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A Movie Capital Again
(“Eiga no miyako futatabi”)
JAPAN / 2007 / Japanese / Color / Video / 90 min
Director, Editing, Producer: Iizuka Toshio
Photography: Watanabe Satoshi
Sound: Katto Isamu
Music: Kaneko Toshiro
Production Company, Source: Amour
Film festivals in Japan are being forced to cut back or fold. Just as we were thinking Yamagata’s days might also be numbered, up sprang the NPO. The core members of the NPO were volunteer members of the original 1989 YIDFF Network. The question is whether the YIDFF Network can recapture the energy it once had, amid calls that the festival be devoted to servicing the local community, and the dilemma of wanting to maintain the standards of an international film festival.
[Director’s Statement] When I directed A Movie Capital, the official record of the inaugural Yamagata Film Festival, I wasn’t able to tell the story of the YIDFF Network to the extent I would have liked. The young faces of the YIDFF Network are now middle-aged. With the film festival having arrived at a significant turning point, their true mettle is being put to the test. As I made this film, I decided to place my trust in the spirit of the YIDFF Network, whose members have played a role in producing the festival over the years while living their lives in parallel with the cinema.
Iizuka Toshio
Iizuka joined Ogawa Productions while a student at Tohoku University, making his directorial debut with A Movie Capital (1991). He received an Award for Excellence from the Agency for Cultural Affairs for The Sound of Tiny Wings, his first film after turning independent in 1991. His major works include a trilogy on Jomon culture, the first of which is The Kingdom of Wood and Earth, and a video series, The Travels of Sugae Masumi. |