Three University Program
Many educational institutions specializing in filmmaking have sprung up around Japan since the first YIDFF in 1989, and many of their students flock to Yamagata for this festival. This program has been organized in recognition of these visitors’ growing ties with local students. Recently, the Hangzhou Asian Film Festival invited a YIDFF staff member as a juror, and the China Academy of Art proposed bringing a group of students to Yamagata to participate in the YIDFF. And this year, the University of Milan, the host of the documentary film festival Docucity, invited films produced by graduate students at the Tohoku University of Art and Design to screen at their festival. This Three University Program will feature films from our sister institution, the Kyoto University of Art and Design, in addition to films from Yamagata, Hangzhou and Milan.
Tohoku University of Art and Design Program 1
A Doodlebug’s Pit
(Arijigoku)- 2013 / Color / 12 min
Director: Hiroi Saki
This story takes place in the apartment of a young part-time worker. One day, he manages to lodge his backside in his washing machine—how will he ever extricate himself from this doodlebug’s pit?
Kids After It
(Sorekara no kodomo)- 2013 / Color / 92 min
Director: Kato Takuto
Living alone in a two-story house left to him by his parents, the protagonist unexpectedly finds himself the center of a miscellaneous group of people. They almost resemble a family—but their relationships could never be expected to last.
Tohoku University of Art and Design Program 2
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- 2013 / Color / 28 min
Director: Nakajima Yu
After playing the leading role in the movie Our Future, directed by Iizuka Kasho, which dealt with the subject of gender identity disorder, the filmmaker was inspired to make this documentary about her own coming out.
The Three Girls and Their Three Secrets
(Sannin musume no mittsu no himitsu)- 2013 / Color / 30 min (omnibus)
Directors: Saito Risa, Wada Haruna, Nihei Tomomi
In this omnibus film, three female directors offer a self-portrait of their own deepest secrets. Their seemingly average and uneventful lives are in fact revealed to overflow with scintillating drama.
Deidoro
(Deidoro)- 2013 / Color / 3 min
Director: Funayama Hiroko
Abstract and symbollic images, similar to those seen in psychological experiments, pulse rhythmically with time in this animated short.
The Hina Doll’s Head
(Hina no kubi)- 2013 / Color / 3 min
Director: Funayama Hiroko
Pushing back against the conventional sentiments and excessive expectations embodied in Hina (Girl’s Day) dolls, this animated film attempts to free us from our traditional female gender stereotypes.
Time
(Jikan)- 2013 / Color / 4 min
Director: Maeda Yuka
Animation is said to be all about expressing movement—but couldn’t an animated film also focus its attention on unmoving objects exposed to the flow of time?
Henri
(Henri)- 2013 / Color / 4 min
Director: Maeda Yuka
The special effect technique of morphing from one image to another is utilized to opposite effect in this animated film, which creates a deliberately uneven flow of distorted and fluctuating images to explore the theme of androgyny.
Halcyon days
- 2013 / Color / 23 min
Director: Kazama Hiroki
A boy is summoned by an unseen force to a school in his memory, and he receives several letters that appear out of nowhere. Memory and fantasy intermingle in the mysterious drama that unfolds on the screen.