People have found ways; someone posted an earlier comment about a festival (available online) that they found it would be playing in. And I've seen it being in two more, in another country.
If you can find current or upcoming film festivals in your country that play programmes of shorts, I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them plays it. Though I expect it will eventually be on Vimeo, and/or maybe GagaOOLala, given the subject.
Currently, this can be watched online in the UK as part of the Iris Prize Film Festival until the end of October. You can pay what you can to see the programme it's included in (even nothing, if you're not in a position to spare anything for it. https://irisprize.org/film/how-to-die-young-in-manila/
I'm excited that I might get to see it in a cinema, so will avoid watching it online before then. But, given the early time of the only screening, I'm grateful that it will be possible to watch it online if I don't get to it in the cinema.
It appears to be very popular at film festivals worldwide, and many of these now make at least all the new shorts playing in them available online throughout the country they're based in. One's best chance of seeing it currently would therefore be to search for current and upcoming film festivals in your country that have programmes of shorts.
After it has played in all the festivals it's going to, I imagine it will then be available long-term and worldwide on Vimeo, either for free or to buy or rent (as that tends to be the life cycle of theatrical shorts nowadays). Although successful ones sometimes get licensed by subscription streaming services.
The movie is, as of 15 October 2021, now out in cinemas in the USA and Canada. Locations and opening dates are…
In most regions in which it's been licensed (US/CA being the only exception I know), it's been by the same distributor that has licensed "Drive My Car". Some have gone for releasing "Fortune and Fantasy" earlier (which premiered earlier), but the distributors in most have opted for releasing "Drive My Car" first and following it with "Fortune and Fantasy" some months later (including at home in Japan).
thank you for this article and for also having links even for those not found here in MDL. i discovered some films…
Some of those mentioned are already out on demand in a lot of the world, but there are ones premiered more recently that are still playing the festival circuit, and some in between that have cinema or online releases currently happening or planned for within the next few months, depending on the country.
With MDL itself not listing local release dates, you'd be best to search around lists of release dates and the sites of film festivals in your country, many of which are still partly available online throughout the country they're based in.
Thanks a lot for the article. It also reminded me I really need to watch Wife of a spy, which is probably of he…
It's planned to be released in cinemas across France and French-speaking Europe in December by Art House: https://arthouse-films.fr
I don't think that will be the only one, though. French distributors and cinemas take East Asian cinema seriously in a way that other Western countries, at least the UK, reserve for French cinema. No matter how successful they are when they are released in cinemas, and how popular their dramas are on streaming services, the rule remains generally remains in force that only movies from directors who became known in the UK in the early 2000s can be released in cinemas there now, near 20 years later.
HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke has become one director to break that rule, with both of his 2021 features having cinema releases set. It's even harder for Korean movies than Japanese ones, even if it stars an actress who has just won both a BAFTA film award and an Oscar.
I'm sure there will be even more than those already released or planed to be released in cinemas in France, and it will be possible to find out the dates and distributors by searching for them at https://www.allocine.fr – because the French titles might be different from the English titles, it's probably easiest to find the movies by searching for the names of the director or cast members. France is maybe the country outside East Asia where one can see the highest number of East Asian movies in cinemas on national releases… more certainly when limited to releases marketed to the general public. The US and Australia have many as well, but often marketed only at expat communities and playing in just a few cities.
Currently, the recent animated movie of "Seven Days War", with the voices of KITAMURA Takumi and YOSHINE Kyoko, is playing in French cinemas, distributed by Eurozoom under the title "7 Jours" (though at least some screenings will be dubbed into French; one needs to check with cinemas' own websites to confirm which language screenings are in): https://www.facebook.com/eurozoom.distributeur/posts/3061318897482265
In some other countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, it's currently on MUBI for a limited time: https://mubi.com/films/wife-of-a-spy
It's as clear as thick mud whether it will be available outside the UK. But it might be worth trying with a free ticket and donating afterwards if it works, or paying for a ticket and getting a refund if it doesn't.
The movie is now available to watch with English subtitles legally in various countries on MUBI (which has a free trial available): https://mubi.com/films/labyrinth-of-cinema
If you want to find what other Japanese or East Asian movies in general are on it, to make the most of the trial, one can usually find what's on it from any one country within the first few pages of what's trending for that country: https://mubi.com/films?country=Japan
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09JB2LH9J
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08PNXRMGY
https://www.leedsfilm.com/whats-on/the-town-of-headcounts-fanomenon-opening-film/
If you can find current or upcoming film festivals in your country that play programmes of shorts, I wouldn't be surprised if one or more of them plays it. Though I expect it will eventually be on Vimeo, and/or maybe GagaOOLala, given the subject.
https://irisprize.org/film/how-to-die-young-in-manila/
It will also be showing in Leeds and available online throughout the UK in Leeds International Film Festival from 3–18 November, in the below programme.
https://www.leedsfilm.com/whats-on/leeds-international-short-film-competition-5-heart-of-darkness-2021/
I'm excited that I might get to see it in a cinema, so will avoid watching it online before then. But, given the early time of the only screening, I'm grateful that it will be possible to watch it online if I don't get to it in the cinema.
It appears to be very popular at film festivals worldwide, and many of these now make at least all the new shorts playing in them available online throughout the country they're based in. One's best chance of seeing it currently would therefore be to search for current and upcoming film festivals in your country that have programmes of shorts.
After it has played in all the festivals it's going to, I imagine it will then be available long-term and worldwide on Vimeo, either for free or to buy or rent (as that tends to be the life cycle of theatrical shorts nowadays). Although successful ones sometimes get licensed by subscription streaming services.
https://www.filmmovement.com/product/the-real-thing
https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/712172/watch?translate=false&locale=CA
In the UK and Ireland, it's still playing at festivals, and will be out on general release on 11 February 2022: https://www.modernfilms.com/wheeloffortuneandfantasy
In Australia and New Zealand, it's been licensed for release but has no date set yet: http://potentialfilms.com/contemporary-movies/wheel-of-fortune-and-fantasy/
With MDL itself not listing local release dates, you'd be best to search around lists of release dates and the sites of film festivals in your country, many of which are still partly available online throughout the country they're based in.
These might help, but I don't know how comprehensive any of them really are:
https://www.screendaily.com/news/2021-film-festivals-and-markets-latest-dates-postponements-and-cancellations/5155284.article
https://www.nyfa.edu/student-resources/film-festivals/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_film_festivals
https://festagent.com/en/festivals
https://arthouse-films.fr
I don't think that will be the only one, though. French distributors and cinemas take East Asian cinema seriously in a way that other Western countries, at least the UK, reserve for French cinema. No matter how successful they are when they are released in cinemas, and how popular their dramas are on streaming services, the rule remains generally remains in force that only movies from directors who became known in the UK in the early 2000s can be released in cinemas there now, near 20 years later.
HAMAGUCHI Ryusuke has become one director to break that rule, with both of his 2021 features having cinema releases set. It's even harder for Korean movies than Japanese ones, even if it stars an actress who has just won both a BAFTA film award and an Oscar.
"True Mothers" was released in France in July this year by Haut et Court (in the UK it was only released online):
https://www.hautetcourt.com/films/truemothers/
While Hamaguchi's "Drive My Car" was released in August and "Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy" is set for January 2022, both from Diaphana:
http://diaphana.fr/film/drive-my-car/
http://diaphana.fr/film/contes-du-hasard-et-autres-fantaisies/
I'm sure there will be even more than those already released or planed to be released in cinemas in France, and it will be possible to find out the dates and distributors by searching for them at https://www.allocine.fr – because the French titles might be different from the English titles, it's probably easiest to find the movies by searching for the names of the director or cast members. France is maybe the country outside East Asia where one can see the highest number of East Asian movies in cinemas on national releases… more certainly when limited to releases marketed to the general public. The US and Australia have many as well, but often marketed only at expat communities and playing in just a few cities.
Currently, the recent animated movie of "Seven Days War", with the voices of KITAMURA Takumi and YOSHINE Kyoko, is playing in French cinemas, distributed by Eurozoom under the title "7 Jours" (though at least some screenings will be dubbed into French; one needs to check with cinemas' own websites to confirm which language screenings are in):
https://www.facebook.com/eurozoom.distributeur/posts/3061318897482265
https://kinomarquee.com/film/venue/611abb6dc2b2700001bb89e0
And in Canada from 22 October:
http://www.filmswelike.com/films/wife-of-a-spy
French-speaking Europe is getting it in cinemas from 8 December:
https://arthouse-films.fr/films/les-amants-sacrifies/
In some other countries, including the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand, it's currently on MUBI for a limited time:
https://mubi.com/films/wife-of-a-spy
On the Indian subcontinent, distributor Impact Films have released it online on BookMyShow Stream:
https://in.bookmyshow.com/explore/c/stream
https://woffglasgow.com/films/female-perspective-competition-12-months-of-kai/
It's as clear as thick mud whether it will be available outside the UK. But it might be worth trying with a free ticket and donating afterwards if it works, or paying for a ticket and getting a refund if it doesn't.
It's also showing in a cinema in London on 24 October, with the writer and director attending:
https://sci-fi-london.com/12-months-of-kai/
Though this one is locked to Germany, some other documentaries in the festival's Nippon Docs section are accessible from most countries worldwide.
https://mubi.com/films/labyrinth-of-cinema
If you want to find what other Japanese or East Asian movies in general are on it, to make the most of the trial, one can usually find what's on it from any one country within the first few pages of what's trending for that country:
https://mubi.com/films?country=Japan
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/lee-byung-yoon-on-yuwol-the-boy-who-made-the-world-dance-tickets-150156366735
Festivals in other countries might play it later, now that it has been subbed.