Pia Film Festival

Khash Najib najibjp at yahoo.co.jp
Mon Jun 24 03:14:56 EDT 2002


Hello,
I wonder if any kinejapaners attended screenings at this
year's Pia Film Festival yet. It is currently taking place
at the Tokyo Kokusai Foramu in Yurakucho and will continue
until July 5 with screenings starting at 11, 14:30 and
18:30.
www.pia.co.jp/pff/

Most of the Japanese films shown there are experimental
shorts. And, for example, out of 20 works at the PFF
Awards section 18 are shot on video. 
I've noticed two things from the films I've seen so far.
First that, in nearly all of them, there would be a rock
song playing in the background towards the end of the film
while the screen shows us the main characters either
together dancing or, one by one, each in its own special
surrounding that was established earlier in the film. Any
explanation for this similarity? Could it be the effect of
Japanese drama? although in the case of drama the
ending/uniting element usually includes rain as well, and
also other than the song thing there was nothing in common
with Japanese TV dramas. Rather, it seems that the
greatest inspiration for Pia's up and coming directors is
yakuza-horror films.

The second thing I noticed is that discussions with
directors after the films never leave the subject of
technique. Even the directors themselves follow that
"model". After seeing Parco Fiction (a very enjoyable
comedy with episodes revolving around the famous Shibuya
department store PARCO) I asked the directors Yaguchi
Shinobu and Suzuki Takuji weather they meant some parts of
their film to be tongue-in-the-cheek comments on
consumer-society, The directors actually got the money
from PARCO to make the film, but there were characters
such as a sales lady who gets herself stuck between two
walls in the stor for a whole day and starts thinking that
had she gone on diet she would be able not only to avoid
dying in such a humiliating manner but also to wear that
wonderful pink dress she fell in love with. For me that
triggered some serious questions. However, director
Yaguchi said that he was only thinking about entertainment
and that he has "no complaints whatsoever about society",
a general statement I personally find unusual from any
director about any society. But anyway this is what the
guy thinks, and if he thinks that way then it is not
strange for his audience as well to be also all into
entertainment. I am trying to understand that as it is,
but at a festival of works made independently and cheaply
I expected something more substantial and less cool, I
wonder if people on this list agree with me, and would
like to know what you think about it. 

BTW, I am organizing a section of short Arab films at the
festival, which is outside the realm of this mailing list,
but still I hope that visitors of PFF would enjoy them.

Cheers,
Najib




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