CORROSION TONE: Contemporary Japanese Experimental Film

[Jonathan Crow]

For anyone in the general Ann Arbor/Detroit area...


CORROSION TONE: Contemporary Japanese Experimental Film

Sunday April 30, 2:00pm
Michigan Theater Screening Room
Ann Arbor MI

Presented by Projectorhead and the Center for Japanese Studies.

Projectorhead along with the Center for Japanese Studies presents this
collection of Japanese
experimental works, most of which has never been seen in the United States.
Using only sound and form, these films all explore such basic cinematic
components as movement, representation and the act of seeing. Such
exploration is particularly evident in MIYAKE Nagaru's film Corrosion Tone
is both a reflection on visual perception derived from touch and a
mesmerizing depiction of bodies in motion. The acting of seeing, meanwhile,
is literally given depth in KOIKE Teruo's Ecosystem 9, which consists of
10,000 still photographs layered one upon the other to create densely
textured, striking images of natural abstraction. All of the works in this
rare screening are challenging, haunting and visually powerful.

Projectorhead was founded in early 1999 a way to establish a year-round
presence for avant-garde/experimental film and video in the rich cultural
environment of the Ann Arbor/Southwest Michigan community. Please contact
734 327 7156 if have any questions.



Film programs:
VM Drifting --YAMAZAKI Mikio (9)
Escaping Lights --HARADA Ippei (13)
Streams --YONAHA Masayuki (26)
Corrosion-Tone --MIYAKE Nagaru (30)
Ecosystem 9: A Quicksand Eclipse --KOIKE Teruo (13)


Program details:

YAMAZAKI Mikio
Drifting VM (1990, 16mm, Colour, Sound, 9mins)

"I made this film in the same way that I would take a girl's skirt off and
remove her underwear.  I took off the skirt and the underwear but found
nothing there on which to base our existence.  Beyond the images there was
only light and darkness.  That's why I've been drifting through a dream of
life (Vida) and death (Muerte) hoping to grasp hold of the outline ahead."

YAMAZAKI Mikio was born in 1959, went to Hokkaido University and majored in
Cultural Studies. In 1980, he participated in the Fuji 8mm film contest and
by 1983, he had made Image Phantom Killer, which was screened around
Hokkaido. As well as making films, he has also written and edited
Reader of Yakuza Films Theory, On Canned Coffee Landscapes and Where is the
Hero Going?

HARADA Ippei
Escaping Lights (1992, 16mm, Color, Sound, 13 mins)

HARADA Ippei was born in Tokyo in 1960.  He received an Honorable Mention at
Image Forum Festival 1987 for Continuous Rectangles and his To Sum UP
(96-98) was nominated for Dragons and Tigers Award in 17th Vancouver
international Film Festival.  HARADA has recently been researching the
melding of various media around the axis of images.

YONAHA Masayuki
Streams (1997, 16mm, Color, Sound, 26 mins)

"When I dropped a drop of water onto a frame of film, it created ripples,
which slowly spread out.  The ripples caused a tiny breeze and the film
began to turn.  Watching in astonishment, I grabbed my camera and started to
film.  The camera, however, was empty.  After I thought about it for a while
and realized there was nothing else I could do, I developed the film, edited
it and added music."   Winner of Special Jury Prize, 1998 Image Forum
Festival, Japan.

YONAHA Masayuki was born in 1972 in Okinawa and studied filmmaking at the
Image Forum Institute of Moving Image and at Tama Art University.  His films
include: Ataraxia (97); A Skyline of the Sunset (97); Tsumugi (96-98).

MIYAKE Nagaru
Corrosion Tone (1998, 16mm, B/W, Sound, 30 mins)

"The reconfirmation of visual perception derived from touch.  Bodies
wriggling in the midst of ruins become an abstraction.  The mosaic of a
mirror, inlaid as though afraid of the void, scatters light at random, and
strings attached throughout the body transmit delicate vibrations.  A
high-level performance film."  Winner of an Honorable Mention, 1999 Image
Forum Festival, Japan.

MIYAKE Nagaru was born in 1974 and began his studies at Tama Art University
in 1995.  His films include: Jikan-juku no Yuragi (95); Shinkei-setsu
Shodo(97-98); Hizai-Sha (99).

KOIKE Teruo
Ecosystem 9: A Quicksand Eclipse (1993, 16mm, Color, Sound, 13 mins)

Born in 1951 in Aichi prefecture, Koike is well know in Japan for his
Ecosystem series of film.  He is currently completing number 11.  Up to
10,000 35mm still photographs are taken and then re-photographed, sometime
six impositions deep, on to Single 8mm film to create a very densely
textured composition of natural abstractions.