[KineJapan] YIDFF Interviews

[Markus Nornes]

I've been meaning to write this message for a while. Every year since the
beginning, Yamagata has conducted interviews with filmmakers. The first
ones were for the Ogawa Pro film on the first fest, *Eiga no miyako. * Some
years are more elaborate than others. This is a pretty serious year, with
interviews edited by Ono Seiko. She's one of the original programmers of
the festival. Here's the page with all the interviews, bilingual—just as
you'd expect with Yamagata.

https://www.yidff.jp/interviews/2023/23i-e.html

Japanese filmmakers include:

Maeda Shinjiro: his *"hibi" AUG*
<https://www.yidff.jp/2023/cat011/23c017-e.html> is a very nice
structural/diary experimental diary. Read up, and you'll see what I mean by
structural. It's in the tradition of hard core directors that set limits on
their film and let predetermined structures guide their production.
Interview by Murayama Kyoichiro.

Oda Kaori: *GAMA* <https://www.yidff.jp/interviews/2023/23i041-e.html> is
part of a larger work Oda is shooting entirely underground, this piece in
the caves where Okinawa's committed suicide. I liked it, especially for the
fascinating approach to storytelling. There's a dance element that caused
some discussion; some people hated it for that. Interview by Erikawa Ken.

Kurobe Shunsuke: *Nihonbara Diary*
<https://www.yidff.jp/interviews/2023/23i062-3-e.html> is about cattlemen
that live next to an army base.

Hatano Shuhei: Radiance <https://www.yidff.jp/interviews/2023/23i042-e.html>
is a diary film shot during the pandemic. Another structural film of sorts,
but one with soul. Lovely film.

Okawa Keiko: *Oasis* <https://www.yidff.jp/2023/cat061/23c063-2-e.html> is
trying to be a video version of Cartier-Bresson street photography—on
bikes. I didn't find it that surprising. Interview by Kato Itaru.

Doi Toshikuni: <https://www.yidff.jp/2023/cat082/23c086-e.html#t2>*Tsushima:
Fukushima Speaks 2 <https://www.yidff.jp/2023/cat082/23c086-e.html#t2> *is
a 3 hour film about a district in Namie that had to evacuate. Long form
interview film. Gives a sense for the state of 311 docs these days. There
are fewer and fewer, as you'd imagine. But Yamagata continues to have a
sidebar to keep it in people's memories. Interview by Oshita Yumi.

Komori Haruka: Radio Shimo-Kajiro: The Songs that Led Us Here Today
<https://www.yidff.jp/interviews/2023/23i087-1-e.html> is about a radio
station in Fukushima. As with Komori's other films, the subjects are
charming. The context is tragic. There's a power to that. I wish she paid
more attention to the photography. I'm too snobby to easily deal with the
wrong white balance in films. Interview by Kawakami Atiqa.

Inoue Minoru: His Men with Movie Cameras—Shooting the Great Kanto Earthquake
<https://www.yidff.jp/interviews/2023/23i062-1-e.html> is televisual in
style, but does share the scientific, data-driven perspective of Ogawa's
rice films and Tsuchimoto's science film. Here he collects all the footage
of the Kanto earthquake he could find. And there's a lot of new footage
people haven't seen because the Film Archive just had a big project for
it's 100th anniversary. Inoue figures out the path that the photographers
followed through the rubble. And he recreates it with the help of Planet
Archive, which lent him the same camera Shirai Shigeru hauled everywhere.
It's interesting. And the subject is a key moment in the history of
Japanese documentary. I did this interview.

Sora Neo: Opus <https://www.yidff.jp/interviews/2023/23i060-e.html>. This
is another interview I conducted. It was the most pleasurable interview
I've ever done. Neo is an interesting guy. He's mainly interested in making
features, but as Sakamoto's son he was positioned to make this special
film. A kind of last testament by a musician who knows it might be his
last. One of the "fundamental tendencies" of documentary that Renov
identifies is "to record, to preserve." This is profoundly pushing this
aspect of documentary, perhaps to the limit. As I discovered at the end of
the interview, Sakamoto was into technology so he was using a special
system developed by Yamaha that not only records the notes he uses on a
piano, but also the timing *and the pressure. Opus* could be staged at any
time by a swank player piano that literally reproduces Sakamoto's
performance. Also, the film is stunningly beautiful and very touching. I
heard some people dismiss the film; I feel sorry for them.

I love that Yamagata does this kind of thing. It's one of the many things
that makes them special.

Markus
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