Japanese Director Sion Sono Accused Of Sexual Harassment – Reports

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Louis C.K.’s win for Best Comedy Album at the 2022 Grammy Awards isn’t sitting well with at least one of his accusers.

EXCLUSIVE: After collaborating  on the film Greyhound — with  sequel in the works — and the just wrapped WWII series Masters of the Air, Playtone partners Tom Hanks and Gary Goetzman have made multi-year exclusive television overall deal with Apple TV+.

EXCLUSIVE: Los Angeles-based Synepic Entertainment is launching Sakka, a streaming service specializing in Japanese cinema. The platform will debut in North America and select further territories in early May, the company said. At launch, it will feature five movies: Happy Hour, the 2015 movie from recent Oscar nominee Ryusuke Hamaguchi; Shô Miyake’s 2018 feature And Your Bird Can Sing; Seiji Tanaka’s 2018 film Melancholic; Chihiro Amano’s 2019 pic Mrs Noisy; and Hajime Tsuda’s 2020 drama Daughters. Synepic said it was focusing on independent films and would be acquiring two further titles later in the summer. The company is also looking to host in-person screenings of films it acquires. “We are beyond proud to create this unique platform for Japanese films of new generations,” commented Chiaki Yanagimoto, the president of Synepic Entertainment and the founder of the platform. “There are many Japanese films that unfortunately don’t see their full potential outside of Japan because of the traditional distribution system there. After the win of Drive My Car, several critics pointed out that the Japanese system is outdated and indifferent to the international market. It is time to change that narrative and find new ways to share these inspiring works coming from Japan, and create a platform that truly cares about the films and the filmmakers.”

Elizabeth Wagmeister Senior CorrespondentJust over one week ago, disgraced comedian Louis C.K. won a Grammy. Well, perhaps before the Grammys, one could describe him as “disgraced.”In 2017, in the wake of sexual misconduct allegations by five women, C.K.

Patrick Frater Asia Bureau ChiefFilmRise, the New York-based film and television studio and streaming network, has acquired the North American rights to a large swath of Japanese anime titles, headlined by more than episodes of the “Yu- Gi-Oh!” franchise.The deal with Konami Cross Media NY, part of Japan’s Konami Group, grants AVOD streaming rights for the FilmRise Streaming Network, including apps and free ad-supported TV (FAST) channels.The Yu-Gi-Oh! franchise is based on the manga series that inspired a trading card game played with monsters, spells, and traps, several video games, and a television series.“This iconic Japanese property will be featured alongside other beloved anime content, on our FilmRise Anime channel a growing new destination for North American anime fans,” said Max Einhorn, FilmRise’s SVP of acquisitions and co-production. The video streaming package includes 808 episodes of the “Yu-Gi-Oh!” TV series in English, and 541 dubbed in Spanish.

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Variety Staff Follow Us on TwitterJapanese film producer Umekawa Haruo has been accused of sexual harassment by Bunshun Online, a sister site of the Shukan Bunshun weekly tabloid publication.According to a shortened web version of a longer story that is set to appear in print, Umekawa has pressured actresses for sexual favors in exchange for being cast in his films.The veteran producer has been active since the 1990s and is an associate of cult director Sono Sion. On Monday, Sono was accused of being a sex predator by the Shukan Josei PRIME entertainment news and gossip site.Umekawa’s credits include the 1990 indie drama “Swimming Upstream,” Sono’s 2008 international festival hit “Love Exposure” and his 2011 drama “Themis.” Umekawa’s most recent credit is Netflix’s lesbian-themed road movie “Ride or Die.” The multiple accusations against prominent figures appear to suggest that the #MeToo movement has belatedly arrived in Japan, where the entertainment industry has previously succeeded in sweeping many such matters under the carpet.On Wednesday, Sono issued a handwritten statement on his company’s website apologizing for the “inconvenience and disturbance” caused by the Shukan Josei report.

TOKYO -- A #MeToo crisis is raging in the Japanese film industry.A petition signed by top names, including Cannes’ Palme d’Or-winning Hirokazu Kore-eda, Cannes Jury Prize winner Koji Fukada and “Under the Sky” director Miwa Nishikawa, expresses outrage over sexual abuse.“These acts are unforgivable,” the statement said, calling for such acts to stop.The outburst comes after the premiere of two films directed by Hideo Sakaki, “Mitsugetsu” and “Hazard Lamp,” was suddenly canceled after a Japanese magazine, Shukan Bunshun, reported allegations of sexual violence from several women.His production company denounced sexual abuse and announced Sakaki had departed. Sakaki has apologized in a statement to fans and co-workers for the cancellations, while noting inaccuracies in the report, which he didn't specify.Actor Houka Kinoshita has paused his career after two women accused him of demanding sex against their will a decade ago.

Shukan Josei link his alleged predatory behavior to his acting workshops, and in addition to the two unnamed women, the piece also includes a quote from a Japanese film executive who accused Sono of misconduct. “Even now, there is a director who has no qualms about saying ‘If you screw me, I’ll give you work’. His films are acclaimed and many actresses want to appear in them.

TOKYO -- Japanese director Ryusuke Hamaguchi says he was surprised by the international popularity of his Oscar-winning film “Drive My Car,” but attributes it to the universality of the short story by Haruki Murakami on which it is based.The movie centers on an actor played by Hidetoshi Nishijima who is directing a multilingual production of Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya.” Still mourning the sudden loss of his wife, the actor, Kafuku, leads the cast in rehearsals in which they sit and read their lines flatly, ingesting the language for days before acting them out.The 3-hour-long story of grief, connection and recovery won an Academy Award last month for best international feature film.“Actually I was surprised by how widely this film has been accepted,” Hamaguchi said at a news conference in Tokyo on Tuesday, his first major event since the Oscar.While attributing its popularity to the universality of Murakami's story, Hamaguchi said the actors “put it on the screen in a very convincing way, even though I’m sure it was an extremely challenging task for them to embody Haruki Murakami's worldview.”The “inner reality” of the characters in the story is both the charm and difficulty of turning Murakami’s story into visuals, Hamaguchi said.“Describing inner reality ... is something movies are not very good at,” Hamaguchi said.

Sion Sono, the self-proclaimed maverick Japanese film director known for raunchy indie movies including “Love Exposure” and “Antiporno,” has been accused of sexual harassment by several actresses in Japan’s film industry.The accusations were published Monday by the Shukan Josei PRIME entertainment news and gossip site. In a lengthy article, several actresses made accusations against Sono under the protection of anonymity.

Jem Aswad Senior Music EditorOn the day before Thanksgiving 2021, Variety interviewed Michelle Zauner about her close friend Sasami and her new album “Squeeze” for our “Up Next” series — and since Zauner had just received two Grammy nominations two days before, we asked her about those as well, along with the success of her moving memoir about the death of her mother, “Crying in H Mart” and its forthcoming film, her songwriting process, and what might be coming next.We’d originally thought that we’d be publishing this article just a few weeks later, in advance of the Grammys Awards that were then scheduled for January 31, but the pandemic had other plans; the awards are now taking place this Sunday, April 3, from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Regardless, Zauner’s comments on all of the above are relevant and a revealing look at her creative and craft processes and inspirations — and check out our “Up Next” video on Sasami here.

Japanese with updates from their country that bring the harsh realities of war closer to Japan.The Russian invasion of Ukraine began just after the duo, Sava Tkachov, 26, and his younger brother Yan, 20, celebrated the second anniversary of their YouTube debut with subscribers exceeding 2 million for their Sawayan Channel and Sawayan Games that Sava hosts.The first word of war came from their father, a business consultant who had returned to Kyiv two months ago just before Russian troops rolled in and has stayed since to help defend his country. The siblings’ YouTube content, which used to be full of pranks, jokes and action videos, has become more serious.Worried about their 53-year-old father and friends in Ukraine, the brothers in early March announced on their channel that they planned to volunteer as defenders too.

Japanese Breakfast has shared a cover of Bon Iver‘s ‘Skinny Love’ as part of the Spotify Singles series, highlighting this year’s Best New Artist Grammy nominees. Listen to the track below.“We decided to record Bon Iver’s ‘Skinny Love’ because it felt like a very surprising cover for Japanese Breakfast,” Michelle Zauner said.

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