Nippon Connection 2010 - 10th anniversary!

Sun Apr 11 05:21:25 EDT 2010

Congratulations Alex for the 10th anniversary. I came some years ago and I
can say it is the best cinema festival I have ever assisted -helped also for
an edition of Kinemaclub.

Best wishes,

Lorenzo Torres
Universidad Rey Juan Carlos
Madrid, Spain.

2010/4/11 Alex Zahlten <Alex.Zahlten at gmx.de>

> Hi everyone,
>
> the tenth anniversary edition of the Nippon Connection Film Festival in
> Frankfurt is just a few days away (14.-18.), and of course we hope to see
> lots of list members there as well.
>
> I think it's safe to say that ten years is a long time for the somewhat
> unusual combination of a festival of this size with the unconventional
> organizational structure that characterizes the festival. Every year Nippon
> Connection shows around 130-150 films, greets 30-40 filmmakers from Japan,
> and is (to my knowledge at least) the largest screening event for film from
> Japan- certainly the one with the broadest spectrum, showing everything from
> blockbusters to indie animation and experimental film and Pink films. At the
> same time, it is organized entirely by volunteers.
>
> Anyway, I thought I'd give an outline of some of the flms, guests and
> events of this year's Nippon Connection. For the entire program, check out
> the website at www.nipponconnection.com
>
> Some of the highlights from the "Cinema" section will be the winner of
> Kinema Junpo's best 10 list, DEAR DOCTOR by Nishikawa Miwa; also Toyoda
> Toshiaki's comeback film BLOOD OF REBIRTH, Tanada Yuki's ONE MILLION YEN
> GIRL, Ishii Yuya's film SAWAKO DECIDES (shot with the PIA film scholarship),
> Miike Takashi's CROWS ZERO II and many others.
>
> The "Digital" section will present a broader mix of genres, showing the
> most exciting work by young talents; Matsue Tetsuaki's films ANNYONG YUMIKA
> and LIVE TAPE will be screening (with a live concert by Maeno Kenta, the
> musician from LIVE TAPE, following the screening); also 8000 MILES perts I &
> II by Irie Yu, the winner of this year's newcomer award from the Director's
> Guild of Japan (this was the 50th award, by the way; the first went to
> Oshima Nagisa), the intriguing portrait of transgender artist Pyuupiru will
> be featured in PYUUPIRU 2001-2008, or the mind-blowing animation MAN-EATER
> MOUNTAIN by Niiya Naoyuki. Also, for the anniversary Nippon Connection asked
> several guest curators to program their idea of the most exciting films of
> the year: Ichiyama Shozo of Filmex Film Festival decided on SO DARK NIGHTS
> by Koide Yutaka, Tom Mes of Midnight Eye picked Inoue Tsuki's AUTUMN ADAGIO
> and Yubari Film Festival Program Director Shiota Tokitoshi picked the very
> Yubari-esque DU!
>  MP TRUCK WOMAN by trash-meister Fujiwara Sho.
> This year there will also be Skype interviews with some of the directors
> that couldn't attend, projected to the screen. Fujui Shozin will answer
> questions straight from his little bar in Higashi-Nakano in Tokyo, and SONA,
> THE OTHER MYSELF director Yang Yonghi will also be available live from
> Tokyo.
> Also, the festival introduces a prize to the digital section this year,
> with the Japan Video Translation Academy sponsoring subtitles for the
> winning director's next film. The prize will be decided by a jury consisting
> of the list's own Roland Domenig (University of Vienna) and Jasper Sharp
> (Midnight Eye), as well as Bernd Brehmer (of the legendary theater/archive
> Werkstattkino München).
>
> Filmmakers in attendance are still being added to the list at this moment,
> and we're already well over 40; among them are actor & director Taguchi
> Tomorow, Toyoda Toshiaki, Michael Arias, Matsue Tetsuaki, Irie Yu, Yamaoka
> Daisuke and many more. Also Yubari Film festival head programmer Shiota
> Tokitoshi, Unijapan head Nishimura Takashi, festival programmers and film
> researchers from all over Europe and the U.S.
>
> Lots of events will as always accompany the festival. In-depth on stage
> interviews with Toyoda Toshiaki, Taguchi Tomorow and Matsue Tetsuaki,
> lectures by John Berra, Lisette Gebhardt and others will be spread across
> the 5 days. A special focus this year will be on the topic of
> "translation/localization", with a round table discussing the problems and
> potential involved, as well a two subtitling workshops that allow hands-oon
> experience with the trappings of "localizing" a film.
>
> This is just a very small part of what is going on at the festival, so
> check out the entire program on the website.
>
> In the last 10 years Nippon Connection has strived to broaden the spectrum
> of what a festival can do, all the while trying to deconstruct some of the
> trappings of the problematic idea of a "national cinema" (always a looming
> and inherent problem for a festival dedicated to film from Japan). It puts
> together worldwide tours of parts of its program on a non-profit basis,
> hoping to let as many people as possible see a side of film and moving
> images from Japan they aren't likely to see at other festivals more reliant
> on what the Japanese film industry thinks is exportable. The "exchanging
> tracks" program initiated collaboration between visual artists in Japan and
> musicians in Europe; the tie-up with the Kinema Club conference in 2007
> hopefully allowed combining the potential merits of a festival with
> scholarly reflection. This year the festival will once again host a meeting
> of young directors from Europe with the guests from Japan.
>
> So, if anyone is in the area in the next week, do come check us out and see
> for yourself. And wish us luck for the 10th edition and beyond!
>
> Alex
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> --
> alex at nipponconnection.de
>
> GRATIS für alle GMX-Mitglieder: Die maxdome Movie-FLAT!
> Jetzt freischalten unter http://portal.gmx.net/de/go/maxdome01
>
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