Have fun together even if you have an audiovisual disability Universal Film Festival 2024" will be held Held in Kita-ku, Tokyo on September 26 and 27

Y-Planning Inc. (Head office: Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Representative: Tokihiko Yamazoe), a company that manages entertainment talent and plans, produces, and operates various events, together with Dream Kid Inc. (headquartered in Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo; Akiko Seo, Representative) will hold "Universal Film Festival 2024," a barrier-free film event, at Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall in Kita-ku, Tokyo, on September 26 (Thursday) and 27 (Friday), 2024.

Universal Film Festival 2024

Program

Talk guests will take the stage for each of the screenings.

Thursday, September 26

10:00 "Ichiban Aitai Hito" 106min. + Talk 30min.

Talk Guests: Jou (Director), Seiko Natsui (Actress), Koichi Miura (Actor), Masaya Yamamoto (Singer), Tomoko Hori (Producer)

14:00 "The Law of Sharing" 107 min + talk approx. 30 min

Talk Guest: Hiroki Owada(Producer), Shinji Kuma(Director), Akiko Iwase(Screenplay & Cast)

19:00 "Yumemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru yomemiru

Voice-over Kakeai Katsuben: Ban Hiroi, Tsuyoshi Fujimoto, Nanae Tabata, Mikiyan, Taro Aioka, Akiko Sasaki

Talk Guests: Kaizo Hayashi (Director), Hiroki Owada (Producer), Asako Hirokawa (President, NPO TA-net), Naoyuki Okochi (Project Researcher, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Tokyo)

Friday, September 27

10:00 "Mothers Together" 106 min. + Talk 20 min.

Talk Guest: Director Ryosuke Hashiguchi

13:30 "The Tall Chimneys of a Town" 130 min. + 20 min. talk

Talk Guest: Director Katsuya Matsumura, Naoyuki Okochi (Project Researcher, Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo), Hiroe Ohashi (Deaf Actor)

19:00 "Ukiyo Monogatari" Katsuben Cinema Concert 87min. + Mini-concert

Benshi (Action Photo Benshi): Akiko Sasaki

Live performance by Saito Memorial Ensemble

Venue

Venue】 Kitatopia Tsutsuji Hall (5 min. walk from Oji Sta.)

Ticket prices】 【Ticket prices

0General 4 works

　General 2,000 yen / Handicapped and caregivers 1,000 yen each

0 "I want to sleep like a dream" Koeiro Kakeiai

　General 2,500 yen in advance, 3,000 yen at the door / 1,500 yen each for disabled persons and caregivers

Ukiyo Monogatari" Katsuben Cinema Concert

　General 3,500 yen in advance, 4,000 yen at the door / Handicapped and caregivers 2,000 yen each

z One-day ticket for 26th

　General 4,500 yen / Handicapped and caregivers 2,500 yen each

Day ticket for 27th

　General 5,500 yen / 4,500 yen each for disabled persons and caregivers

All prices include tax.

What is "Live Voice Guide"?

Live voice guide is an audio guide in which a narrator speaks live on the side of the screen and is played openly from the speakers in the venue.

Although voice guidance using terminal applications and earphones such as UDCast and Hello! The guide, like a natural narration that accompanies the scene so that able-bodied people can also enjoy it, is less stressful for the visually impaired and gently helps many people to understand.

Akiko Sasaki, a leading expert in live audio guided tours and a katsudo benshi (benshi is a Japanese word that means "live speech" in Japanese, and is a film narrator), supervises all the guides together with the director and producer of each film. Through monitoring by people with disabilities, we provide a movie-viewing experience that can be enjoyed by everyone.

◆Japanese subtitles also open

The number of screenings with subtitles for the hearing impaired at movie theaters is limited. MOVIE, which is a service offered at movie theaters to view Japanese-language subtitles through smart glasses, has not been widely adopted due to the stress involved. At this year's festival, all films will be screened with Japanese subtitles.

Although it may seem unnecessary for people with normal hearing, the subtitles have been well received, as the textual information helps people understand the dialogue clearly and the kanji characters make it easier to grasp the content.

◆A groundbreaking attempt to create a barrier-free environment by using voice-controlled color-coded active dialogue.

This was the first attempt to present a quasi-non-silent film, Kaizo Hayashi's masterpiece "Yumemiru Yonaeru" (I want to sleep like a dream), in a live katsuben performance by six people playing different roles, like voice actors. Director Kaizo Hayashi and blind people who monitored the performance said, "This is interesting! This is the first time this has been done before, and both the disabled and the general audience will enjoy it a lot! This is unprecedented, and both people with disabilities and the general public will enjoy it a lot!

The film will be presented with Japanese subtitles to visualize the music and sound effects, as well as the narration by the late benshi (Matsuda Shunsui), providing a new visual experience.

◆Katsuben Cinema Concert, Yasujiro Ozu's "Ukikusa Monogatari" with music from "Ukikusa"!

The silent film "Ukigusa Monogatari" was the No. 1 film of the 1934 Kine Season. Ozu remade this film himself in 1959 as the talkie "Ukigusa". This time, the "Saito Memorial Ensemble," the sons of Mr. Takajun Saito, who composed the music for Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story," "Ukigusa," and "The Taste of Autumn Fishes," will perform a gorgeous live performance by a seven-member ensemble. This is the first attempt to arrange and perform the music of Kohjun Saito's "Floating Weeds" to Akiko Sasaki's live speech.

◆Film experience for both disabled people and filmmakers to share time and space

By making films barrier-free and screening them at the festival, audiences with or without disabilities can enjoy the same films in the same space with the filmmakers.

We hope that many people will come and experience this.

We hope that this film festival will bring people's thoughts and imagination to the daily lives of the visually impaired and the hearing impaired, and help to realize a universal society that is easy for everyone to live in.

Sponsor: Y-Planning Inc.

Y-Planning Inc.

Co-sponsors

Dream Kid Inc., NPO B-map, Japan Association for the Arts and Culture of the Visually Impaired

Supported by

Tokyo Welfare Association for the Blind, NPO TOMO, NPO Setagaya-ku Welfare Association for the Visually Impaired, Tokyo Federation of the Hearing Impaired, Kita-ku Cultural Promotion Foundation, Braille Library

NPO Theatre Accessibility Network (TA-net) / Palabra Corporation / Creators Lab Bacchus / NPO Japan Association for Information Dissemination and Support of the Visually Impaired / TT Global / Shochiku Broadcasting / K-Move / Mazda Film Corporation Saito Memorial Ensemble

Subsidized by

Tokyo Metropolitan Foundation for History and Culture, Arts Council Tokyo [Grant for Creation of Artistic Culture Attractiveness