The very popular Japanese Film Festival in Australia showcases the best in Japanese cinema. Last year, they had a record breaking year in attendance. So anticipation for this year's Festival is really high.

The organisers have just announced the dates for this year's Festival, as well as a sneak peek of what's on offer this year.

YAMAKOSHI: THE RECOVERY OF A TINY JAPANESE VILLAGE - the inspiring documentary of hope and survival is based on the great Chuetsu Earthquake in 2004. Hardest hit was the small mountain village of Yamakoshi, located right above the quake's epicentre. What has become of the villagers who suffered through this disaster seven years ago? This film enters the hearts and minds of the people of Yamakoshi as they pull together over four hard years to rebuild their village, their community, and their lives.

GANTZ and GANTZ: PERFECT ANSWER - For cult followers of the popular manga series that has sold over 13.5million copies in Japan since November 2010, GANTZ finally makes the silver screen in a highly anticipated live-action drama. If that's not enough, the festival is also screening the sequel, GANTZ: Perfect Answer, both starring Kazunari Ninomiya (Letters from Iwo Jima) and Kenichi Matsuyama (Norwegian Wood, Death Note, Detroit Metal City).

VILLAIN - Winning Best Actress at the 2010 Montreal Film Festival for her role in the dramatic thriller, Villain, Eri Fukatsu stars as Mitsuyo, a desperate love-starved saleslady. Villain was nominated for numerous Japanese Academy Awards, winning five awards including Best Actor (Satoshi Tsumabuki), Best Actress (Eri Fukatsu), Best Supporting Actor (Akira Emoto), Best Supporting Actress (Kirin Kiki) and Best Music Score (Joe Hisaishi, Departures, and several Studio Ghibli film scores).

THE LAST RONIN - For samurai fans, The Last Ronin is based on the legendary tale of the 47 ronin and the untold heroism of one samurai, Magoza (Koji Yakusho, Memoirs of a Geisha, Babel), who was instructed to live rather than dying an honourable death with his fellow comrades.

ABACUS AND SWORD - Keeping in line with samurai fables, Abacus and Sword is a lighter take on the shogun era, casting the spotlight on samurai nerd, "Mad Abacus" Naoyuki (Masato Sakai, Chef

of the South Pole), who attends to his lord's needs with an abacus.

All the latest news and updates will be available from the Japanese Film Festival's

official website.