>> Catalog 2015

Presentations from Children’s Film Workshops

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Yamagata “Cinema for Children” Filmmaking Workshop Films from “Cinema for Children” Filmmaking Workshop Kotoni Yume Cinema Project (Sapporo) AKANE

Children Meet Cinema The Mysterious Forest—Seeking the Place of Dreams Standing Tall on Sodai Street We Who Felt Time

Supported by Yamagata Prefectural Foundation of Lifelong Learning and Culture
Cooperation: Hokkaido Community Cinema in Sapporo, Children Meet Cinema

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Over the years, YIDFF has provided through a trial-and-error process, opportunities for children to be exposed to filmmaking. Some examples are “Play with Film” (2004), “Children’s Film Workshop at the Yamagata Documentary Film Library” (2010–), “Family Film and Animation Wonderland” (2010–11), “Let’s Make Animation in Fukushima” (2014–15). This program will introduce the various efforts being made nationwide to give children a chance to create films. The act of creation will surely bring them new discoveries and delights.

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Yamagata “Cinema for Children” Filmmaking Workshop

In March, when Yamagata’s snow finally melted, thirty-two children between first grade and second year of high school met for the first time to try their hand at filmmaking, with just two days to plan, research, film, direct, record sound for, edit, and then screen their creations. Though they also simultaneously filmed a “making of,” and it was a program of firsts—both for the children and for the adults supporting them—they somehow met their deadline. The results attest to the intensity of the two days.

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Films from “Cinema for Children” Filmmaking Workshop

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JAPAN / 2015 / Japanese / Color / Blu-ray / 49 min

Ring (6 min) / Nuts—Love (10 min) / Elizabeth and Takeshi Story (13 min) / Love Is Wonderful (8 min) / Making of “Cinema for Children” Filmmaking Workshop (12 min)

The children were assigned the theme “love” by their instructor, filmmaker Togashi Shin. Split into four groups of mixed ages, the participants crisscrossed the city of Yamagata, sometimes taking scenic routes to illustrate what “love” means to them: adventure, fantasy, romantic love, fictional TV programs, dance, and musical improvisation. Love just might be all about verve and nerve.

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Kotoni Yume Cinema Project (Sapporo)

There’s a workshop in Sapporo that’s been held for six years, in which junior high school students learn how to make short films. The program has received widespread acclaim in recent years, as films created by participants have been shown at film festivals and even overseas. One example of that success, AKANE was made possible after a project committee—comprising Hokkaido Community Cinema in Sapporo, which runs the workshops, along with Kotoni residents—obtained grants, corporate sponsorships, and donations from the public and raised 6 million yen for its production. Director Sakamoto Yuno, a 1st-year high school student, participated in the workshop for two years, and wrote the script when she was in her 3rd year of junior high school. The project was completed with the support of over 400 people, including twenty junior high and high school students and around thirty filmmaking professionals.

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AKANE

(Akane iro kurarinetto)

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JAPAN / 2014 / Japanese / Color / Blu-ray / 81 min
Distribution: Theater Kino

There comes a time when one must decide on a future path. Discover what young people who are no longer children, but harbor feelings of distrust toward adults and have misgivings about becoming adults themselves, have to say in this coming-of-age fantasy produced by a team of teenagers led by director Sakamoto, himself a high school student.

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Children Meet Cinema

Children Meet Cinema is a film workshop for elementary students throughout Japan that teaches film appreciation, production, and making toy devices for appreciating the visual medium. The idea behind the project is for adults to stand back and give children autonomy, as they meet and learn from top-class filmmakers. Over the course of three days participants cooperate in creating stories, recording, editing, and screening their completed films. To date, directors such as Nakae Yuji, Kore-eda Hirokazu, Hagiuda Koji, Suwa Nobuhiro, Kawase Naomi, Togashi Shin, Suzuki Takuji, Maeda Tetsu, Yokohama Satoko, and Sunada Mami have participated as instructors.

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The Mysterious Forest—Seeking the Place of Dreams

(Fushigi no mori - yume miteta basho o mezashite)

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JAPAN / 2015 / Japanese / Color / Blu-ray / 11 min

In search of an observatory on top of a hill, four children enter a mysterious forest. They fall asleep, only to awake each in a different place. They try to find one another, but get lost in the forest. This surprising masterpiece eschews a narrative, telling its story through the children’s earnest performances and lyrical camera work that flows from their movements. The film’s music is also original, invented by the children involved.

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Standing Tall on Sodai Street

(Sodai-dori de tachiagaru)

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JAPAN / 2014 / Japanese / Color / Blu-ray / 6 min

The theme director Kore-eda offered was “?”. The filmmakers set forth into the streets of Waseda, seeking a theme that would give them good questions to pursue. The team still found themselves wandering around town on the evening of the second day, and they had yet to find their subject. Finally they found a group of bronze baby statues on Sodai Street. They decided to check it out, but as they asked around, no one seemed to know anything about the statues! The filmmakers’ rush to meet their deadline fills this masterpiece of documentary with explosive energy.

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We Who Felt Time

(Toki o kanjita bokutachi)

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JAPAN / 2015 / Japanese / Color / Blu-ray / 11 min

The theme that Director Maeda proposed was “time.” What is time? Can you see time? People say they don’t have enough time, but is time something you can really measure? After everyone thought about time, one team made a documentary and a second team made a work of fiction. We Who Felt Time is the documentary.

 

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Symposium Cinema for Children

Thinking about the relationship between children and film involves also thinking about children and education, as well as film and community building. We’d like this program to be a learning experience not only for filmmaking workshop organizers and those who have participated in such workshops, but for people with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.