Eigai Sai: The Japanese Film Festival 2011

Last Saturday, Erick and I went to Shang to watch one of the films shown at the Eega Sai. Eiga Sai means film festival in Japanese. It’s on its 13th year already and it is organized by the Embassy of Japan, Japan Foundation, and the UP Film Institute in lieu of the Philippines-Japanese Friendship Month.

Eegai Sai: The Japanese Film Festival 2011

We wanted to watch Departures which won the Best Foreign Language Film in 2009 in the 81st Academy Award. Unfortunately,we didn’t catch the release of tickets. Apparently, the organizers released the ticket earlier than expected. So anyway, we settled into the next film, The Summit: A Chronicle of Stones which was also an award-winning movie.

The Summit features the story of a surveyor Yoshitaro Shibazaki and his guide Chojiri Uni along with their other companions as they conquered one of Japan’s highest peak in, Mt. Tsurugidake  to complete a map of their country. The mountain is known to be a “mountain of death” because no one succeeded by far to reach its peak. Those who tried failed and others even died on their journey to the peak. 

Journey to Mt. Tsurugidake's summit (from Wiki)

 “Embrace the snow as you ascend Mt. Tsurugidake  and embrace the snow as you descend Mt. Tsurugidake “ were the repeating words of the monk Yoshitaro and Chojiori met during their climb to the mountain. The mountain has the worst winter any mountain climber would find unbearable. To achieve something unimaginable, you must truly embrace the experience especially the challenges you encounter.

The movie ignited my plan to climb Mt. Kinabalu next year : ) Ain’t no mountain high!

Admission to the movie is free. Tickets are released an hour before the screening but better be early. All movies are shown with English sub-titles. Screening is at Shang Cineplex 4 at the Shangri-la Plaza Mall. 

To view the complete movie listings and schedules, click here.