On Friday night the TikiTiki Bamboooos, Miyaji Tiki, Noriko Bamboooos and Manu-Tiki, straight from Jawaii played exotic Hula~Hula surf sounds at the festivalcafe Absolutely the Greatest Tiki Show on Earth!

Downstairs the annual Soba-Ya soup lounge served delicious Japanese noodle soup accompanied by karaoke. The night was such a success, that people kept asking for more the next day.

On Saturday evening the Japanese DJ Team Banzai Kids (DJ Kentastic and DJ Hito) rocked the festivalcafe. They did a mixture of Pop, Lounge, Hip Hop, Drum'n'Bass and Japanese Clubmusic, which kept people going until the early hours of the morning.

The huge success of the festival concept shows in the increasing audience numbers. Every day the festival center, where most of the program was held, was crowded and nearly every film was sold out. Another sure sign of the quality of the program is the fact that other festivals and institutions are very interested in the program. Under the label "Nippon Connection on Tour" films will be shown in Leipzig, (22.April - 2.May 2004) and at the Barcelona Asian Film Festival (30.April - 8.May 2004).

In Frankfurt, the festival came to an end on Sunday night, with everybody being happy and tired and filled with many new impressions. As the lights started to go out Tom Mes, who had held a lecture on V-Cinema, got up on a chair to thank the wonderful audience and all the volunteers, who created the festivals special atmosphere and made it such a wonderful place to be. Can't wait till next year!

Nippon Connection 2004 Japanese Filmfestival
Date: April 14th - 18th 2004
Venue: Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, German Filmmuseum, Literaturhaus, Filmtheater Valentin, Frankfurt a.M. Germany
info@nipponconnection.de
http://www.nipponconnection.de

Entry deadline for Nippon Connection 2005: 31 January 2005


Text: Catrin Altenbrandt from Pixelgarten
Photos: Adrian Niessler
Interior/Print Design of the Festival: Thomas Maier, Hardy Burmeier, David Hessler, Adrian Niessler and Catrin Altenbrandt