>> Catalog 2013

Theatre 1

(Engeki 1)

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JAPAN, USA / 2012 / Japanese / Color / Blu-ray / 172 min

Director, Producer, Photography, Editing: Soda Kazuhiro
Production Associate: Kashiwagi Kiyoko
Production Company: Laboratory X, Inc.
World Sales: TOFOO, LLC.

The theatre company Seinendan is led by the luminary Japanese playwright and stage director Hirata Oriza. The camera is trained on their creative process—playwriting, rehearsal, lighting, set design, and all the assorted tasks required for the operation of a theatre company. Coming close to these activities, we come to see the methodology and theory, as well as the organizational philosophy of the group. Theatre 1 cuts into the world of Hirata Oriza with a scalpel, and with the same stroke examines the art of drama, which has been practiced since the earliest times of the human species.

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Theatre 2

(Engeki 2)

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JAPAN, USA, FRANCE / 2012 / Japanese, French / Color / Blu-ray / 170 min

Director, Producer, Photography, Editing: Soda Kazuhiro
Production Associate: Kashiwagi Kiyoko
Production Company: Laboratory X, Inc.
World Sales: TOFOO, LLC.

As an art form, theatre is extremely analog, costly, and time-consuming. The stark and unavoidable reality of the economy follows it like a shadow. Amidst financial difficulties and recession, public art budgets are on a severe shrinking trend. Hirata’s strategy against this adversity was vast and simple. Theatre 2 offers a closer look at the relationship between Hirata Oriza and the world. Through the art of theatre, we reconsider our advanced capitalist society.

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[Director’s Statement] In Theatre 1, we ask the universal question of “What do drama and acting mean to humanity?” by viewing the methodology and philosophy behind Hirata and his work. In Theatre 2, we see how Hirata manages the social and economic sides of his theatre company. This examination sheds light on the relationship between society and art. The two films together constitute a long, 5 hour and 42 minute film, but this length was absolutely necessary take what I had seen and recreate it as a work of cinema.