Japanese women directors
Lorenzo J. Torres Hortelano
ljth2006 at gmail.com
Sat Dec 23 14:59:03 EST 2006
Following this new focus, I’d say that there is a very interesting filmmaker
in Spain: Isabel Coixet: La visa secreta de las palabras (The Secret Life of
Words, 2005). She is interesting for this discussion because she works in
arranging a female gaze (not only for sexuality) and because she seems to
have -¿anyone can confirm this?- certain success in Japan, for example, I
read somewhere that she was on the top in these locals where people in Japan
goes to cry
Lorenzo J. Torres
-----Mensaje original-----
De: owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
[mailto:owner-KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu] En nombre de Michael
McCaskey
Enviado el: sábado, 23 de diciembre de 2006 16:51
Para: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Asunto: Re: Japanese women directors
Since the discussion has also touched on women directors from other
countries, I'd like to add the name of Agnes Varda, one of the greatest
woman directors ever, in my opinion.
She is still with us, I believe, almost 80, has recently completed a new
film, Quelques veuves de Noirmoutier (2006), and in 2005 made a documentary
about her 1961 film Cleo From 5 to 7.
Your discussion brought her to mind, and stimulated me to order a DVD copy
of her film, The Gleaners and I, Two Years Later, Les Glaneurs et la
glaneuse... deux ans après (2002), about consumption and overconsumption
that she shot on the road and on location in France. It's also about Varda
and her own work. I think (and hope) this DVD has both the 2000 film and the
2002 update.
Michael McCaskey
----- Original Message -----
From: jeffrey isaacs <jdi1 at midway.uchicago.edu>
Date: Saturday, December 23, 2006 9:39 am
Subject: Re: Japanese women directors
> Reading the interesting comments made so far in this stream of
> discussion it seems that (like other forms of work,) women are
> more
> likely to be in positions of power when the enterprise is smaller.
> That is, the more corporate forms of filmmaking are less open to
> women whereas those that are family-run enterprises (as in the
> pink
> film instances mentioned by Roland) or rely mostly on the energy
> of a
> single individual (as in documentary, personal films, experimental
> film) are more open. Given this, I wonder if anyone could comment
> on
> women as directors of commercials, another career pathway for
> young
> directors. Does the advertising industry, for instance, think that
> women might be well suited to sell goods to women?
>
> Jeff Isaacs
>
> >This is interesting. At Raindance Festival this year I got
> talking to a
> >freelance journalist who was doing a bit of research about women film
> >directors. It seems that in North America, the UK and much of
> Europe, the
> >number of films being made by women directors has dropped
> significicantly>in the past 5 years.
> >
> >As it happened, three of the films I selected to be screened in
> the Japanese
> >selection were directed by women, all first time feature
> directors, and all
> >three make my best of top 10 which will appear on Midnight Eye
> sometime very
> >soon. The films were Dear Pyongyang, Bambi Bone, and Moon and Cherry.
> >
> >Moon and Cherry proved to be one of the most popular films of the
> festival,>and the sort of work that it amazes me foreign
> distributors don't pick up on
> >- this is a film that people of any culture will find funny, sexy,
> >thought-provoking and poignant, and is one of the best
> independant films of
> >the past few year, by a woman or otherwise. It tells the story of
> a young
> >virginal male university student who joins an erotic writing club
> and is led
> >a merry dance by the clubs only feel member, and the only one
> published, who
> >uses him as the raw material for her next work. I really look
> forward to
> >seeing the next film from its director Yuki Tanada
> >
> >Bambi Bone is arty, expressionistic and definitely not for all
> tastes, but
> >signals the arrival of another really talented director in the
> form of
> >Noriko Shibutani, telling a tale about two errant kids running
> riot around
> >their working class environment in a film that perhaps most
> resembles Nobody
> >Knows meets Julian Donkey Boy.
> >
> >And finally, Dear Pyongyang is a documentary in the Naomi Kawase
> vein by
> >Yong-hi Yang, tackling the North Korean issue in the form of an
> intimate>portrait of her aging but remarkably charismatic father -
> he is utterly
> >ambivalent about Japanese homeland, and fiercely patriotic
> towards the
> >country of his origins, believing strongly in the idea of a
> united communist
> >Korea - to such an extent that he was willing to make the
> ultimate sacrifice
> >in 1971 of splitting up his family and sending his three sons,
> then aged 14,
> >16, and 18, to live forever in Pyongyang as part of a
> repatriation project
> >that saw 90,000 such zainichi returning to North Korea. Much of this
> >fascinating work follows the filmmaker, her father and her mother
> on a
> >family visit to their estranged family in Pyonyang.
> >
> >So there's been some brilliant independant features by women
> directors in
> >Japan in recent year, and I would definitely add my voice to the
> chorus of
> >approval for Hebi Ichigo. It is just such a shame that none of
> these women
> >ever make it as big in the industry as their male colleagues-
> there's a
> >serious threat of these directors suffering similar problems
> getting new
> >projects funded as Lynne Ramsay, certainly among the most interesting
> >directors to emerge in the UK in recent years. Its curious for
> example how
> >Naomi Kawase seems to have fallen off the map recently, and one
> has to
> >wonder when we'll see anything new from her.
> >
> >Jasper Sharp
> >
> >
> >
> >--
> >Midnight Eye: The Latest and Best in Japanese Cinema
> >www.midnighteye.com
> >
> >===
> >
> >Available now in bookstores everywhere:
> >The Midnight Eye Guide to New Japanese Film (Stone Bridge Press)
> >by Tom Mes and Jasper Sharp
> >http://www.midnighteye.com/features/midnighteye_guide.shtml
> >"Easily one of the most important books on Japanese cinema ever
> released in
> >English."
> >- Newtype USA
> >
> >
> >
> >--------- Original Message --------
> >From: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
> >To: KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-state.edu <KineJapan at lists.acs.ohio-
> state.edu>>Subject: Re: Sharasojyu and Hebi Ichigo
> >Date: 21/12/06 17:06
> >
> >>
> >> In North America, at least, it's _quite_ difficult to find
> Japanese>> films by female directors. There are some fairly well-
> known female
> >> _screenwriters_ (Wada Natto comes immediately to mind, and
> Nobumoto>> Keiko who wrote many of the _Cowboy Bebop_ episodes),
> but directors...
> >> well, that's another story all together! _Hebi Ichigo_ sounds
> >> interesting--anyone want to contribute titles to a "must
> see">list?
> >> But to keep this from becoming "just a list" which
> seems to
> >disappoint
> >> some people, add a short line or two why the film is a 'must
> see'...>>
> >> Let's get a jump on the 2006 Top Ten lists...! ^_^
> >>
> >>
> >> Tim Iles
> >> University of Victoria
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> Quoting Michael McCaskey <mccaskem at georgetown.edu>:
> >>
> >> > Sharasojyu is a really great film, and I hope that at
> some point
> >> > there will be a DVD with English subtitles that I could
> show parts
> >> > of to my students (or is there already one with subtitles
> that I
> >> > don't know about?).
> >> >
> >> > Another film that I somehow associate with this one is
> Nishikawa>> > Miwa's Hebi Ichigo (2003). Maybe only because
> both are by women
> >> > directors, both are visually striking, and I saw both
> around the
> >> > same time. I believe my Japanese DVD of Hebi Ichigo does have
> >> > English subtitles, though I haven't watched it for some
> while.>> >
> >> > Michael McCaskey
> >> > Georgetown Univ.
> >> >
> >> > ----- Original Message -----
> >> > From: tim.iles at utoronto.ca
> >> > Date: Wednesday, December 20, 2006 4:07 pm
> >> > Subject: Re: Actor's name in _Sharasojyu_
> >> >
> >> >> Many thanks--back in my office now with the credits
> in front of
> >> >> me, it
> >> >> looks like the boy is Yamamoto Masashi (not sure
> about the given
> >> >> name)--small part, IMDb doesn't list him, but as a
> character>> >> _runs_
> >> >> well, at least!
> >> >>
> >> >> Best,
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Tim Iles
> >> >> University of Victoria
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >> Quoting Frako Loden <frako at well.com>:
> >> >>
> >> >> >
> >> >> >> Could anyone tell me off-hand the name of
> the actor who
> >played
> >> >> Kei
> >> >> >> in Kawase Naomi's _Sharasojyu_? I'm away
> from my copy of
> >the
> >> >> film
> >> >> >> at the moment and so can't check the credits...
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Tim, I don't see a character named Kei in any
> cast lists.
> >This
> >> >> is what
> >> >> > I have (and it agrees with imdb.com):
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Shun FUKUNAGA Kohei
> >> >> > Yu HYOUDO Yuka
> >> >> > Reiko KAWASE Naomi
> >> >> > Taku NAMASE
Katsuhisa
> >> >> > Shouko HIGUCHI Kanako
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Frako Loden
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >>
> >> >
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >
> >________________________________________________
> >Message sent using Hunter Point Online WebMail
>
>
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