[KineJapan] Lumiere Gokko

[Markus Nornes]

Pink directors Imaoka Shinji, Sakamoto Rei, Kamada Yoshitaka, and Meike
Mitsuru collaborate on *Playing Lumiere*. I didn't have high expectations
after hearing the pretense: each shoots a silent Lumiere-like short on a
borrowed Bolex and a single roll of film. The online documentary is
essentially a making-of piece, climaxing with a compilation of the 16mm
silent shorts.

I just finished watching, and count it as one of the most interesting of
the corona era experiments. Each of the silent actualities powerfully play
off the others in a dance of life and death, literally and figuratively.
It's all quite unexpected, moving, and charming.

The highlight: veteran Sano Kazuhiro, who can't speak in any case thanks to
throat cancer (!), recounts his close encounter with death by virus and his
will to make more art. He channels Dylan, with Ozu as Ginzberg in the
background (!?).

It feels like it takes forever to get to the "actual films," but the payoff
was actually quite moving and absolutely a reflection of the times. Check
it out here:

https://cheerforart.jp/detail/4787?fbclid=IwAR14aMO_9x8KRKs94J0C6l-7HILek2q5ikDJufd5E-SmqfBZcm_TXIhIqSA

Markus


---

*Markus Nornes*
*Professor of Asian Cinema*
Department of Film, Television and Media, Department of Asian Languages and
Cultures, Penny Stamps School of Art & Design

*Department of Film, Television and Media*
*6348 North Quad*
*105 S. State Street*
*Ann Arbor, MI 48109-1285*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20200907/5bb6cb16/attachment.html>