By Liza Foreman   OKINAWA,  JAPAN They say that laughter is the best medicine and the residents of Okinawa should know. On Friday,the inhabitants of this tropical prefecture in the south of Japan, which has been dubbed the longevity island thanks to having the highest known number ofcentenarians worldwide, welcomed around 50 of the country’s leading comedians to launch the 4th edition of the Okinawa International Movie Festival (March 24 - 31: 2012), whi...

For the last five consecutive years JAPAN CUTS, the New York festival of contemporary Japanese Cinema   has been embedded in the New York Asian Film Festival and steadily gained in importance. There are now more films from Japan at the NY Asian Film Festival than from any other country. Programmed during the Film Festival, at the Walter Read Theater and the Japan Society from July 1-14, 35 Japanese films were shown. It included 32 new titles, mostly premieres which were presented only once. Th...