[TIFF 2008 Day Five]

Today also marks the start to TIFFCOM, which features the Asia-Pacific Entertainment Market.

From a film angle, after having gone around the booths, you can't help but to feel overwhelmed by the number of movies which are in various stages of production, and looking at just the Japanese output alone, I thought there were some interesting gems from amongst the noise. TIFFCOM also has its separate set of screenings, and this just adds to the array of combinations to plan your day ahead, given that you can only choose either one event from either programme to attend.

Screenings for TIFFCOM might not be in a proper theatrical hall, but at a makeshift screening room set up. However, effort can be seen in having position the screen at a correct height to prevent those behind from being blocked (non-stadium seating of course), and had a decent 5.1 sound systsem set up in the room.


There were a number of booths which I stopped over, and having no time to plough through the handouts, I'll be doing so at first opportunity when Iget home, so if I do find anything interesting from the sack of stash I have, I'll let everyone know.

Screenings today included those from the TIFFCOM lineup in Handsome Suits and Cheer Cheer Cheer! Had given up Taiwan's Winds of September to opt for Handsome Suits instead, and the other film viewed was the excellent Claustrophobia by Hong Kong's Ivy Ho in her maiden directorial debut.


I had actually planned to attend the Love Fight Arena event, given that I've been a new convert for the movie, but as the registration was cutting too close to the screening of another movie (Claustrophobia, which was fantastic), I had decided to give this event up quite reluctantly. Thank goodness for Claustrophobia being as good as I thought it would be!

This is Day 5 from the Tokyo International Film Festival, which began with a 2 hour train ride (which usually takes half that time) because of peak hour human traffic, and the inexperience of yours truly to impossibly squeeze into sardine-packed train.