<html><head></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class="">Dear KineJapanners,</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; min-height: 11px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class="">The Foreign Correspondents' Club in Yurakucho will be screening the first new release in 5 years from Ogigami Naoko, followed by a Q&A session with the writer-director, on February 8.</div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; min-height: 11px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class="">Since FCCJ is a private club, you must reserve your seats through Screenings Curator Karen Severns: <span style="text-decoration: underline" class=""><a href="mailto:kjs30@gol.com" class="">kjs30@gol.com</a>.</span> </div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; min-height: 11px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(6, 6, 6);" class=""><b class="">FCCJ SNEAK PREVIEW SCREENING</b></div><div style="margin: 0px; text-align: justify; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class=""><b class="">WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 8 at 6</b><span style="color: #060606" class=""><b class="">:45 pm </b></span><span style="font-size: 10px; line-height: normal;" class="">(note early start time) </span></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -9px; font-size: 11px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; min-height: 12px;" class=""><b class=""></b><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -22.3px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class=""><b class="">CLOSE-KNIT (Karera ga Honki de Amu Tokiwa)</b></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -22.5px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class="">Japan, 2017; 127 minutes; Japanese with English subtitles</div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -22.5px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(6, 6, 6);" class="">Followed by a Q&A session with director Naoko Ogigami</div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -9px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; min-height: 11px;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -22.5px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial;" class="">Join the Film Committee for writer-director Naoko Ogigami’s (“Kamome Diner”) new film, one of the first Japanese releases to feature a sexual minority as its main character. That character is played, in a groundbreaking performance of extraordinary sensitivity and charm, by megastar Toma Ikuta (“The Mole Song). As with her previous work, Ogigami’s “Close-Knit” is a gentle, humor-laced story about quirky, amiable characters: fifth-grader Tomo heads for her uncle Makio’s (Kenta Kiritani) place when her mother abandons her yet again. There, she meets his beautiful girlfriend Rinko (Ikuta), who warmly welcomes her and proves to be a much better mom than her own. But Rinko is transgender, and soon, Tomo is being bullied about her new “weird family,” inviting the unwanted attention of Child Services inspectors. Rinko helps calm Tomo by showing her how to knit, working out her anger with each stitch. But will the family that stitches together be able to stay together? </div><p style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -22.5px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; min-height: 11px;" class=""> <br class="webkit-block-placeholder"></p><div style="margin: 0px 0px 0px -22.3px; font-size: 10px; line-height: normal; font-family: Arial; color: rgb(6, 6, 6);" class=""><b class="">For more</b> (Japanese only): <span style="color: #000000" class=""><a href="https://urldefense.proofpoint.com/v2/url?u=http-3A__kareamu.com&d=DwMFaQ&c=clK7kQUTWtAVEOVIgvi0NU5BOUHhpN0H8p7CSfnc_gI&r=e7qMG9KFq7WNnPQWULWHJA&m=65UNovI6FNeDHv-WgPo6ySD5Q7PWWMSN_KHnRry0tKc&s=U90AueV6csH7CRCYche4BhLGZP_kb4Yj3GDys1HRhyU&e=" class="">http://kareamu.com</a></span></div></body></html>