Nippon Connection 2010 - 10th anniversary!

[Alex Zahlten]

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 M?nchen).

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 








 

-- 
alex at nipponconnection.de

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