EPILOGUE by Amir Manor [Tokyo Filmex 2012]

Having attended the Tokyo Filmex three times, this year marks the very first time when I actually got to catch the Grand Prix winner in the festival.

MEMORIES LOOK AT ME by Song Fang [Tokyo Filmex 2012]

The Tokyo Filmex ended a few days ago. I was surprised that I had managed to catch all three of the award-winning films. (well, except Kim Ki-Duk's PIETA, which won the Audience Award)

MEMORIES LOOK AT ME 记忆望着我 by Song Fang 宋方 is a Chinese docudrama that received the Special Jury Prize at Filmex. It was also the Best First Feature award winner at the Locarno Film Festival.

Photos of Tokyo International Forum at night. And autumn.

While waiting for the "111 GIRLS" screening at Filmex last night, I decided to take a walk and kill some time.


Nearby was the Tokyo International Forum building, which I haven't stepped in for four years. I thought it would snap some photos of the place.

BAD FILM by Sono Sion [Tokyo Filmex 2012]

I have been attending some screenings at the Tokyo Filmex since it started last week on Nov 24th.

The Tokyo Filmex is one of the two major film festivals in Tokyo (the other being the Tokyo International Film Festival held a month earlier). Ever since I moved to Tokyo, I had attended screenings at the 2008 and 2009 editions of the festival, but was unable to do so in the last 2 years because I was either at the Torino Film Festival 2010 or the Golden Horse 2011.

So it's good to finally be back, indulge myself in some films.

Happy 30th Anniversary, Mom and Dad

All my life, I have never really remembered the actual date of my parents' wedding anniversary.

But today is their 30th anniversary, so there's no way I'm going to forget it. (it only happened because 2 years ago Mom was emailing me an e-card she made for Dad to celebrate today, and I had a glimpse of the actual date of their anniversary!!)

Songs sung by my mom 我妈妈戚舜琴的歌

Yesterday (November 17th) was my mom's birthday.
昨天（11月17日）是我妈妈的生日。

In certain parts of the world, it IS still my mom's birthday.
在一些国家， 现在还是我妈的生日。

Over the years since I started this blog, I usually mention about her birthday.
每一年我都会在这部落上提起这一天。

I might have also mentioned before that she was a singer before she married Dad. And these are her albums.
你们也有可能知道我妈妈戚舜琴曾经是一名歌手。 跟老爸结了婚以后就退出歌坛。

Fascinated by THE THIEF AND THE COBBLER, an incomplete masterpiece 30 years in the making

I haven't updated this blog the past two weeks because I was busy with my doctorate dissertation. The week that led to the dissertation were spent mostly in my dimly-lit room or my lab in Waseda University. It was a repetitive cycle of writing, researching, drinking lots of black coffee. The topic was something I have been familiar with for the past four years (It's an expansion of my Masters' Thesis), so it's not as difficult as I have worried. But there were still a lot of things to write.

Exactly a week ago, on a Friday afternoon, I managed to turn in my dissertation. Whatever happens next is beyond my control. Having not slept for the past 48 hours, I was tired when it all ended.

Saturday was a day I chose to recharge my energies. There was nothing else I planned to do except staying on my bed.

While doing that, I read on The Playlist about a documentary called PERSISTENCE OF VISION, a documentary about animator Richard Williams' 30-year-long work on his passion project "The Thief And The Cobbler".