Film project on Japanese Images

[Martin Picard]

Dear,

Laurent Gervereau, a central figure of contemporary image studies in 
France, is preparing a very interesting film project on Japanese 
culture. He need, among other things, a translator and helper already in 
Japan. Here is his query. You can reply via KineJapan or off-list 
directly to him (gervereaul at gmail.com).

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To whom it may concern,

I chair the Institute of Images (see www.decryptimages.net) and am an 
international specialist of image analysis. I also chair the networks of 
the Museums of Europe. I ran the Mus?e du Cin?ma Henri Langlois. For 30 
years, my work has been to promote the work of all types on images, 
including the editorship of the Dictionnaire mondiale des images 
(Nouveau Monde), published by Gallimard, and my global history of images.

I am General Commissioner of a major event throughout the year 2010 
entitled "Utopia and innovations / Utopies et innovations" launched by 
16 cities in the Rhine-Rh?ne Metropole between France, Switzerland and 
Germany. As such, I'm working on a theme movie on Japan entitled: "A 
world of images? / Un monde d'images?" which is inscribed in all our 
local-global thoughts (with 4 other films : Mali, India, Iran and our 3 
European countries). It is about understanding the importance of images 
in traditional Japanese culture and how this country, through films, 
video games and manga, have built from this an imaginary world. This 
film is intended to value the creativity of Japan.

Could someone, through contacts and suggestions, help me to prepare for 
this mission and to organize filmed interviews with key players (I'll be 
in Japan with a cameraman from October 1st to 18th 2009)? It would be 
useful to have a person who accompanies us for the interviews or explain 
to us the use of images. We think of going to Tokyo, Kyoto and 
Hiroshima, but also in other places if necessary.

 From a basic point of view, we should be able to shoot images (from 
private or museums archives) around great filmmakers like Ozu and 
Kurosawa, manga creators such as Osamu Tezuka, but also meet living 
creators such as  Miyazaki, Yoshihiro Tatsumi, Koji Morimoto, Taniguchi, 
Makoto Aida, the Nintendo company and Super Mario Bros' creator Shigeru 
Miyamoto. These names are essential to the success of this project, as a 
basis. They can obviously be complemented.
 
A very big thank you to anyone who could help for the success of this 
feature, which will be a true reference feature film (1h45), not just a 
report, with an absolute concern for image quality (high definition and 
a cameraman who is also a demanding director in terms of visual 
construction). Once completed, the film will be available, if desired, 
to be screened during various filmic activities.

Sincerely,
 
Laurent Gervereau
Chairman
gervereaul at gmail.com

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Martin Picard
PhD Candidate and Part-Time Lecturer
Literature and Film Studies
University of Montreal
martin.picard at umontreal.ca