Nishikata Film Review: NC2019

Showing posts with label NC2019. Show all posts

24 April 2020

The World of Ryōji Yamada / 山田遼志の世界

http://ryojiyamada.com/
https://vimeo.com/ryojiyamada

In the “before times”, when we were still able to meet in small groups in Japan, I was able to attend one of the The World of Ryōji Yamada ( 山田遼志の世界) special screening events hosted by tampen.jp. The screening selection featured a mix of Yamada’s acclaimed animated shorts and his commissioned works (music videos).

Waiter (2014)

Popping, Mixing (2012)

LaLaLa Brothers (2011)

Keita SANO’s ‘Mad Love’ (music video, 2017)

King Gnu’s ‘Prayer X’ (music video, 2018)

Doodle Project II (2019)

Kicell’s ‘Hitotsu dake Kaeta’ / キセル「ひとつだけ変えた」(music video, 2018)

Natsu to Suisei’s ‘27th’ / 夏と彗星「２７ｔｈ」　(music video, 2020)

WONK’s ‘Cyberspace Love’ (music video, 2017)

Hunter (2017)

handshake (2018)

Firehead (2019)

Yamada has an MFA in Animation from Tama Art University, and in 2018-2019 he had the opportunity to live in Germany as a Trainee Japanese Council Affair of Culture. During this time was a guest student of Andreas Hykade at the Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, and he was able to join us at Nippon Connection for a screening of his film Hunter.

I went to the event to see the film Yamada made in Germany, Firehead. I am glad that I did because I had never sat down and watched a selection of Yamada’s films altogether before and it was interesting to see how his style has developed over the years. I was also impressed by Yamada’s ability to adjust his style to suit the needs of his clients in the commissioned music videos.

Music is an integral part of Yamada’s films and the music for his independent works are composed by his long time collaborator Makoto Takahashi. I purchased a CD of the music Takahashi composed for the films at the event and it came with a fold-out poster featuring Yamada’s art.

Apart from Firehead, all the other films from the screening can be found online and I have assembled them for you below (plus the trailer for Firehead). The discussions with the director from the screenings can be found on tanpen’s YouTube Channel (JP only)

Waiter from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.

Doodle Project II (2019) from Dante Zaballa on Vimeo.

HUNTER from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.

handshake from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.

FIREHEAD Trailer from Ryoji Yamada on Vimeo.

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2020

09 June 2019

She is Alone (彼女はひとり/ Kanojo wa hitori, 2018)

Suicide is a solitary act but the ripple effects of such a death spread pain in an insidious manner through the lives of those connected to the individual who has so abruptly departed. First time filmmaker Natsuki Nakagawa (中川奈月) explores these ripple effects in her intense 60-minute drama She is Alone (彼女はひとり/ Kanojo wa hitori, 2018).

The story centres on Sumiko, played brilliantly by the up-and-coming actor Akari Fukunaga (福永朱梨), a high school student who has lost her mother to suicide. Rather than reaching out and talking to family and friends, Sumiko internalizes her grief. This leads to a cold relationship with her father and a destructive relationship with her childhood friend, Hideaki, played with great sensitivity by Kanai Hiroto (金井浩人). Sumiko is blackmailing Hideaki and as the layers get peeled back on their relationship, we begin to realize that there is a lot more going on in this twisted coming-of-age tale.

The film draws on elements of the thriller and the Japanese ghost story genres. During the Film Talk: Tokyo University of the Arts at Nippon Connection, I learned that Nakagawa is an admirer of the work of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who was her mentor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Her film does emulate the mood of his films, helped in a great part by the fact that she was able to work with Kurosawa’s cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa (芦澤明子). It is a strong debut feature and I hope that Nakagawa continues to grow as a filmmaker.

You can follow director Natsuki Nakawa and actor Akari Fukunaga on twitter.

2019 Cathy Munroe Hotes

24 May 2019

NC2019 FILM TALK: TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS

Dawn Wind in My Poncho

FILM TALK: TOKYO UNIVERSITY OF THE ARTS
Nippon Connection
Saturday, June 1, 21:30 Mousonturm Studio 3
https://www.nipponconnection.com/program-detail/film-talk-tokyo-university-of-the-arts-en.html

Nippon Connection has asked me host a Film Talk with guests who have a connection to the Graduate School of Film and New Media at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) in Yokohama. Yokohama’s twin city status with Frankfurt am Main has led to our having been able to invite amazing animation guests and films from Geidai since 2013.

Participating in the talk will be this year’s animation guest Ilan Nguyen (イラン・グェン), adjuct professor to the Department of Animation. He is presenting the Tokyo University of the Arts: Animation Shorts on Thursday, May 30th in the Naxoshalle and giving a lecture Remembering Isao Takahata: A Personal View On Post-War Japan’s Most Influential Animation Director on Friday, May 31st in Mousonturm Studio 1.

Two graduates of the Film and New Media graduate programme, Satoru Hirohara (廣原暁) and Natsuki Nakagawa (中川奈月), will also participate in order to give us the student perspective on the institution. Hirohara’s live action feature film Dawn Wind in My Poncho (ポンチョに夜明けの風はらませて / Poncho ni yoake no kaze haramasete, 2017) is having its European premiere at Nippon Connection and is competing for the Nippon Cinema Award.

She is Alone

Nakagawa’s 60-minute feature She is Alone (彼女はひとり/ Kanojo wa hitori, 2018) is screening in the SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-CINEMA FESTIVAL SPECIAL on Thursday, May 30th as one of two award-winning films from last year’s Skip City Festival in Saitama. It is in competition in the Nippon Visions Jury and Audience Awards.

This event is sponsored by The City of Yokohama Frankfurt Representative Office and the Referat für Internationale Angelegenheiten der Stadt Frankfurt am Main.

2019 Cathy Munroe Hotes

23 May 2019

Hiroyasu Ishida at Nippon Connection 2019

Studio Colorido
https://colorido.co.jp/

One of the animation highlights at Nippon Connection this year is presence of the rising star of the anime world, Hiroyasu “tete” Ishida (石田祐康, b. 1988). The festival will be the German premiere of Ishida’s debut feature anime Penguin Highway (ペンギン・ハイウェイ, 2018). They will also be showing a selection of his animated short films. After the screening of his shorts, Ishida will be participating in a film talk.

Originally from Aichi Prefecture, Ishida studied animation at Kyoto Seika University where he was mentored by the legendary anime director Gisaburo Sugii (Night on the Galactic Railroad, The Life of Guskou Budori). While a student at Kyoto Seika, Ishida’s amusing short film Fumiko’s Confession (2009) became an online sensation. It went on to win many awards around the world including the Excellence Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival. This was followed by his more introspective graduate film rain town (2011) which was also met with acclaim and won Ishida the New Face Award at the Japan Media Arts Festival.

In 2011, together with producer Hideo Uda, Ishida co-founded Studio Colorido in Tokyo, where he made more short works before taking on the challenge of his first feature film. Penguin Highway (2018) won the Axis: Satoshi Kon Award for Excellence in Animation at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montréal. It also earned Ishida a nomination for Best Animated Feature Film at the Japanese Academy Awards.

PENGUIN HIGHWAY
ペンギン・ハイウェイ
Friday, May 31, 19:30 Mal Seh’n Kino → Buy tickets
Saturday, June 1, 11:30 Mousonturm Saal
Japan 2018, 118’, Japanese with German subtitles
https://www.nipponconnection.com/program-detail/penguin-highway-en.html

HIROYASU ISHIDA: ANIMATION SHORTS
Sunday, June 2, 15:00 Naxoshalle Kino
Japanese with English subtitles
https://www.nipponconnection.com/program-detail/hiroyasu-ishida-animation-shorts-en.html

Fumiko’s Confession
フミコの告白
Fumiko no Kokuhaku
by Hiroyasu ISHIDA, 2009, 2:22

rain town
by Hiroyasu ISHIDA, 2011, 9’55”

Sonny Boy & Dewdrop Girl
陽なたのアオシグレ
Hinata no Aoshigure
by Hiroyasu ISHIDA, 2013, 17’58”

Fastening Days
by Hiroyasu ISHIDA, 2014, 11’12”

Paulette’s Chair
ポレットのイス
Poulette no Isu
by Hiroyasu ISHIDA, 2014, 4’01”

2019 Cathy Munroe Hotes

22 May 2019

NC2019: Tokyo University of the Arts Animation

Nippon Connection
Tokyo University of the Arts: Animation Shorts
Thursday, May 30, 12:00
Naxoshalle Kino → Learn More

Once again, Nippon Connection will be screening a selection of recent films by students of the Graduate Programme in Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai). Since opening the department in 2008, Geidai has produced top quality animated shorts and launched or boosted the careers of many artists. These year’s selection will be presented by Ilan Nguyen who is an adjunct instructor to the Department of Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts. Nguyen is well known in the international animation community, particularly in his native France and his adopted home of Japan, as an animation expert and historian. He also works as an interpreter for many prominent Japanese animation figures when they visit France and as a cultural programme coordinator for festivals and exhibitions. On Friday, June 31st at 13:30 in Mousonturm Studio 1, Nguyen will also be giving a memorial talk Remembering Isao Takahata: A Personal View on Post-War Japan’s Most Influential Animation Director.

The Body in the Mind
あたまのからだ
Atama no Karada
by Yumeno HOSHI / 星夢乃
2019, 6’08”

Pickle Plum Parade
うめぼしパトロール
Umeboshi Patorōru
by Eri SASAKI / ささきえり
2019, 3’50”

Keep Forgetting
何度でも忘れよう
Nando demo Wasureyō
by Takahiro SHIBATA / しばたたかひろ
2019, 10’27”

Boozy Woozy Wonderland
ワンダフル千鳥足inワンダーランド
Wandafuru Chidoriashi in Wandārando
by Shiika OKADA / 岡田詩歌
2019, 2’25”

Nocturnal Roadwork
夜の道路工事
Yoru no Dōrokōji
Misuzu HASHIJI / 端地美鈴
2019, 4’46”

Indoor Days
外に出ない日
Hokani Denai Hi
by Asaki NISHINO / 西野朝来
2019, 3’07”

Dissipate
舞空
Maisora
by Kohei SAITO / 齊藤光平
2019, 8’52”

The Death Vendor
死の商人
Shinoshōnin
by Jinkyu JEON / 全振圭
2019, 5’40”

Hear the Snow Melt
雪解けをきいて
Yukidoke wo Kiite
by Leina MURAMATSU / 村松怜那
2019, 4’13”

Text Complex
ひなんてなくなってしまえ
Hi Nante Nakunatte Shimae
by Haruka HIRAMATSU / 平松悠
2019, 6’48”

Stay with Me
湿らない腐らないおいしくまろやか
Shimaranai Kusaranai Oishiku Maruyaka
by Yuki MAEHATA / 前畑侑紀
2019, 4’40”

Bath House of Whales
くじらの湯
Kujira no Yu
by Mizuki KIYAMA / キヤマミズキ
2019, 6’34”

2019 Cathy Munroe Hotes

NC2019 – Ilan Nguyen Lecture – “Remembering Isao Takahata”

Remembering Isao Takahata
A Personal View On Post-War Japan’s Most Influential Animation Director
A lecture by Ilan Nguyen
Friday, May 31, 13:30
Mousonturm Studio 1
Nippon Connection
Duration: approx. 1,5 hours
Lecture in English

I am delighted that our guest at Nippon Connection this year is Ilan Nguyen, a well-known animation expert whom I have had the pleasure to meet at festivals in his native France and in Japan. He is an adjunct instructor to the Department of Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai) and will also be presenting this year’s selection of films from Geidai students on Thursday, May 30th at noon in the Naxoshalle.

In addition to his work as an animation critic and historian Nguyen works as a cultural programme coordinator for festivals and exhibitions. He is a familiar face in the animation community in France, where he often acts as an interpreter for many prominent Japanese animation figures. In particular, he had a very close relationship with Isao Takahata (1935-2018), and accompanied him to France many times.

I have heard Nguyen give lectures on animation in French at RICA – the Wissembourg Ciné Club’s biannual animation festival (1995-2016) and can attest to what an interesting and delightful speaker he is. He is a fountain of knowledge about the career of Takahata and about the animation community in Japan past and present – this is a highly recommended event for all fans of anime.

2019 Cathy Munroe Hotes

17 May 2019

Transience – The Best of Recent Indie Animation

Transience – The Best of Recent Indie Animation
Nippon Connection
Saturday, June 1, 2019
14:15 in the Naxoshalle Kino
learn more

My animated shorts selection will be on Saturday at Nippon Connection this year instead of Sunday. This year’s selection features a couple of non-Japanese names. The Czech animator Vojtěch Domlátil, who works at the Jiří Barta studio in Pilsen, had a 2-month art residency at Youkobo Art Space in Tokyo in 2017. His work Fleeting Autumn, which he describes as “a collection of audio-visual haiku poems” was made during this residency. The Oscar-nominated stop motion animation Negative Space is co-directed by the Japanese-American animation team Ru Kuwahata and her husband Max Porter. Both of them studied animation in the Netherlands and the U.S. and the film is funded by a French studio.

The rest of the programme features a diverse range of animation styles from innovative Japanese artists. Some are already established in their careers, and others are just starting out. Every year brings astonishing new works from Japanese artists and it is my pleasure to be able to share some of them with you all again this year.

29 May 2019 Update: animator Ryōji Yamada, who is currently living in Germany, has informed us that he will be able to attend the screening.