Japan Cuts Hollywood, a three-day film festival, opened Nov. 1 at the TCL Chinese 6 Theatres with the West Coast premiere of “Bento Harassment” (Kyo mo Iyagarase Bento), a comedy-drama directed by Renpei Tsukamoto. Ryoko Shinohara stars as Kaori, a single mom holding down two jobs to support her daughter Futaba (Kyoko Yoshine). The sullen teenager barely speaks at home, so Kaori decides to make comical “kyaraben” (character bento) to send messages to Futaba. The box lunches become the talk of the school and the subject of Kaori’s food blog, which goes viral. The screening was followed by a Q&A with Tsukamoto and Shinohara, moderated by ABC7 news anchor David Ono with the help of two interpreters. The festival was presented by Japan America Society of Southern California and Japan House Los Angeles in cooperation with Japan Cuts: Festival of New Japanese Film, presented by Japan Society, New York. (J.K. YAMAMOTO/Rafu Shimpo)