Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on April 2011

Fans of Italian cinema will be living la dolce vita during Golden Week as the Festival del Cinema Italiano 2011 is held at Yurakucho Asahi Hall (2-5-1 Yurakucho, Chiyoda; www.asahi.com), on April 29-May 4. The 12 new films in the lineup include La Prima Cosa Bella (“The First Beautiful Thing”; 2010) a bittersweet drama about a professor who must make amends with his family when he returns to his hometown and his dying mother, and Figli Delle Stelle (“Children of the Stars”; 2010; pictured), a comedy about a group of misfits who attempt to kidnap a government official. www.asahi.com/italia/2011

Maverick filmmakers Spike Jonze, Charlie Kaufman and Michel Gondry will get their due at an all-night screening at Shin-Bungeiza in Ikebukuro (3F, 1-43-5 Higashi-Ikebukuro, Toshima; www.shin-bungeiza.com), May 7. Nocturnal movie lovers can catch oddball classics Being John Malkovich (1999), Human Nature (2001), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Synecdoche, New York (2008).

Art house Laputa in Asagaya (2-12-21 Asagaya Kita, Suginami; www.laputa-jp.com/laputa) will open up the celluloid vaults to fish out a selection of classics from the golden age of Nikkatsu (1954-1966). After an unsuccessful experiment with samurai films in the ’50s, the studio struck gold with a genre that put young stars such as Yujiro Ishihara and Ruriko Asaoka in stories of urban youth in revolt. http://meturl.com/nikkatsu

Unless otherwise noted, Japanese films are shown without English subtitles and non-English language films are shown with only Japanese subtitles.