[KineJapan] Fw: Award Winners of the 21st Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection

[Roger Macy]

It would be nice to hear from other members on the list on theirreactions to Nippon Connection and/or to a comparable range of films from New York.

I just wanted to conclude by saying that I really enjoyed 脳天パラダイス / Wonderful Paradise. The publicity still had pushedit down my list but at least that meant that I had forgotten that by the time Igot to it and approached it, as the film does, with an art film, or realiststart. After too many films starting with a senseless act of violence beforecharacter had been established, this had an exemplary exposition, establishingcredibility through place and character, before letting rip through all thegenres. I though it funnier than Parasite and without any self-indulgentend.

Roger

    On Tuesday, 8 June 2021, 13:21:23 BST, Roger Macy via KineJapan <kinejapan at mailman.yale.edu> wrote:  
 
  
Although Nippon Connection 21 has formally finished and theprizes announced (below), accredited visitors have until Friday to continue viewing films and for whom, I wasagreeably surprised, country restrictions were lifted.

The extra time is appreciated since, from home in high summer, I cannotmanage to be the de dicated 12 hour a day film viewer that I might be in Frankfurt.

Yesterday evening I buckled down and finished ‘Me and the Cult Leader / AGANAI-地下鉄サリン事件と私’. Spoiler warning ahead but we at least heard thefilmmaker Sakahara express his disappointment to his subject that he, thesubject, had essentially not changed his mind after a year making this two-hourfilm. That slightly eased my lack of reward for listening for two hours to aviolently closed mind that wouldn’t listen. My listening, of course, wasthrough the subtitles, which added to the work. The ‘Plot’ on the film’sen.wiki page has quite a number of informative details that I didn’t get fromthe subtitled film. I can’t now think of any gems in the film that are not inthat ‘Plot’, as it also gives the late reveal that Sakahara had been doublydamaged by the sarin attack through a failed marriage to an Aum member. I’m notone of the champions of jibun-eiga, regarding them, with a few honourableexceptions, as the best that that can be made of the bad job of a historicallack of money in Japan for independent script development. However, in thiscase, I found Sakahara himself a more interesting subject and would rather hehad turned earlier upon himself, if he could have born the pain.

So I was ready after that for the lively lower roadof Les sorcières del'Orient. The title card bears also the title 東洋の魔女, which, by definition is a back-translation and I tookas simply calligraphic adornment and, I hope, a self criticizing orientalism. Iwas a teenager at the time of the Tokyo Olympics and presumably knew at thetime of the outcome of the women’s volleyball final but had long-since forgottenand appreciated Faraut’s classic construction with this as the finale. Farautuses and re-edits archive footage intelligently with much use of subsequentanimations of the team. It’s a compliment to the film that I now want to knowwhat happened next.  Did the team membersnot have a view on their bodies being idealized and coyly sexualized in thesesubsequent animations ? Did they get any material benefit from the profits thatothers made from them ? And I have all sorts of questions about their drivenmanager, Daimatsu, who is voiceless in the film (save for one animation clip).But, given the fame of this team in Japan,perhaps these subjects have been explored previously in Japan?

Roger


   ----- Forwarded message ----- From: Nippon Connection Presse <presse at nipponconnection.com>To: "macyroger at yahoo.co.uk" <macyroger at yahoo.co.uk>Sent: Monday, 7 June 2021, 21:27:13 BSTSubject: Award Winners of the 21st Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection
  
| 
| 
| Wird diese Nachricht nicht richtig dargestellt, klicken Sie bitte hier. |


|  |
| 
| 
|  | PRESS CONTACT
Isabelle Mathes
Phone: +49 69 8477 6567
 Presse at NipponConnection.com
NipponConnection.com |

 
|  
| 
Press Release, June 7, 2021
Award Winners of the 21st Nippon Connection Film Festival
Audience awards for queer film, time travel comedy and documentary about immigration center / Jury award for social drama about migrant workers  



Download press pictures Password: NC21AwardBilder
Download press kits for the films Password: NC21AwardMaterial

After six days packed with films, workshops, lectures and film talks, the 21st Nippon Connection Film Festival ended on Sunday, June 6, 2021 with an online award ceremony. Due to the pandemic, the world’s biggest festival for Japanese cinema once more took place entirely online. The closing ceremony was broadcast via livestream from the festival center at Künstlerhaus Mousonturm in Frankfurt. All four award winners tuned in live from Japan. The numerous positive reactions of the audience via social media proved that the atmosphere of the Nippon Connection Festival, characterized by a lively exchange and encounters, also worked in the digital space.

The audience could vote online for three audience awards. The sixteenth Nippon Cinema Award, sponsored by Bankhaus Metzler in Frankfurt and endowed with a prize money of 2,000 euros, went to the queer film his. Director Rikiya Imaizumi offers a hopeful story about the revision of traditional gender roles and the meaning of family. The film was part of this year’s thematic focus Family Matters – The Japanese Family Between Tradition And Modernity, supported by Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain.

Per audience vote, the Nippon Docs Award went to the documentary Ushiku by Thomas Ash, dealing with a current, highly controversial political issue. The film accuses human rights violations in the eponymous immigrantion center near Tokyo, as well as Japan’s current immigration policies. The award, endowed with a prize money of 1,000 euros, was given out for the second time this year.

The fast-paced time travel comedy Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes by Junta Yamaguchi received the seventh Nippon Visions Audience Award. The film was shot almost entirely in one take by the theater troupe Europe Kikaku. The award, donated by the Japanisches Kultur- und Sprachzentrum in Frankfurt, is endowed with a prize money of 1,000 euros.

The Nippon Visions Jury Award went to Along The Sea by Akio Fujimoto. The drama explores the experiences of three young female technical trainees who are exploited after coming to Japan from Vietnam. The international jury, consisting of Ellen Harrington (director of DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum), Thomas Ash (filmmaker) and Toshiyuki Hasegawa (curator of SKIP CITY INTERNATIONAL D-Cinema FESTIVAL) stated: “The director does so in a compassionate and sensitive way, working with non-professional actors and painting a beautiful cinematic landscape.” The award, a subtitling for the director’s next film, is sponsored for the eleventh time by Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy (JVTA) from Tokyo. Beyond The Infinite Two Minutes by Junta Yamaguchi received a special mention. The jury emphasized the “the creativity, the well-written script and the big heart” of the film.

Festival director Marion Klomfass expressed her gratitude to the numerous supporters, sponsors and cooperation partners of the festival, as well as to the many volunteers. The organizers hope to welcome the audience on location again for the next edition of the Nippon Connection Film Festival in Frankfurt am Main. The 22nd Nippon Connection Film Festival will take place from May 24 to 29, 2022.

Until June 30, 2021, film fans can watch the films A Town And A Tall Chimney, Festival Of Shadows (German subtitles), as well as Fukushima Monologue and Kiyo in Kyoto: From The Maiko House (in cooperation with NHK WORLD-JAPAN) online and for free.

In addition, the Nippon Retro section will be held at the cinema of the DFF – Deutsches Filminstitut & Filmmuseum in August 2021, showcasing nine films by or with Kinuyo TANAKA (1909–1977). She became one of the greatest classic star actresses and the first successful female film director in Japan. The retrospective takes place in cooperation with Japanisches Kulturinstitut Köln (The Japan Foundation). Screening dates will be announced on the website NipponConnection.com.

In the virtual Nippon Online Market on NipponConnection.com, exhibitors are still presenting a variety of Japan-related offers. Visitors can extend the festival feeling with Japanese delicacies, DVDs, books, handmade jewelry or tips for the next journey to Japan. 

The festival

The Japanese Film Festival Nippon Connection is organized by the 70-member, largely voluntary, team of the non-profit association Nippon Connection e.V. It is under the patronage of Angela Dorn, Hessian Minister for Science and Art, Peter Feldmann, Lord Mayor of Frankfurt am Main, and the Consulate General of Japan in Frankfurt am Main. Nippon Connection is one of the most popular film festivals in Hesse. A fundraising campaign is currently running on the online platform betterplace.org: betterplace.org/en/projects/88584.

Download press pictures 
tinyurl.com/nc21-awardbilder
Password: NC21AwardBilder

Download press kits for the films 
tinyurl.com/nc21-awardpressinfos
Password: NC21AwardMaterial

To find further information on our festival, please visit these sites:
NipponConnection.com
facebook.com/NipponConnection
twitter.com/NipponFilmfest
instagram.com/NipponConnection
blog.NipponConnection.com

Press contact 
Isabelle Mathes 
Phone: +49 69 8477 6567
Presse at NipponConnection.com
NipponConnection.com
 |

 |

  |

 |


|  Wenn Sie diese E-Mail (an: macyroger at yahoo.co.uk) nicht mehr empfangen möchten, können Sie diese hier abbestellen. 
 
 Nippon Connection e.V.
Schwedlerstrasse 1-5, c/o Atelierfrankfurt
60314 Frankfurt am Main, Deutschland
Phone: +49 (0)69 847 76 565, E-Mail: info at nipponconnection.com
NipponConnection.com
 |


 
 |

 |

  _______________________________________________
KineJapan mailing list
KineJapan at mailman.yale.edu
https://mailman.yale.edu/mailman/listinfo/kinejapan
  
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman.yale.edu/pipermail/kinejapan/attachments/20210614/c0bc7195/attachment-0001.html>