Less than a fortnight to go now till the first annual Shinsedai Festival, a weekend event I helped organize with Chris MaGee of the Toronto J-Film Pow-Wow to celebrate the best in new indie talent currently working in Japan, and I must say, I’m mighty excited. It’s been about 15 years since I was last in Toronto, and I have a very hazy recollection of the place: all I remember is that they had black squirrels and hot dogs the size you could take someone’s eye out with them if you weren’t careful.
I, of course, am going to have to rely heavily on a chaperone for the weekend I’m there, but Toronto-ites interested in attending will probably know how to get to the venue where it’s all happening, the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre, located at 6 Garamond Court in Toronto, Ontario.
Hottentot Apron: A Sketch
And wow, should you attend if you get a chance!? There’s a full weekend of screenings, kicking off on Friday, 21st August, at 7.30pm, with last year’s Pia Film Festival Grand Prix Winner, Naked of Defenses, directed by Masahide Ichii, which is followed directly by Kei Shichiri’s intriguingly-titled Hottentot Apron: A Sketch. I know nothing about this second one, which was one of Chris’ selection, one of the reasons why the event is going to be such a revelation. Chris and I have programmed the whole event about 50/50, and I know he keeps his ear pretty close to the ground, but effectively every one of these titles is getting its Canadian premiere, and these are the sort of films that seem to fall under the radar of most festivals, so you can be rest assured, there’s going to be some revelations.
Thunderfish
The full schedule has been up online for a while now, so I won’t go over it here, but I will say I am delighted we’re screening Thunderfish, which was a big hit at Raindance a couple of years back, and features some stunning cinematography and a loopy set design quite unlike anything else I’ve seen from Japan in recent years – I’m happy to say that director Touru Hano, lead actress Junko Kimoto and cinematographer Tetsuhiro Kato will also be around for the weekend. Other top tips are Yuki Tanada’s hilarious feature debut Moon and Cherry, playing under its new North American retitling as Electric Button, Yutaka Tsuchiya’s enlightening documentary and a personal favourite of mine, The New God, and Yoshihiro Ito’s stunning shorts program, Vortex and Others – Ito will also be around the festival, along with his main muse and star of several of these works, Natsumi Seto. I’m not usually a big fan of shorts programs, but these are really something. Ito knows how to use the 8mm and 16mm formats perfectly, and these decidedly trippy films are a must if you’re into the likes of Seijun Suzuki and David Lynch. There’s a full interview on the main homepage of the festival, if you haven’t seen it already.
There’s a whole host of guests going to be around the festival, including Yasutomo Chikuma (Now, I…), Atsuko Ohno (producer of the Peaches shorts program) and yours truly, who will be signing copies of Behind the Pink Curtain for anyone that wants one signed. A damn fine weekend lies ahead, so I suggest you all get signing up for your tickets right away!
One thing I am disappointed about though is that I’m arriving too late to catch the Shinsedai tie-in screenings with the monthly screening even Film Fort, who are going to be showing a whole load of recent experimental Japanese animation on Tuesday, August 18th to whet everyone’s appetites.
Posted at 21:29 on 10 August 2009
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