Waterboys (PG)
2000 / colour / 91 mins
Director: Shinobu Yaguchi
Producer: Shoji Masui
Screenwriter: Shinobu Yaguchi
Cast: Satoshi Tsumabuki, Naoto Takenaka, Kaori Manabe, Akira Emoto

Suzuki is the last remaining member of Tadano High School's swimming team. If no new members join the team this year, it will be cancelled altogether. Fortunately, a pretty teacher, Sakuma, is picked as the swim team's new coach. After class, 30 young men gather at the poolside. Many of them want to join the team for reasons other than a love of the water! Sakuma, however, had dreamed of coaching a synchronised swimming team, an ambition that was shattered when she was assigned to work at a boys school. She announces to the students that she plans to teach them synchronised swimming in spite of their gender. Most of the young men flee instantly.

When the dust settles, only five students including Suzuki are left. Hoping to cheer Sakuma up, they launch into a silly imitation of Olympic-style women's synchronised swimming moves. An overjoyed Sakuma decides that the team will present a synchronised swimming performance at the school festival. The five members are taken aback...

 
 
 
 
The Story Beyond the Fence is a multi media documentary which tells the story of a group of Australian children visiting Japan to take part in a children’s theatre festival.
By using multiple layers of narration, interviews, music, photographs and video, The Story Beyond the Fence is an honest account of how the children view their experiences in Japan.
   
Director: Mayu Kanamori
  in collaboration with videograopher, Kenichi Kasho
http://www.cozy-life.com


*Click photo to enlarge
 

© The Japan Foundation, Sydney 2004-2005