Nippon Connection film festival

Wed Apr 6 15:56:47 EDT 2005

Dear Kinejapaners,

as Mark just posted the Japanese section of this years Udine program (and 
a great one it is) recently, I thought I'd plug this years Nippon 
Connection program as well.

It's the fifth anniversary for Nippon Connection, and this year will 
feature over 150 films (including shorts), many as German, European or 
international premiers. The selection will be the usual eclectic Nippon 
Connection mix, ranging from big budget films to Pink film, jishu eiga, 
experimantal films, animation of various kinds and a generally wide 
panorama of genres.  

In the section NIPPON CINEMA there are 23 new films, and opens on April 
13th, 2005 with World`s End / Girl Friend by Shiori Kazama. 

The program in the section NIPPON DIGITAL features digital productions 
(though these technological borders are admittedly not as clear as the 
program sections propose). Among them is the animated series Paranoia 
Agent by Satoshi KON; a special screening of films by Japanese puppet 
animator Tomoyasu MURATA; the shocking elevator thriller The Bottled Fools 
by Hiroki YAMAGUCHI; a film from the THEATER OF HORROR series; the 
Japanese homage to Russ Meyer Pussycat Daisakusen by Ryuichi HONDA; and 
many short film programs across all genres.
Nippon Digital also focuses on the presentation of Japanese festivals, 
production companies and film schools. This year brings programs from the 
Pia Film Festival, the Tokyo Video Festival, the short film platform 
OpenArt, from Planet Studyo +1 of Osaka, the Fantastic Theater (a new 
venue in Yurakucho, connected to the Tokyo Fantastic Film Festival) and 
the Aichi Arts Center, as well as the Film School of Tokyo in cooperation 
with the Tokyo arthouse cinema Eurospace (Eiga Bancho Series).   

Inspirational ping-pong across continents has resulted in the second 
edition of the ?Exchanging Tracks? project. The CD ?Nippon Connection: 
Exchanging Tracks?, features club music that was created by sampling 
traditional Japanese music (Last years CD used the sounds recorded from 
the Tokyo subway sysytem). The songs in turn inspired Japanese filmmakers 
to shoot video pieces. These films will be shown before several of the 
Nippon Digital programs. 

NIPPON RETRO, this years retrospective will showcase ten films from Seijun 
SUZUKI. This broad cross section of SUZUKIs work with films from the 1950s 
until today, runs from April 15 ? April 18, in cooperation with the cinema 
at the German film museum.

Due to the rising interest, NIPPON CONNECTION ON TOUR has grown. Parts of 
the program shown in Frankfurt, Germany will travel throughout Europe, 
stopping in Leipzig, at the Barcelona Asian Film Festival and in five 
Dutch cities. There is also an all-night Nippon Connection special on 
national TV this coming Friday, with films from the last year: NO ONE'S 
ARK, JAM FILMS and various short films.

There is also a sizeable side program, with lectures and performances. 
Lectures include Pia film festival head Keiko Araki on the jishu eiga 
scene, Midnight Eye's (and Kinejapan's) Jasper Sharp on the history of 
Pink film, a panel discussion on contemporary Japanese literature and one 
one one Japanese film (in which several of the filmmakers will 
participate). Outside the festival centre there are even more events in 
cooperation with the Literaturhaus Frankfurt and an exhibition of the 
designer e-zine ?Shift? (www.shift.jp.org) at the Galerie station (14.
-21.4.2005). There will be unexpected Butoh performances popping up over 
the course of the festival, several parties and a concert by the Osaka 
punk band Afrirampo, fresh from their tour with Sonic Youth.

The festival is still organized on a fully non-profit, voluntary basis by 
the non-for-profit registered association Nippon Connection e.V. Due to 
the marginal public funding, Nippon Connection is especially dependent on 
support from sponsors, individuals and institutions. And of course, the 
festival would be nothing without its audience (about 15.000 in 2004), 
which has contributed to the annual growth of the festival. 

The program in short:

Festival Locations
Festival Center: Studierendenhaus Campus Bockenheim, J?gelstr. 1, 
Frankfurt 
Filmtheater Valentin:  Windthorststr. 84, Frankfurt-H?chst (Nippon Cinema 
2nd screening)
Literaturhaus Frankfurt: Bockenheimer Landstr. 102, Frankfurt-Bockenheim
Kino im Deutschen Filmmuseum: Schaumainkai 41, Frankfurt-Sachsenhausen 
(Nippon Retro)
Galerie station at the K?nstlerhaus Mousonturm: Waldschmidtstra?e 4, 
Frankfurt-Bornheim (Exhibition)

Program

Nippon Cinema (Locations: Festivalzentrum and Filmtheater Valentin)

ANGEL IN THE BOX (Ginen no angel) by Takayuki SUZUI, J 2004
APPLESEED by Shinji ARAMAKI, J 2004
BLOOD AND BONES (Chi to hone) by Yoichi SAI, J 2004
CRYING OUT LOVE, IN THE CENTER OF THE WORLD by Isao Yukisada, J 2004
STEAMBOY by Katsuhiro OTOMO, J 2004
THE CALAMARI WRESTLER (Ika resuraa) by Minoru KAWASAKI, J 2004
THE LAST SUPPER by Osamu FUKUTANI, J 2004
THE GLAMOROUS LIFE OF SACHINKO HANAI (Hanai Sachiko no karei na shougai) 
by Mitsuru MEIKE, J 2004
INSTALL by Kataoka K, J 2004
IZO by Takashi MIIKE, J 2004
KAMIKAZE GIRLS (Shimotsuma monogatari) by Tetsuya NAKASHIMA, J 2004
LITTLE WING (Yumeno) by Yoshitaka KAMADA, J 2004 
QUILL by Yoichi SAI, J 2004
THE LOVED GUN by Kensaku WATANABE, J 2004
THE TASTE OF TEA (Cha no aji) by Katsuhito ISHII, J 2004
TOKYO NOIR by Masato Ishioka & Naoto Kumazawa, J 2004
TONY TAKITANI by Jun Ichikawa, J 2004
TURN OVER - AN ANGEL IS COMING ON A BICYCLE by Keiichi NOMURA, J 2004
ULTRAMAN: THE NEXT by Kazuya Konaka, J 2004
VITAL by Shinya TSUKAMOTO, J 2004
WATERBOYS by Shinobu Yaguchi, J 2001
WINTER DAYS (Fuyu no hi) by Kihachiro KAWAMOTO u.a., J 2003
WORLD?S END / GIRL FRIEND (Sekai no owari) by Shiori KAZAMA, J 2004

Nippon Digital (Location: Festival Center)

DEKA MATSURI RELOADED (shorts)  
DIGISTA Vol. 3 (animation)
Eiga Bancho Series: LOVE KILL KILL by Shinya NISHIMURA, J 2004
Eiga Bancho Series: YUDA by Takahisa ZEZE, J 2004
Eiga Bancho Series: Girls for Independence (Dokuritsu shojo guren tai) by 
Mari ASATO, J 2004
Fantastic Theater Special (shorts)
Hideshi Hino`s ?Theater of Horror?: Lizard Baby by Yoshihiro NAKAMURA, J 
2004
Hideshi Hino`s ?Theater of Horror?: The Boy From Hell (Jigoku kozo) by 
Mari ASATO, J 2004
Hideshi Hino`s ?Theater of Horror?: The Ravaged House: Zoroku's Disease by 
Kazuyoshi KUMAKIRI, J 2004
Nyancos by Yoshiyasu and Shinichiro Kitai, J 2004
On a Wednesday Night in Tokyo by Jan Verbeek, D 2004
openArt: Shorts (shorts)  
openArt: Animation (shorts)  
Paranoia Agent Vol. 1-7 by Satoshi KON, J 2004
PIA Film Festival SPECIAL (shorts)
Pink Ribbon by Kenjiro Fujii, J 2004
PLANET STUDYO +1: Animation (shorts)
PLANET STUDYO +1: CO2 (shorts) 
PLANET STUDYO +1: Cinetribe (shorts)
Psychedelic Organ Panda by Yuri OBITANI, J 2003
Pussycat Great Mission (Pussycat daisakusen) by Ryuichi HONDA, J 2004
Shadow by Naomi KAWASE, J 2004
The Bottled Fools (Gusha no bindume) by Hiroki YAMAGUCHI, J 2004 
The Fuccons by Yoshimasa Ishibashi, J 2004 
Tokyo Video Festival (shorts) 
Tomoyasu MURATA: Animation Special (animation)
Vaudevillian Dolls Dont & Not (Ningyo geinin Dont & Not) by Aki Funabiki, 
J 2004

Nippon Retro (Location: Kino im Deutschen Filmmuseum)

Branded to Kill (Koroshi no rakuin) by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 1967
Carmen From Kawachi (Kawachi Karumen) by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 1966
Detective Bureau 23: Go to Hell, Bastards! (Tantei jimusho 23 : kutabare 
akutodomo) by Seijun SUZUKI, J 1963
Heat-Haze Theater (Kageroza) by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 1981
Harbour Toast: Victory is in Our Grasp (Minato no kanpai : Shori wo waga 
te ni) by Seijun SUZUKI, J 1956
Pistol Opera by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 2001
Tokyo Drifter (Tokyo nagare mono) by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 1966
Youth of the Beast (Yaju no seishun) by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 1963
Yumeji by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 1991
Zigeunerweisen (Tsigoinerweizen) by Seijun SUZUKI, Japan 1980

The film program is, as always, compiled by Marion Klomfass, Holger 
Ziegler and myself, with this years retrospective organized by Mitiru 
Matsumoto. Comments on and off the list are always welcome.

Check out the website at www.nipponconnection.de; the program guide is 
downloadable there- it has short english sections as well as the german
ones. The website is basically in german, but an english version will go 
up shortly.
It would be great to see some Kinejapaners there as well!

Alex Zahlten

-- 
alex at nipponconnection.de

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