Hula Girls (film screening)

Hula Girls

Tuesday, December 16, 6:00PM (ET)

Doors open 5:30PM | Film Screening | In-Person | JFT Event Hall

Directed by LEE Sang-il • 2006 • Comedy / Drama • 120 minutes • Presented in Japanese with English subtitles • Trailer

In 1965, desperate to reverse their economic fortunes, the elders of Iwaki, a small Japanese coal-mining town, decide to create a Hawaiian center tourist attraction. They hire Madoka (MATSUYUKI Yasuko), a professional dancer from Tokyo, to recruit and train hula dancers. The group includes hulking Sayuri (YAMASAKI Shizuyo) and the hesitant Kimiko (AOI Yû). Things seem hopeless at first, but with encouragement from Kimiko’s brother, Yojiro (TOYOKAWA Etsushi), Madoka redoubles her efforts to make things work.

Based on real life events, Hula Girls premiered at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival and went on to win five major awards at the 2007 Japan Academy Film Prize, including Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Supporting Actress, and Most Popular Film. It was also chosen for Japan’s entry for the 79th Oscars for Best Foreign Language Film.

Content advisory: brief scenes of domestic violence. 

If you are interested in director LEE Sang-il’s latest film, the critical and commercial success Kokuho, don’t miss the screening at the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre on Jan 23, 2026!

Free admission. 

Registration for this event is now full. If you wish to be notified when a cancelled slot becomes available, please join the waitlist on Eventbrite (limited spots). We will also have a rush line before the event to release available seats on a first-come, first-served basis. Admission is not guaranteed. Thank you for your understanding.

Register

Director Profile:

LEE Sang-il (李相日) is a Japanese film director and screenwriter of Zainichi Korean descent. Lee studied at the Japan Institute of the Moving Image. His graduation project and directorial debut was the medium-length film Chong (1999), about the lives of third-generation Koreans living in Japan. The film won four awards including the Grand Prix at the Pia Film Festival (PFF) in 2000.

In 2004, he directed his second feature: 69, adapted from the novel of the same name by MURAKAMI Ryū, which earned him a Best Director nomination at the Blue Ribbon Award.  His 2006 film, Hula Girls, had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and was critically acclaimed upon release in Japan. It received 12 nominations at the 2007 Japan Academy Awards, winning five awards including Best Film and Best Director, and was selected to represent Japan at the Academy Awards. His next film Villain (2010) was again acclaimed in Japan, winning 5 Japanese Academy awards. Lee’s most recent work is Kokuho (2025), which world premiered in the Directors’ Fortnight section of the 2025 Cannes Film Festival and went on to become a critical and commercial success in Japan. It was selected as the Japanese entry for the Best International Feature Film at the 2026 Academy Awards.