self-introduction

[Asako]

Hi folks! friends (and foe).

I've recently been quoted by Abe Mark Nornes (re: Hara Kazuo's cinema
juku) and decided to check KineJapan out, after hearing so much about it
over the years. 

My name is Fujioka Asako, and I'm based in Japan, specifically at
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Tokyo office (oh no,
not another one!). I coordinate the New Asian Currents program, formally
co-hosted (in 95) with Dr. Aaron Gerow. 

I'm also working with the New Cinema From Japan initiative, a
cooperative kind of group aimed at promoting new Japanese films to the
overseas market and film festival circuit. We've successfully held two
promotion tours to the International Film Market at Berlin Film Festival
(97 & 98) and are currently hosting a film screening/video booth program
of Japanese films with English subtitles at the Tokyo International Film
Festival. They seem to be taking all the credit, but we're the ones
organizing the program. 

My work extends to strange places, but my focus is Japanese and Asian
cinema, with a strong interest in documentary. I'm no academic, but I
try to be a socialite and help connect people. 

Yoroshiku onegai shimasu. 

Fujioka Asako