Berlin  - The Japanese cinema business is hoping that the industry's revival in recent years will enable it to battle through the economic uncertainty gripping the country.

In addition, to having achieved a new-found recognition at international film festivals, younger filmmakers appear to have pushed their way to centre stage in the industry with movies that are successfully striking a chord with Japan's big domestic audience.

"Now is the time of a new generation of filmmakers," said Azusa Soya, who represents Japan's international film promotion board UNIJAPAN at this year's Berlin Film Festival.

At about 400 movies a year, the Japanese cinema business is currently producing more than a film a day with the country's movie industry underpinned by about 3,000 screens across the nation.

About two decades the number of movies produced in Japan was between 250 and 300 movies with the nation then having about half the number of screens it has today.

But then most of the films produced in Japan now are not necessarily for the export market.

Moreover, the industry also hopes that not being dependent on foreign markets will turn out to be a blessing and that it could help to shield Japanese movie making from the economic slowdown underway around the world.

Apart from historical movies, love stories and animations, a recurring theme in modern Japanese cinema seems to be about people with incurable diseases.

But many of the new directors also seem to be producing films telling uniquely Japanese stories and which are often about everyday problems in modern Japan.

"They are telling stories from their own world," said Soya. "They are facing the new reality and the hard times."

This has also meant that Japanese directors have in recent years began to see off the challenge of foreign-made productions to enjoy a new found success in their domestic market.

About half the more than 800 movies released in Japan each year are Japanese productions and have been enjoying better box office success than even their Hollywood rivals.

"For young people in Japan now it is no longer a question whether they should go to see a Japanese movie or a Hollywood film," said Soya. "They tend to opt for the Japanese film."

Certainly, the batch of Japanese films been screened in the 10-day Berlin Film festival seem to reflect both the generational change underway in Japan's film industry and the search for new themes.

Indeed, while unusually there are no Japanese directors in the race for the Berlinale's top honours, the Golden Bear, movies from Japan are strongly represented the festival's forum section, which showcases young lesser-known filmmakers.

Among the Japanese lineup is Funahashi Atsushi's portrayal of a Tokyo neighbourhood almost untouched by Japan's post-war transformation in Deep in the Valley, which was screened Monday.

Other films include Sono Sion's four-hour look at religious and sexual fantasies in Love Exposure as well as Mental, Soda Kazuhiro's exploration of mental illness.

But there is also sometimes the hint of escapism in the new movies emerging from Japan as the nation faces up to bleak economic times.

Legendary Tokyo-born animator and director Hayao Miyazaki's Ponyo on the Cliff by the Sea is about a mermaid, who runs away from her home in the sea and ends up stranded on the shore to be rescued by Sosuke, a five year old boy. It was the one of Japan's biggest box office's successes last year.

Also helping to power the Japanese cinema business at the moment is the increasing interest of the nation's television companies in filmmaking, including producing movies that are Sex and the City- style spinoffs from popular TV series in Japan such as The Partner and Limit of Love.

But the real worry for Japanese film studio bosses is just how good the new generation of movie makers will turn out to be and whether they can really ensure that the good times will last. (dpa)