YIDFF: News

2012-05-17

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012

Dates have been decided for our screening event, Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012!

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012

• August 18 (Sat) –31 (Fri) [Venue] Auditorium Shibuya
• September 1 (Sat) –21 (Fri) [Venue] Pole Pole Higashi-nakano

[Presented by]: Cinematrix
[Co-presented by]: YIDFF (NPO), Auditorium Shibuya, Pole Pole Higashi-nakano
[Special support from]: Embassy of Israel in Japan, neoneo, The Finnish Institute in Japan, The Film School of Tokyo
[Supported by]: Japan Arts Council
[Contact]: phone: 81-3-5362-0671 (Cinematrix)

For more information Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012 website

2012-05-17

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
Screening Program by Popular Vote!

As you know, YIDFF runs every other year—in the off-years, we bring the previous year’s screening program to Tokyo! This year, close to 100 films will be screened, mostly with English subtitles, Aug. 18–Sept. 21, at two Tokyo arthouse cinemas: Auditorium Shibuya and Pole Pole Higashi-nakano.

This year, we’re opening up a part of our program to popular vote! From our Documentary Film Library, which archives films from the festival’s 23-year history, you get to vote which film you’d like to see in Tokyo.

In Japanese, you can vote through the neoneo website: the only Japanese magazine dedicated to documentary. Go to http://webneo.org/ and click on the banner on the top right corner.

In English, please write to <mail@tokyo.yidff.jp> with the following items:

Film title you vote for:
(Choose from the YIDFF International Competition from 1989–2009. Some films are not available due to agreement with rights owners.)
Director:
Why you vote for it:
Your name:

The top voted films and program will be announced in early June! For inquiries, contact YIDFF Tokyo Office at <mail@tokyo.yidff.jp>.

2012-06-16

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
Announcement of the Results of Popular Vote!

The popular vote for DDS 2012 screening program has ended and the results are in! Thank you very much for your voting. The following winners, chosen from the rental list at Yamagata Documentary Film Library storing films since its first year in 1989, will be screened.

1st: Route One Dir: Robert Kramer / FRANCE / 1989 / YIDFF ’89 The Mayor’s Prize
2nd: Mysterious Object at Noon Dir: Apichatpong Weerasethakul / THAILAND / 2000 / YIDFF 2001 Runner-Up Prize, NETPAC Special Mention
3rd (2 films):
Africas: How Are You Doing with the Pain? Dir: Raymond Depardon / FRANCE / 1996 / YIDFF ’97 The Mayor’s Prize
How to Behave Dir: Tran Van Thuy / VIETNAM / 1985

The program and screening venues will be announced soon. Please check out DDS 2012 official website at www.cinematrix.jp/dds2012. For inquiries, contact YIDFF Tokyo Office at <mail@tokyo.yidff.jp>.

2012-07-13

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
The Director of The Collaborator and His Family Will Attend DDS 2012!

For DDS 2012, starting on August 18th (Sat), Ruthie Shatz, one of the Israeli directors of The Collaborator and His Family (YIDFF 2011’s The Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize winner), will visit Japan! Not only will events be held in Tokyo, but there are plans for screenings and talks at DDS in Yamagata as well. Please stay tuned!

Message from the Directors of The Collaborator and His Family

“Some years ago while visiting Yamagata with our film Garden (YIDFF 2005 New Asian Currents), we met Japan for the first time. The experience was one of the strongest if not the most significant one in terms of meeting a new audience and culture. The amount of respect and cultural depths towards cinema was extremely encouraging and mind provoking. The conversations and curiosity that came from the audience after the screening was very challenging and left us with a strong desire to meet Japan again.

The fact that a festival as important is happening in a small town in Northern Honshu meant one thing: this is a festival that takes film-making seriously! We traveled from Sundance to Turin film festivals, but Yamagata gave us our strongest festival experience.

We were delighted to have a second opportunity to bring our film The Collaborator and His Family to Japan and moreover to have a third opportunity and come this summer to meet the audience of Tokyo as well as Yamagata. We are always curious to see how audiences around the world react so strongly to subjects allegedly so different in culture, language and customs, but yet so close. Our films which deal with extreme human situations, following strong protagonists, always have a universal story in the heart of it. They allow people from all over the world to relate to them and to find themselves in these stories. For us as filmmakers it’s extremely important to reach a wide audience and we are grateful for the opportunity to share our films with you.”

Ruthie Shatz & Adi Barash

Film Information: Garden 2003 / 85 min / YIDFF 2005 New Asian Currents Award of Excellence
The Collaborator and His Family 2011 / 84 min / YIDFF 2011 International Competition The Robert and Frances Flaherty Prize

2012-07-13

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
DDS 2012 Coming to Tokyo Soon!

The annual Tokyo tour of films from YIDFF 2011—plus talk events with filmmakers and programs original to DDS 2012! Not to be missed!

From YIDFF 2011

International Competition
Outstanding films chosen out of 1,078 entries from 101 countries and areas. Enjoy the masterpieces of YIDFF 2011 which were praised as “especially brilliant.”
New Asian Currents
This program discovers and supports emerging Asian filmmakers and their works, which are diamonds in the rough. Asia continues to bravely engage with new forms of expression.
New Docs Japan
Presenting new documentaries that depict the struggles of people engaging with Japanese society. Don’t miss the two omnibus works that capture the landscape of Japan today!
Islands / I Lands, NOW—Vista de Cuba
This program focuses on Cuba, a strong influence on cinema in Latin America overall, and examines its film culture through the idea of an “island.” DDS 2012 expands the program from 2011 by adding films by the country’s great pioneer, Fernando Pérez.
A Reunion of Taiwan and Japanese Filmmakers: 12 Years Later
Young documentarians from Japan and Taiwan who came together at New Asian Currents in 1999 returned to their “hometown” of Yamagata in 2011. Some films from the program will be shown in Tokyo too.
Films about Yamagata
YIDFF 2011 saw the third installment of “Films about Yamagata.” Using the location of Yamagata as its starting point, this program explores and creates links with cinema.

Programs Original to DDS 2012

Documentary Dream Show 2012 / By Popular Vote!
The following films won the popular vote held in May, chosen from among the hundreds of titles in our Documentary Film Library, which has archived films since the festival’s first edition in 1989. They will be screened in the DDS 2012 program.

The Legendary Filmmaking Collective NDU and Nunokawa Tetsuro
NDU (Japan Documentarist Union) first came into form during the 1970’s students’ activist movement, and later went on to continue filming people who drift from Okinawa to Asia. In memory of the collective and Nunokawa Tetsuro (1942–2012), one of its most important members, this retrospective will investigate the entirety of NDU’s filmography. Most films will not have English subtitles.

What was NDU?: NDU was formed in 1968 by former students who had led the “Waseda University 150-Day Strike.” Of the same generation as Ogawa Production and Tsuchimoto Noriaki, NDU filmed the student movement at its peak and continued to commit to locations of struggle. NDU filmmakers captured Shinjuku’s student movement and Vietnam War protests, then moved on to Okinawa, Taiwan, Korea, and continued to film migrant workers crossing borders. Their unique perspective on “Asian-ness” cut through and opened up new horizons.

Special Event: Iikka-san Is Coming!
This program welcomes renowned Finnish documentary producer and commissioning editor Iikka Vehkalahti to Japan. Adding to screenings of three films that he produced, we have prepared a full week’s program full of lectures and workshops for young filmmakers with him.

2012-08-16

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
Special Program “Iikka is Coming!”

(1) Call for documentary projects for “A Meeting with Iikka”

Those of you working on documentary projects in Japan, this is your chance to meet Finnish commissioning editor and producer, Iikka Vehkalahti!

From an open call for entries, we will choose and translate from Japanese to English, six projects for meetings with Iikka. After a 20-minute presentation by the filmmaker, she/he will be able to engage in discussion with the celebrated professional. Taking place in the audience of a general public, the discussions will be free and open.

For details on application, contact doc.dream.center@gmail.com
The selected projects will be announced online: www.cinematrix.jp/dds2012

[Date]: September 15 (Sat) 10:30–17:30 (with lunch break)
[Venue]: Graduate School of Film Producing, Room 303
(3-40-6 Honcho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-0071)
[Admission]: Observers: 2,500 yen (with free tea)
Members of Independent Cinema Guild: 2,000 yen
Free for project presenters and students of Graduate School of Film Producing.

(2) Three films produced with Iikka

• September 11 (Tue)
19:00: Revolution
20:40: Bilal (with a discussion with Iikka)
• September 12 (Wed)
21:00: Three Rooms of Melancholia (with a discussion with Iikka)
[Venue]: Pole Pole Higashinakano
(4-4-1 Higashinakano, Nakano, Tokyo)
[Admission]: 1,400 yen at door, 3,600 yen for 3 tickets

(3) Lecture at The Film School of Tokyo
What Is Seeing? Having an Original Point of View

Using clips from films, Iikka will lecture on the key to creative documentary, the importance of seeing and what seeing really is.

[Date]: September 14 (Fri) 19:00–22:30
[Venue]: The Film School of Tokyo / Screening Room Kinohaus
(B1, 1-5 Maruyamacho, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo)
[Admission]: 1,500 yen
Film School of Tokyo students—Free
[Contact]: Phone: 81-3-5459-1850

2012-08-16

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
Kicking Off This Weekend!

The YIDFF’s biennial Tokyo tour is about to begin! Meet the filmmakers at talk sessions held after many of the screenings. Check out the schedule for details.

A Pre-celebration: Garden and a Special Talk Event

Welcome Ruthie Shatz, director of The Collaborator and His Family from Israel and artist Akira the Hustler to a talk event after the screening of Garden (New Asian Currents Award of Excellence at YIDFF 2005). About two young male prostitutes in Tel Aviv, Garden, was Ruthie’s previous entry to Yamagata and a hit at the festival. Join us for this pre-opening night event to DDS 2012.

• August 17 (Fri) 21:00: Garden 2003 / 85 min / YIDFF 2005 New Asian Currents Award of Excellence
[Venue] Auditorium Shibuya
[Admission]: At the door: General 1,400 yen / Students 1,300 yen / Seniors 1,000 yen / High school students 800 yen / younger 500 yen

Akira the Hustler Born in Tokyo. Completed graduate program of the Kyoto City University of the Arts in Painting. Began HIV/AIDS awareness activism in 1993. Has been launching art projects under the Akira the Hustler name since 1998. In 2004, joined the Living Together Project, an initiative to communicate the reality of people living with AIDS. www.living-together.net Currently active as artist. akirathehustler.tumblr.com

DDS 2012 Talk Events in August (at Auditorium Shibuya)

Mostly in Japanese with no English interpreting:

Aug 18 (Sat) 18:10 The Collaborator and His Family
Talk with Ruthie Shatz (Filmmaker)
Aug 21 (Tue) 20:00 The Collaborator and His Family
Talk with Ruthie Shatz and Yang Yonghee (Filmmaker, Our Homeland)
Aug 23 (Thu) 13:00 Cuba Sentimental
Talk with Tanuma Sachiko (Filmmaker) and Ichioka Yasuko (TV Producer)
Aug 23 (Thu) 19:00
Special program “neoneo meets!! Vol. 00” For details, see http://webneo.org/
Aug 24 (Fri) 21:00 Transgender Trouble
Talk with Ebata Koki (Filmmaker)
Aug 26 (Sun) 15:00 Good Bye UR / Japanese Social Housing Crisis
Talk with Hayakawa Yumiko (Filmmaker)
Aug 26 (Sun) 17:00 Gift
Talk with Okuma Katsuya (Filmmaker)
Aug 27 (Mon) 19:00 Accelerating Development
Talk with Okada Hidenori (National Film Center)
Aug 28 (Tue) 15:00 The Shepherd’s Story
Talk with Maeda Shinjiro (Filmmaker)
Aug 28 (Tue) 21:00 BETWEEN YESTERDAY & TOMORROW
Talk with Maeda Shinjiro and other filmmakers

Change of schedule (as of August 2)

The screenings of Sugar Curtain have been cancelled. Nobody Listened will be screened in its place.
Nobody Listened
Dirs: Nestor Almendros, Jorge Ulla / USA / 1988 / 35mm / 117 min / YIDFF ’89 International Competition Runner-up Prize
Screenings on:
Aug 23 (Thu) 15:00 Auditorium Shibuya
Sept 12 (Wed) 17:00 Pole Pole Higashinakano
The screening time of The Three Rooms of Melancholia has changed. The correct time is 21:00.

2012-09-12

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
Special Program 2 “Magic Lantern Screenings”

Magic Lantern filmstrips began to be widely used before WW2 as a medium for education, cultural enrichment, and entertainment in Japan. Use of the medium expanded rapidly after the war, when there was a boom in magic-lantern screenings at public facilities. Magic-lantern films were sometimes produced with a socially critical perspective, and became an important medium for labor unions and other social-movement organizations. In this DDS 2012 special program, 5 films will be screened with skilled storytelling provided by “kodan” performer Takarai Kinkan (in Japanese). Don’t miss it!

• September 16 (Sun) 15:00–17:00: Lineup
My Mother (1953, The Univ of Tokyo Settlement, Kawasaki Society for the Children)
How We Fight: The 63-day Struggle (1953, Japan Coal Miner’s Union)
Tora-chan and Bride (Year Unknown, Konishi Roku Shashin Kogyo)
Subway in Moscow: The Underground Palace (Year Unknown, Seiei-sha)
The Status of Wife (1954, Asahi Slide)
(without English subtitles)
[Venue]: Basement, Okuma Memorial Tower (No.26), Waseda University (Tokyo, Shinjuku)
Tozai Line: Waseda Station (approx. 2-min. walk)
[Admission]: Free
[Co-presented by]: Waseda University Collaborative Research Centre for Theatre and Film Arts: 2012 Research Project “The Basic Research for the History of Magic Lantern as a ‘Post-Film’ Medium”
[Supported by]: Kobe Planet Film Archive, International Institute for Children’s Literature, Osaka

2012-09-12

Documentary Dream Show—Yamagata in Tokyo 2012
Still Running!

Switching locations to cinema Pole Pole Higashinakano, the festival will run on to Sept. 21. Producer Iikka Vehkalahti arrived on this Monday from Finland to attend the various talk events and lectures, and workshop scheduled this week. From Sept. 13 to 21, the retrospective “The Legendary Film Collective NDU and Nunokawa Tetsuro” will be on daily, with a beautiful brand new catalogue for sale on this occasion.

While the summer heat is slowly tempering down, the DDS program has lots of hot events in store for you. We await your visit to Pole Pole Higashinakano.

• September 1 (Sat) –21 (Fri)

[Venue] Pole Pole Higashi-nakano (4-4-1 Higashinakano, Nakano, Tokyo)
[Admission]: 1,400 yen at door / 3,600 yen for 3 tickets
Free pass: 15,000 yen
University/College Students: 1,300 yen
Seniors, high/junior high school students, person with a handbook for the disabled: 1,000 yen
Children: 700 yen
* Discount ticket for a frequent visitor: 1,300 yen at door (Visitors are required to show the stub of a ticket).