[KineJapan] New Hara Kazuo film

[Roger Macy]

 Thanks for this, Markus.The TIFF schedule is now postedhttps://2019.tiff-jp.net/en/schedule/list/day02which tells us that 'Reiwa Uprising' is 270 minutes long, and has one screening starting at midnight.
Can someone tell me/us how TIFF works for accredited professionals?  The 'press' page mentions P&I screenings. Do they tend to be in the mornings a couple of days before, or some other scheme ?   Is there a viewing room ?
Roger

    On Sunday, 29 September 2019, 02:20:05 BST, Markus Nornes via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:  
 
 Tokyo Film Festival announced their schedule and a notable film is a new work by Hara Kazuo. It's called Reiwa Uprising (れいわ一揆), a title that evokes one of Tsuchimoto's films. It's about the new political party Reiwa Shinsengumi. I've always found Japanese elections depressingly dull, but this past one had me riveted to Youtube thanks to Yamamoto Taro. He started his career as a tarento, and also acted in movies (notably Battle Royale, Izo and Princess Raccoon). But he ran as an independent for the Diet after 3/11 and became a politician who spoke his mind and was openly critical of status quo politics. He notoriously passed a letter complaining about the handling of Fukushima to the emperor some years back. This year he established this new party and I have to say it was impressive. 
First of all, Yamamoto know how to give good speech. If you've never seen him, check this out (especially the halfway point): 
https://youtu.be/V6jbn9Ye670

His party put up an amazing lineup for election this year. It included an Okinawan, two people with disabilities, a cross-dressing professor from Tokyo University who sometimes campaigned with a horse, and an obasan that was better at public speaking than Yamamoto. 
One of the impressive things about the party, from my admitted limited understanding, was that Yamamoto shifted his representation from the city of Tokyo to the national proportion representational block, this fascinating open system where people all over the country can vote for a party. This was a big gamble. Moreover, the party gives a ranked list and although they expected to pick up at least two seats Yamamoto put himself 3rd....behind the two disabled politicians. Who won, and he came up short. Both are quite severely disabled, one in the advanced stages of ALS. Seeing them win was really moving.  
Hara seems to have centered his new film on the professor, Yasutomi Ayumi, who is transgender and on the Todai website lists her research subject as "Decolonization of the soul." She also campaigned with a horse and a Thriller flash mob. I recall watching this Youtube video, where she has a backup band and one of the zombies is carrying a baby: 
https://youtu.be/ett8o0u1fdI
It's hardly surprising Hara chose Yasutomi and not Yamamoto. Judging from his asbestos film, he really doesn't know how to deal with people who aren't edgy.  This could be really interesting. Here's the trailer:
https://youtu.be/_b-Wieqk6Gk

Back in the summer, Hara did some live streaming documentary on election night. I only heard about it afterwards, so if anyone saw it I'd love to hear what was it was like. 
Mori Tatsuya also has a new film at TIFF. In recent years, Mori has been concentrating on his writing and not filmmaking. I think he identifies more strongly with critical journalism than documentary. And this helps explain his film's subject, journalist Mochizuki Isoko:
https://youtu.be/YQGF8y1TiA8
I look forward to this as well. 
I sure do with these were at Yamagata and not TIFF. I'm wondering what this means......
That said, the Japanese entry in the Yamagata main competition is a film I am really looking forward to and I'm impressed by its selection: Makino Takashi's Memento Stella. 
https://www.yidff.jp/2019/ic/19ic08-e.html

I'll be in Yamagata. Hope to see some of you at Komian!
Markus



--- 
Markus NornesProfessor of Asian CinemaDepartment of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design
Department of Film, Television and Media6348 North Quad105 S. State StreetAnn Arbor, MI 48109-1285
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