The first film - we call it 'buena mano' - to play at BAKUNAWA FEST X (tenth edition) on Day 1 (November 6, 2023) Monday at 10AM, UPFI FIlm Center's VIDEOTHEQUE is "Let's Go Ishikawa!!" by TAKASHINA Takumi of Japan (FREE SCREENING!). It's a drama-comedy about a regular employee who is convinced to return to his filmmaking roots from his youth and direct a movie for a backwoods town. While in principal photography of said film, he and his crew inadvertently uncovers a long-held local secret in comedic fashion.

Director TAKASHINA Takumi employs a lighthearted, entertaining approach with enough twists and turns to keep audiences engaged. The town depicted in the film may be fictional but it's indicative of countless communities across modern Japan that are gradually vanishing. Takashina Takumi is a Japanese filmmaker whose films have been finalists at the Pia Film Festival in Japan which started in 1977 and is said to be the launching pad of many very talented young Japanese filmmakers. He is the director of "Let's Go Ishikawa!!" (2022), Kasumi Hime Reiiki (2021), Shinrei Yami Douga 13 (2015) Shinrei Yami Douga 14 (2016) and The Legend of Princess Kasumi (2020) which was selected at the Valdivia International Film Festival in Chile.

It is important to mention that the film's theme was one of the deciding factors why we programmed this as the festival's first screening prior to the opening night (scheduled Nov 8, 2023 WED). Bakunawa Fest sees the film as reflective of many independent filmmakers - young and the young at heart - whose passions in filmmaking have been superceded by the demands of life.

This year Bakunawa Fest features two long-time filmmakers/artists who has created new films - Yeye Calderon and Bob Macabenta. The drive to create and tell stories run in the blood of artists and filmmakers and "Let's Go Ishikawa!!" shows that in playful ways.

"Let's Go Ishikawa!!" is co-presented by Pia Film Festival, Outlines, Printwiz Digital Press and EdukSine!

See you all at the festival!