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06
Jan
Zipangu Fest Revisited

Happy New Year and all that.

That’s the obligatory New Year message out the way. It’s now 6 January and it seems there’s already a whole load of news that has come my way that I want to report here over the coming days. As it usually takes me hours to wrestle with WordPress to get my posts up in a satisfactory form, some of these might appear later than I hope, but I’ll kick off 2011 straight away with the first, my long overdue report on the inaugural Zipangu Fest, five days of Japanese cinema overkill as curated by yours truly.

It has taken a bit longer than expected, mainly because I was waiting for all the press reportage to come in, but also in no small part because as the festival’s director and head programmer, I felt like I was stuck in the eye of a storm for most of it. My feet barely touched the ground all week, as I was whisked, along with my fellow organisers Tun Shwe, Fei Phoon, Rob Buscher, Almudena Lopez and Julian Ross and festival guests (listed on the Zipangu website here) from event to event across the East End of London, from the Bethnal Green Working Man’s Club via Café 1001 to our final destination at the Genesis Cinema. It’s pretty difficult to be impartial about how the whole thing went, so instead I aim with this post to summarise the festival using other people’s accounts (as assembled meticulously by Fei), and for those that weren’t there, attempt to re-invoke it using other people’s text, sound and image.

First up, I should draw your attention to the above Zipangu Fest ident above, which was created by the talented Keiichi Matsuda, a visual artist who divides his time between London and Tokyo, and whose concerns stretch between film, architecture and design, exploring ideas pertaining to virtual and actual space. Keiichi also created a 3D version of the same ident that was screened just before Big Tits Zombie 3D at the Barbican on 29 October; if you’ve got the 3D glasses supplied with the Terracotta DVD release of this film you can enjoy it with the added third dimension too – in fact any pair of old school red-cyan spec: check it out on Youtube.

Hisayasu Sato, flanked by Zipangu Fest's Almudena Lopez and Rob Buscher

For a broad overview of the festival and the films that played at it, the best place is Electric Sheep’s coverage of the festival. Electric Sheep also interviewed Hisayasu Sato, and more recently made available on their website a podcast of my onstage discussion with Tetsuaki Matsue at SOAS on the first day of the festival.

There were also reviews of a number of the films that played the festival by David Parkinson on Empire Online, and an advance puff piece in the Guardian Guide. In the run up to the festival, I was interviewed by Christopher Upton for Zeitgeist Online magazine on 2 October, which gives some idea as to our battle plan, even if it was conducted before the programme was actually announced.

90 minutes of Zipangu Fest Interviews on this VCinema Podcast

Jon Jung from the VCinema Show also sadly couldn’t be with us, although understandably given that he’s based in San Francisco, but through an amazing piece of technical wizardry, he was on hand at the other end of a Skype line to interview all our guests for a special Bonus Episode 6: Zipangu Fest 2010 Special Podcast during our Saturday night House Party – I’ll warn you in advance, I was pretty drunk by the time he got round to talking to me.

Kenta Maeno and Yuki Yoshida manfully brave the cold in an attempt to rekindle the magic of Live Tape on London's Brick Lane

We also got a fair bit of coverage in the Japanese language, The presence of Matsue and the Live Tape crew of Kenta Maeno and Yuki Yoshida was largely down to the generous support of the Japan Visualmedia Translation Academy, who sent Risa Tanaka along to report on the festival for their website, with an interview with me, an interview with Matsue and day-by-day accounts for the Opening Night Party, then more here, here, here, here, here, and here. (I think I might have missed one…)

Meanwhile, Yukari Yamaguchi wrote two reports for Cinema Today focussing on Tetsuaki Matsue, here and here.

In discussion with Tetsuaki Matsue at SOAS, with Julian Ross interpreting

Alongside our own festival videographer, Tania Martin, who is currently putting together her video document in the editing room to be put up online sometime soon, we were really lucky to have those fine folks from the Coventry University East Asian Film Society (or CUEAFS) along for at least one night with cameras in hand, for the Live Tape ‘Live’ Night at the Café 1001. I’ve already written about my trip up to Coventry in October where I screened Tetsuaki Matsue’s Annyong Kimchee. For one night only, a team of avid CUEAFS returned the favour by coming down to London to see Matsue’s masterful Live Tape and watch its subject, Kenta Maeno, perform live, accompanied by Yuki Yoshida on the Chinese harp. You can read their report and browse through their photos on their website and also on the CUToday website: I assume the video they shot will make it onto the web sometime soon, so keep checking their Youtube account if you haven’t already, and while you’re doing so, check out their other interviews with various figures involved in the Asian film scene. Other pieces by CUEAFS members include this interview with me by Nadia Baird (BTW, the ‘Mind Feast’ referred to in this article was actually Masumura’s Blind Beast), a review from the Annyong Kimchee screening by Sabina Pasaniuc and coverage of our Halloween Japanese Schlockfest Big Tits Zombie / RoboGeisha night at the Barbican.

Tetsuaki Matsue interviewed by CUEAFS' Spencer Murphy, with Julian Ross interpreting

My favourite night of the whole festival was undoubtedly our partnership with Close-Up, the Nippon Year Zero: Japanese Experimental Film from the 1960s-1970s programme curated by Julian Ross, who was also on-hand throughout the fest to offer his invaluable interpreting skills. This was for two reasons – firstly, because I didn’t have to run around madly organising things, and secondly, the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club venue itself, was so cosy, and the combination of mulled wine, a packed house full of genuinely interested film fans, and the sheer joy of seeing these very rarely screened films shown in 16mm by a projectionist who actually knew what he was doing made for a winning formula. There’s an interesting review of the evening by Ryan Hewitt on the Flamingo Magazine site.

Louis the projectionist, projecting from 16mm at the Bethnal Green Working Man's Club

This seems as good a point as any other to mention that the Motoharu Jonouchi films from this programme are travelling to Newcastle, where they will screen at the Star and Shadow Cinema on 15 January, then Nottingham, at the Nottingham Contemporary on the 19 January, both times introduced by Julian.

Happy Times! Nippon Year Zero at the Bethnal Green Working Man's Club

And while we’re still on the subject of Julian, I’ll close with a final couple of reviews from the Children of the Beehive screening at the Breaking Boundaries conference in Leeds and Leeds Film Festival, prior to the London date. I’m not sure who wrote it, but you can read about it on The Case for Global Film website, while M. Dawson also gives the film a big thumbs up at Left Field Cinema.

I think that’s all the main coverage for Zipangu Fest, although there was a lot more buzz scattered in fragments around the internet. We’re also waiting upon a few more videos and podcasts, so once these are up, I’ll link to them.

Zipangu Fest Guests (L to R): Takuro Kochi (Man-Eater Mountain, sound-designer), Sumire Kiyose (Live Tape, distributor), Yuki Yoshida (Live Tape, musician), Daishi Matsunaga (Pyuupiru 2001-2008, director), Tetsuaki Matsue (Live Tape, director) and Kenta Maeno (Live Tape musician)

I’ve mentioned on numerous occasions too that Zipangu Fest is intended to be a moveable feast, and following our most recent screenings at the Arnolfini in Bristol – as reviewed by Subtitled Online ( who were keen to praise the programme, but acknowledged the low attendances – the Bristol leg was frustratingly held over the weekend when most of us in the UK were completely snowed in), we’re currently in the process of setting up further screenings across the UK of some of the films. Any exhibitors, regional curators, film societies or university film clubs interested, drop me a line at jasper@zipangufest.com…

Posted at 13:02 on 06 January 2011 Filed under news.
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24
Oct
Nippon Year Zero: Zipangu Fest, the UK’s premiere event devoted to Japanese cinema, partners up with Close-Up for a programme of experimental films from the 1960s

Time marches on, with less than a week to go until Zipangu Fest announces its line-up to the world at the Halloween Schlockfest Double Bill this Friday, 29 October, at the Barbican. Tickets are just about sold out for this, although you might be lucky if you get in quick and grab one of the last ones. If you can’t make it, not to worry, as news about the main festival will be posted up here in due course, and no doubt on other sites across the web.

Tetsuaki Matsue's Annyong Kimchee at CUEAFS

In the meantime, I’m pleased to announce that our first pre-festival event, a lecture about jishu eiga by myself followed by a screening of Tetsuaki Matsue’s revealing debut Annyong Kimchee at the Coventry University East Asian Film Society went really well, with a great turnout and an enthusiastic response from all those who came to see it. Thanks to all who came, and also a big thanks to those CUEAFS members who took the time to film and interview me: here’s a video of me talking about the film and the fest from Youtube, with questions being fired at me by the delightful Michelle Bailey.

I’m also really happy to announce that for those who weren’t in Coventry, that I’ll be doing this same “Putting the ‘I’ in Independent” talk and Annyong Kimchee screening in London from 7-9pm, Friday 12 November, at the Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre in the Russell Square campus for SOAS. Entry is free to anyone who wants to come, and you can find out more details about this here.

Which leads me on to the details of another Zipangu Fest event, this time directly prior to the main festival screenings at Cafe 1001 and the Genesis Cinema. On Tuesday 23 November, we’re collaborating with those legendary guardians of film culture in the East End, Close-Up, to present Nippon Year Zero: Japanese Experimental Film from the 1960s-1970s at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club. There’s more details on the Close-Up website here and the Zipangu Fest website here, and Chris Magee at the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow has also already covered it here.

Masanori Oe's Great Society, screening as part of the Nippon Year Zero event at the Bethnal Green Working Man's Club on 23 November.

We’re really excited about this programme, which showcases the works of three of the great underground/experimental/avant-garde directors of the 1960s, Motoharu Jonouchi, Masanori Oe and Donald Richie – yes, when he wasn’t writing books about Japanese film, Donald Richie made films in Japan, and damn fine ones too! All of the films we’re screening are pretty special, but I’m particularly excited about Oe’s dazzling multi-screen piece of swinging sixties zeitgeist, Great Society – nothing to do with David Cameron’s “Big Society”, mercifully, but a film I’ve been meaning to share more widely ever since I caught it at Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival in 2003. Just a quick note, to say too, if there are any UK programmers or exhibitors who want to make use of these films while the prints are in the country, please drop me a line and we’ll see what we can do.

More news coming later this week, so keep your eye on the Zipangu Fest website …

Posted at 22:58 on 24 October 2010 Filed under news.
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20
Sep
Living Legend of Japanese Experimental Film Comes to Britain!

You might remember back in April I posted about an evening of films by the experimental filmmaker Takahiko Iimura organised by Close Up Video at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club in London, which ultimately was canceled when the volcanic eruption in Iceland saw its guest of honour stranded in Japan. Well, the screenings are back on again for this October, and the extra time has actually allowed the event to be expanded into something of a touring programme, with the director in attendance at a number of screenings across the country, in London, Leeds and Bristol.

If you’re not familiar with Iimura’s work, you can check out his website, and await the interview with the director which should be coming up on Midnight Eye sometime soon conducted by Julian Ross. Julian also had a hand in getting the screenings up to Leeds, in conjunction with the Cherry Kino exerimental filmmaking/screening group and the University of Leeds’s Centre For World Cinemas-Mixed Cinema Network, where I gave a talk on the Japanese New Wave back in February of this year. Not only that, but Julian is also the driving force behind the Breaking Boundaries: Alternative Approaches to Japanese Film conference I mentioned in my post a couple of months ago.

I mention all of this because not only is Zipangu Fest, the new Japanese film festival that I am programming, collaborating with Breaking Boundaries where we’ll be screening a print of Hiroshi Shimizu’s Children of the Beehive, but Julian has also put together a programme of 1960s experimental work in collaboration with Close Up Video which will be screening at the Bethnal Green Working Man’s Club as part of Zipangu Fest on 23rd November. I’ll of course be announcing more details about this as they come, but suffice it to say for now, if you’re based in England and interested in 1960s experimental film from Japan, you’re going to be very well served this year!

Anyway, more details about the Iimura screenings below – note that the programme is different from venue to venue:

From Iimura's 'Talking Picture (The Structure of Film Viewing)', now available on DVD from the directors website

Dates in the UK:

October 5th: London, Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club: Seeing/Hearing/Speaking – The Films of Takahiko Iimura + Live Performance

October 6th: London, Nowhere Lab (Workshop): no.w.here and Takahiko Iimura present: How To Make Time Visible In Film (without photography)

October 7th: London, Central St. Martins, University of Arts London

October 11th: Leeds, ICS Cinema in the University of Leeds more details on this particular screening below

October 13th: Bristol, Arnolfini: Takahiko Iimura: On Time in Film (Discussion and Screenings)

Observer-Observed: Takahiko Iimura

Here’s some more information for the Leeds event:

Cherry Kino and the CWC-MCN University of Leeds presents: Japanese Experimental Cinema: An Evening with Takahiko Iimura

Date: October 11th 2010

Time: 6:30-9pm

Venue: ICS Cinema, University of Leeds

Price: FREE

Takahiko Iimura is an experimental filmmaker, video artist and writer on experimental film who has been working with the moving image since the 1960s. His work explores the relationship between media, time and language and has strived to redefine the exhibition of cinema as a mode of performance. He has worked closely with members of the Hi-Red Centre and Fluxus, as well as Yoko Ono, Jonas Mekas, John Cage, Stan Brakhage, Stan Vanderbeek and many others, bridging boundaries between film, art and performance. He moved to New York in 1966 and has since been a conduit of intercultural communication between Japan and America, introducing Japanese experimental cinema to the West and vice versa. He recently began self-releasing his work on DVD and continues to travel around the world to show his films.

“Although Taka was and continues to be an active part of the New York avant-garde scene, he always remained an enigmatic, mysterious presence, pursuing his own unique route through the very center of the avant-garde cinema. While the intensity and the fire of the American avant-garde film movement inspired him and attracted him, his Japanese origins contributed decisively to his uncompromising explorations of cinema’s minimalist and conceptualist possibilities. He has explored this direction of cinema in greater depth than anyone else.” – Jonas Mekas

“From early sixties, though Japanese, Iimura was well known as one of the first generation of the New York Underground … For many years, Japanese experimental film was Takahiko Iimura” – Malcolm Le Grice

Cherry Kino and the CWC-MCN University of Leeds have invited Takahiko Iimura to join our screening of a selection of his films, which will be followed by a Q&A with the filmmaker himself. Many thanks to WREAC who have helped us fund the event and the ICS for kindly offering their venue.

For more information on the event, please click here.

White Calligraphy

Films programmed for the event (16mm):

Ai (Love) (1962)

Iro (Colour) (1962-3)

Kuzu (Junk) (1962)

One Frame Duration (1977)

Cine-Dance: Anma (1963)

Ma: Space/Time in the Garden of Ryoan-ji (1989)

Performance of White Calligraphy (2008)

Posted at 12:16 on 20 September 2010 Filed under news.
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