Japan Foundation screens live-action Silver Spoon movie and more this July

As you might expect, the Japan Foundation loves to screen Japanese cinema whenever they get an opportunity, and next month will see them offering up two days of free screenings in London under the banner of their Summer Explorers 3 event, a programme of films celebrating another thing we all love - food.

Most notably for anime fans, this event includes a screening of the live-action Silver Spoon film for the first time in the UK, as part of a smorgasbord of movies. Here's the full line-up complete with dates and times:

Part One: Saturday, 15 July 2017
Prince Charles Cinema, London - 7 Leicester Place, London WC2H 7BY

12:00PM - Oyster Factory
Located in the remote town of Ushimado in Okayama, where oyster shucking has traditionally been a job for local men and women, this documentary observes the Hirano oyster factory upon their decision to bring in two workers from China.

2:45PM - Akanezora - Beyond the Crimson Sky
Eikichi, a young tofu maker, ventures from Kyoto to Edo (present-day Tokyo) to open a tofu shop. Years later with the rock-solid business still going strong, Eikichi and his family are thrown into a critical situation that threatens to pull them apart.

Part Two: Saturday, 22 July 2017
BAFTA, London - 195 Piccadilly, London W1J 9LN

11:00AM - Silver Spoon
At a vocational high school for dairy farming in Hokkaido, where students can try their hands at farming, city boy Yugo, whose decision to enrol was an attempt to avoid his parents and classmates, is struggling to adapt to his new “nature-oriented” surroundings.

1:10PM - There Is No Lid on the Sea
In an adaptation of a story by Banana Yoshimoto, Mari, tired of city life, returns to her hometown of Nishiizu to open a shop selling her favourite childhood treat: kakigori (shaved ice dessert). As Mari finds that the nostalgic flavours help soothe the emotional wounds of her customers, she begins to come to terms with her own.

2:55PM - A Drop of the Grapevine
In a film about soul food set in the picturesque Sorachi region of Hokkaido, anti-social farmer Ao tends a vineyard and dreams of making the perfect pinot noir, while his younger brother Roku grows wheat to make bread. One day, out of the blue, a friendly traveller appears and breathes new life into their days.

You can find all of the details of the event on the Japan Foundation web site. Although all of these screenings are free, you do still need to book your place to attend, you can find Google Forms to book a place on day one or day two of the event using those provided links.