MAYA
JAPAN / 2001 / No dialogue / Color / 8mm / 66 min
Director, Photography, Editing, Sound, Producer, Source: Sekine Hiroyuki
1-31-7 Hagiyama-cho, Higashimurayama-shi, Tokyo 189-0012 JAPAN
Phone: 81-42-341-1875
Though the Maya Tourist Hotel, built on Kobe’s Mt Maya in 1930, was closed ten years ago, its shell still remains. In Maya, the camera takes us inside the hotel buildings, reminiscent of ships drifting on a sea of trees, and delivers clean, crisp images of the ruins, now overgrown with vegetation that seems ancient. The filmmaker senses impending rain, and decides to revisit the site in a month, this time capturing the early morning mist that envelops the mountain, the sound of rain echoing around the building and the fog coming in the broken windows. Director Sekine Hiroyuki, known as the “magician of ruins,” says that he placed importance on image of water when making this 8mm masterpiece.
[Director’s Statement] I would like to express my deep appreciation to YIDFF for giving me an opportunity to show my work on such a large stage. For an individual taking up the challenge of filmmaking, 8mm film was a very attractive tool. The world as a moving image is replayed on a screen through a projector allowing the viewers to look, touch, and feel the images as they move from frame to frame. I think that the charm and magic of movies lies in the cinematic film. The advent of video and digital media, however, has crowded out the 8mm movie. Although 8mm stock itself is produced in Japan and can be developed here, there are absolutely no new cameras or projectors. The 8mm projector set up for the YIDFF screening is a very rare and precious item. It has been barely a hundred years since cinematic film began projecting the world, but during this time, the world of the image has changed enormously. As one of the tools through which the origin of cinema, “the surprise,” has been passed down, 8mm film is full of an attraction and magic which I hope I can express to you.
Sekine Hiroyuki
Born in Tokyo in 1957. In 1981, graduated from the Department of Film at Tama Art School, where he explored the possibilities of making and screening personal film under the guidance of Hoshino Akira. His first film was Etude (1978). Dream of Boys was invited to the Pia Film Festival in 1982. Since 1987, has made films about ruins of buildings found in Tokyo, including Tokyo Sanpo vol.1 (1987), Ruins of Iogi (1989), Sanno Hotel (1990), Shibuya Immortal (1991), U.O. (1992) and Ruins of Roppongi (1992). Made Collaboration—Erode—L’eclipse vol. 1 (1997) with art director Uno Kazuyuki and poet Hirose Daishi. All works are 8mm films. |