Compilation 2 “Filming Yamagata”
This compilation continues the introduction of films made in or about Yamagata begun at YIDFF ’99.
Good Friends, Good People
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USA, JAPAN / 2001 / Japanese, English / Color / Video / 62 min
Director, Photography, Editing, Sound, Producer, Source: Masa
348 E. 15th St. #3 New York, NY 10003
Phone: 1-212-387-8938
Fax:1-419-831-6859
E-mail: masahotel@hotmail.com
While working at the 1997 Festival, Masa, who has been helping out with the YIDFF for several years, used his spare time to film behind the scenes, training his camera on fellow workers and friends. This film is a humorous depiction of the festival’s progress, and shows how the workers’ and audiences’ growing satisfaction and elation is matched only by their increasing fatigue—those involved will be able to relate all too well. The film is packed with inside jokes, but a must-see even for the not-involved.
Smiles of 108 People
JAPAN / 2000 / Japanese / Color / Video / 20 min
Photography: Yuza Town Video Production Committee Member
Editing: Abe Masao
Narrator: Sugawara Naoko
Supervisor: Kato Itaru
Producer: Yuza Town
Production: Yuza Town Video Production Committee
Source: Yuza Town
211 Maizuru, Oaza Yuza-machi, Yuza, Akumi-gun, Yamagata 999-8301 JAPAN
Phone: 81-234-72-3311 Fax: 81-234-72-3310
This work is a PR video that commemorates the 45th anniversary of the incorporation of Yuza Town, a town situated on the Japan Sea side of Yamagata Prefecture near the border with Akita Prefecture. Kato Itaru, the assistant professor in the film course at Tohoku University of Art & Design commissioned to make the video, decided that superficial images would not do justice to this site of great natural beauty. Instead, he suggested that the townspeople themselves make a video that introduced their hometown. He held regular video workshops for the townspeople, and after a year the video was finished. With the townspeople’s fervor for filming showing no bounds, workshops to make a sequel continue today.
The YIDFF NetworkThe YIDFF Network is a volunteer group that was brought together for the inaugural YIDFF in 1989, as an initiative of Ogawa Shinsuke. Since that time, the group has continued to be active on a wide range of levels, including organizing twice-monthly screenings aimed at the general public called “Friday Theater.” Some volunteers are involved in the selection for International Competition, New Asian Currents, and the Japanese Panorama programs. They also undertake tasks relating to the films, including reporting for, editing and publishing the Daily Bulletin, issued for the duration of the Festival, as well as videotaping and photographing the proceedings. Recent years have seen growing involvement from students, and those living outside Yamagata. YIDFF Network Special Screenings are organized for each Festival, with the intention of presenting films from the volunteers’ original perspectives. —Masuya Shuichi, Programmer of the YIDFF Network Special Screenings |
• YIDFF Network Special Screenings | Compilation 1 “Memories of the Asian War (The Forgotten People)” | The Lost Honor of Mountain | Mardiyem | Compilation 2 “Filming Yamagata” | Good Friends, Good People | Smiles of 108 People |