<div dir="ltr">Actually, the translation situation at OAFF is very fascinating to me. <div><br></div><div>The subtitles are almost always (always?) English and Japanese. But they are very inconsistent in quality. I had the feeling the Japanese were fairly standard, if not high. From what I hear, most of the films are going straight from the local languages to Japanese without being routed through English. There are well-known specialists for south Asian languages, and they even have an enthusiastic SE Asian translation team from Kyoto University. The latter—Kobayashi-sensei and Nishi-sensei—held an interesting panel discussion this year on Chinese Indonesians in cinema. </div><div><br></div><div>The English subs were of varying quality. Lim Karwai, a Malaysian filmmaker who lives much of his life in Osaka, showed a film he shot in Ljubljana (!) on a micro-budget. Lim did the English subs, which were embarrassingly poor. I saw at least one other film that seemed to have been done via Google Translate. Others were great. </div><div><br></div><div>In contrast, the level of interpretation is very high. They bring in interpreters from Tokyo that specialize in cinema. And they are going from Indonesian, Cantonese, Tagalog, and other Asian languages. </div><div><br></div><div>But my favorite translation experience of the festival was Riu-san. A burly Taiwanese that's been living in Osaka for three decades with his Japanese wife. He is a "producer" for Japanese architects like Ando Tadao for projects in Taiwan. This year, for reasons I don't quite get, he was tapped to do the interpretation for Chang Yi and Yang Hui-shan. Riu has a huge voice and a big personality.....and speaks in hard-core Osaka-ben. It was lovely. </div><div><br></div><div>Markus</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br clear="all"><div><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136)">--- </span></div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div style="font-size:small"><font face="courier new, monospace" color="#274e13"><b><img src="https://drive.google.com/a/umich.edu/uc?id=1i0izwlsrcSvQgU4nMCzTLiOhmdDMm-xZ&export=download" width="56" height="96"><br></b></font></div><div style="font-size:small"><font face="courier new, monospace" color="#274e13"><b>Markus Nornes</b></font></div><div style="font-size:small"><span style="font-family:'courier new',monospace"><font color="#38761d"><b>Professor of Asian Cinema</b></font></span></div><div><font size="1" color="#38761d"><font face="courier new, monospace">Department of Screen Arts and Cultures</font><span style="font-family:'courier new',monospace">, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps </span><span style="font-family:'courier new',monospace">School of Art & Design</span></font></div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-size:small"><font face="courier new, monospace" color="#6aa84f"><br></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace" size="1" color="#93c47d"><b>Department of Screen Arts and Cultures</b></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace" size="1" color="#93c47d"><b>6348 North Quad</b></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace" size="1" color="#93c47d"><b>105 S. State Street</b></font></div><div><font face="courier new, monospace" size="1" color="#93c47d"><b>Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285</b></font></div><div style="color:rgb(136,136,136)"><br></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div>
<br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Mar 23, 2018 at 1:07 AM, Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum via KineJapan <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:kinejapan@lists.osu.edu" target="_blank">kinejapan@lists.osu.edu</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div><div style="font-family:Helvetica Neue,Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:16px"><div><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydpff1d8817MsoNormal"><span style="font-family:Arial">Thanks for your postings,
Markus. I’ve never been to OAFF.</span></p>
<p class="m_2342417155166751284ydpff1d8817MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">Is
there anything to say on translation? OAFF not titling themselves ‘international’,
they aren’t actually obliged to provide English subtitles, but the full english
version of all their pages carry that promise. <span> </span>I guess these days that any fiction film
aiming for an international distribution comes on a DCP which has English
subtitles. So the festival has to concentrate on Japanese subtitles ? I saw
some warning about their being hard to read.</span></p>
<p class="m_2342417155166751284ydpff1d8817MsoNormal" style="margin-top:6.0pt"><span style="font-family:Arial">And
the discussions and Q&As ?</span></p>
Roger</div><div><a href="mailto:macyroger@yahoo.co.uk" target="_blank">macyroger@yahoo.co.uk</a></div><div><br></div>
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On Tuesday, 20 March 2018, 12:19:22 GMT, Japanese Cinema Discussion Forum via KineJapan <<a href="mailto:kinejapan@lists.osu.edu" target="_blank">kinejapan@lists.osu.edu</a>> wrote:
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</div></div><div><div><div class="h5"><div id="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101"><div dir="ltr">Osaka Asian Film Festival ended on Sunday (<a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/index.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/<wbr>index.html</a>). It is a VERY different scene from Yamagata and Yubari, that's for sure. For one thing, I think there is a lot more fun going on at those other festivals—at least for the professional crowd on hand. There are parties in Osaka, but their are fairly staid affairs sponsored by the embassies of various countries. <div><br></div><div>There is definitely a local fan base for the festival, and I'm not sure it's an exaggeration to say that it's dominated by middle-aged women. There is a strong fanish thing going on. It's most obvious after the screenings. Q and As include photo op at the end, where the directors and stars stand next to their poster and look left....then center....then right.....then towards the video cameras. It's a strange ritual, and followed by a sain-kai in the lobby where fans line up to get stuff signed. </div><div><br></div><div>One bad rap OAFF gets is that the films "aren't great." Well, true. But only in a certain sense. They are clearly out to please the audiences. The films aren't terribly definitely not extreme. If you look at their flier, a majority of the PR photos for the films feature young couples. Says a lot. </div><div><br></div><div>It's not the way I'd program a festival of Asian cinema. But I to appreciate the opportunity to see some popular films that otherwise don't get shown at festivals or get distributed. They also hold discussions on different topics about different parts of Asia. This year, I learned a lot about what's going on in Indonesia, which is increasingly looking like an industry that must be reckoned with. Growing like crazy, with enormous headroom for huge expansion and lots of young, creative filmmakers. </div><div><br></div><div>Unfortunately, I didn't see the Japanese films that got awards—especially unfortunate since I didn't care for the Japanese films I saw. I heard especially good things about one of the Japanese award winners: Hayama Moët's <i>KUSHINA, what will you be</i>. </div><div><br></div><div>Actually, my favorite film of the festival was the out-of-competition <i>Poppy Goes to Hollywood Redux </i>(<a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/n06.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/<wbr>program/n06.html</a>), a Cambodian comedy about a transgender revue that flees to the countryside when they get in trouble with gangsters. No pretense to high art here. Just lots of fun upending gender norms, stereotypes, genres—basically everything. </div><div><br></div><div>But the highlight of the festival for me was meeting director Chang Yi and actress Yang Hui-shan. They were huge figures in the New Taiwan Cinema. At Osaka, they showed a delightful and often stunning beautiful animated film which had four different stories about dogs—mysteriously programmed late on a weekend night when kids couldn't go. Chang checked out from filmmaking nearly three decades ago to become famous glass artists, but took up the challenge of animation from Edward Yang; the latter was a good friend and died during the production of an ambitious animated film. But the reason I was anxious to meet them was that I walked blindly into a Taipei theater one day in 1984 and encountered their <i>Jade Love.</i> I was blown away by the film, and right after that Hou's <i>Summer and Grandpa's </i>and then Yang's <i>That Day on the Beach.</i> Because of this I discovered how amazing Asian cinema could be and soon found myself in grad school a couple years later. So it's no exaggeration to say Chang and Yang changed my life and I feel grateful Osaka Asian gave me the chance to meet them. </div><div><br></div><div>Markus</div><div><dl class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-topix_dl" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-size:16px;vertical-align:baseline;width:395px;min-height:480px;color:rgb(51,51,51)"><dd style="margin:0px;padding:8px 7px 7px 7em;border-width:0px 0px 1px;border-bottom-style:solid;border-bottom-color:rgb(238,238,238);outline:0px;font-size:12px;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent"><p style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent"><a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/outline/prizes.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-text20" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-size:15px;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">OAFF 2018 Award Winners!</a></p><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-txt16_b_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">★Grand Prix (Best Picture Award) / <a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/c10.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">“No. 1 Chung Ying Street”</a></p><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-txt16_b_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">★Most Promising Talent Award / Mikhail RED <a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/c09.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"“NEOMANILA”</a> Director</p><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-txt16_b_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">★Best Actress Award / IIJIMA Shuna <a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/c01.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">"“Bad Poetry Tokyo”</a> Actress</p><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-txt16_b_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">★ABC Award / <a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/c14.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">“Take Me To the Moon”</a></p><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-txt16_b_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">★Yakushi Pearl Award / Ryza CENON <a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/c08.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">“Mr. and Mrs. Cruz”</a> Actress</p><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-txt16_b_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">★JAPAN CUTS Award / <a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/if06.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">“KUSHINA, what will you be”</a></p><p class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-txt16_b_0" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;font-weight:bold;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,0,0)">★Housen Short Film Award / <a href="http://www.oaff.jp/2018/en/program/if02.html" class="m_2342417155166751284ydp7a410121yiv2078741101gmail-b" style="margin:0px;padding:0px;border-color:currentcolor;border-style:none;border-width:0px;outline:0px none currentcolor;vertical-align:baseline;background-color:transparent;color:rgb(0,156,255);text-decoration:none" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">“CYCLE-CYCLE”</a></p></dd></dl></div><div><br></div><div><br></div></div></div></div></div>______________________________<wbr>_________________<br>KineJapan mailing list<br><a href="mailto:KineJapan@lists.osu.edu" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">KineJapan@lists.osu.edu</a><br><a href="https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://lists.osu.edu/mailman/<wbr>listinfo/kinejapan</a><br></div>
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