MANILA, Philippines?For the first time since 2001, Kenji Ishizaka visited the Philippines last July for the Cinemalaya Digital Film Festival.

But Ishizaka, programming director of the Winds of Asia-Middle East section of the Tokyo International Film Festival, is not a stranger to Philippine cinema.

?In the 1980s, I met filmmakers Lino Brocka, Ishmael Bernal, Eddie Romero and Mike de Leon in Manila,? he recalled. ?Films by Marilou Diaz-Abaya and Laurice Guillen were shown in Japan in the 1990s as well. There are Filipino films stored in the archives of Fukuoka, including Gerry de Leon?s ?Noli Me Tangere.??

Ishizaka lost touch until he attended the Cannes film fest last May. ?Filipino films by Brillante Mendoza and Raya Martin got a lot of attention [there],? he recounted. ?I think it?s a new sunrise for Philippine cinema.?

That made him curious about the new generation of RP filmmakers. ?I made sure to visit Manila again, to reintroduce Filipino movies to Japanese audiences.?

During Cinemalaya 2009, Ishizaka saw Jobin Ballesteros? ?Colorum,? which has now been included in the Winds of Asia-Middle East section of the Tokyo Film Fest, which runs from Oct. 17 to 25.

?Colorum? is nominated for the Best Asian-Middle Eastern Film Award.

Raymond Red?s ?Himpapawid? and a short film by Lav Diaz will also be shown at the Tokyo fest.