vtuber world is full of characters of all kind and it includes a wide variety of fey and demonic inspired characters. Today we take a trip more…


Takashi Nakamura spotlight
Yoshinori Kanada might be the most influential Japanese animator, but he isn’t the only one whose work revolutionized anime. Almost as important as him is Takashi Nakamura. Nakamura…
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind, Shashinkan, The Hakkenden: Legend of the Dog Warriors, Catnapped, Fantastic Children


Spotlight: Kumota Haruko
For #BLush801, I focus my spotlight on Kumota Haruko’s works and the different reasons why her adorable works are worth the journey.


Vtuber Spotlight: Xumerical
As our journey continues to celebrate Vtubers of all kinds we have to be able to venture into all kinds of different worlds. In this adventure we are…


Vtuber Spotlight: Spidershii
I’m really excited to be making a third Vtuber Spotlight and this one is highlighting a creator I’ve worked with before, Spidershii. Some of you may know I…


Cosplay Spotlight: Feytaline
So as many of you know I am a huge fan of voice actors, musicians and artists but what I haven’t talked about yet is my interest in…


Vtuber Spotlight: Acey
Here we are again celebrating another creator that I’ve gotten to know recently. Thanks to how networking friendly Bluesky is I met Acey not long after becoming active…


VTuber Spotlight: ArsonQueen
So we’re back with another VTuber spotlight and this time I’m highlighting another creator that I’ve known for sometime ArsonQueen. This Vtuber takes great inspiration from Greek …


Vtuber Spotlight: Silvilla
Once more we find ourselves in an adventure to scour the internet for more and more creators to feature. In this spotlight we turn our attentions to an…


Vendor Spotlight: BurntGreenTea
Here is an artist that I have been a fan of for years. BurntGreenTea is an incredible talented artist and out of the myriad of art on my…


Cosplay Spotlight: Carlettecore
Carlettecore is a cosplayer that I have gotten to know fairly recently that was more than kind enough to allow me to do a cosplay spotlight on their…


VTuber Spotlight: HatsandDragons
Our journey to looking at Vtubers all over the world continues and we get to revisit the world of dragons. Dragons are included in some of the most…


Vtuber Spotlight: Vanni.exe
In order to highlight as many creators as possible I have to search far and wide on this long and amazing journey. Our adventure takes us to a…


Vendor Spotlight: MistiousStar
So I haven’t done one of these in awhile so today here’s a vendor spotlight on an incredible artist MistiousStar. While I haven’t had the chance to visit…


Vendor Spotlight: ChibiBytes
Recently I was messaged by a vendor on Instagram who asked if I could try one of their shirts and feature them on my site. As someone who…


Vtuber Spotlight: Ramen
Normally as we take this journey we do so step by step; however, today we forgo the walking and take to the skies for this next Vtuber. We…


Vtuber Spotlight: MamaBlobfish
One of the things that I love most about the world of vtubing is how these amazing creations serve as representations of the person behind them. Some are…


VTuber Spotlight: Misinari
Thanks to improving my internet to a plan I can spend more time enjoying the amazing content from Twitch streamers. VTubers really caught my attention for some time…