Indie Short Film Crowdfunding: Noriko Yuasa’s “Coming Back Sunny”

The talented filmmaker Noriko Yuasa has an original new film project and needs your help. She is only seeking a modest sum of money to see the project through to completion and get it out to festivals.

Coming Back Sunny (おかえり、カー子) is a love story about a colour-blind schoolgirl rediscovering the world around her. The main shooting locations are the Edo era streets of Kawagoe City or “Ko-Edo” in Saitama Prefecture and the modern streets of Ikebukuro, which were selected in order to depict the theme of destiny and how it can transcend space and time.

The pandemic has only been with us a short time, but filmmakers and cinemas around the world are already feeling the pinch. Many of us have been feeling pretty helpless at not being able to go out and support our local art house cinemas and independent filmmakers. Filmmakers need our support at this time more than ever.

Head over the Kickstarter to learn more about Coming Back Sunny & give if you can:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/norikokyuasa/short-film-coming-back-sunny-crowdfunding-first-phase

【Trailer】Coming_Back_Sunny from Noriko Yuasa on Vimeo.

Cathy Munroe Hotes

She is Alone (彼女はひとり/ Kanojo wa hitori, 2018)

Suicide is a solitary act but the ripple effects of such a death spread pain in an insidious manner through the lives of those connected to the individual who has so abruptly departed. First time filmmaker Natsuki Nakagawa (中川奈月) explores these ripple effects in her intense 60-minute drama She is Alone (彼女はひとり/ Kanojo wa hitori, 2018).

The story centres on Sumiko, played brilliantly by the up-and-coming actor Akari Fukunaga (福永朱梨), a high school student who has lost her mother to suicide. Rather than reaching out and talking to family and friends, Sumiko internalizes her grief. This leads to a cold relationship with her father and a destructive relationship with her childhood friend, Hideaki, played with great sensitivity by Kanai Hiroto (金井浩人). Sumiko is blackmailing Hideaki and as the layers get peeled back on their relationship, we begin to realize that there is a lot more going on in this twisted coming-of-age tale.

The film draws on elements of the thriller and the Japanese ghost story genres. During the Film Talk: Tokyo University of the Arts at Nippon Connection, I learned that Nakagawa is an admirer of the work of Kiyoshi Kurosawa, who was her mentor at Tokyo University of the Arts. Her film does emulate the mood of his films, helped in a great part by the fact that she was able to work with Kurosawa’s cinematographer Akiko Ashizawa (芦澤明子). It is a strong debut feature and I hope that Nakagawa continues to grow as a filmmaker.

You can follow director Natsuki Nakawa and actor Akari Fukunaga on twitter.

2019 Cathy Munroe Hotes

NC18 Animated Shorts 2: Cosmic! by Hiroco Ichinose

Nippon Connection 2018 Animated Shorts 2: Cosmic! by Hiroco Ichinose 

I first encountered the work of animator Hiroco Ichinose (一瀬皓コ) at my very first Nippon Connection in 2008. Her independent works at that time like Cow’s Day (ウシニチ／Ushi-Nichi, 2007) and Ha・P (ハピー, 2008) delighted me with their minimalist animation style and quirky sense of humour. She has continued to impress me with her original works like Two Tea Two (2010) and her collaborations with her husband, animator Tomoyoshi Joko (上甲トモヨシ). 

Both graduates of the animation programme at Tokyo Polytechnic University, Joko and Ichinose were mentored by art animation pioneer Taku Furukawa (古川タク). They founded their own animation studio called Decovocal (デコボーカル). In addition to their independent works, they have been commissioned to work on a number of commercial projects for both CM and TV. My favourite of these is the 26-episode children’s series Rita and Machin (リタとナントカ, 2016), adapted from the French children’s stories by Jean-Philippe Arrou-Vignod with illustrations by Olivier Tallec. 

I chose Cosmic! (2009) for the Music of the Visual World: Japanese Indie Animated Shorts programme at Nippon Connection because I wanted to put the spotlight on two of the animators behind the Taku Team in the first selection, who I felt where following in their mentor’s footsteps. Ichinose and Joko make animation very much in the spirit of Taku Furukawa. Like the works of Furukawa, in Cosmic! Ichinose deploys a a simple line drawing animation style with vibrant colours to tell an amusing, offbeat tale of a romance between two angels who are separated from each other by a strange intergalactic bird who deposits them on separate planets. While apart, their story is told via split screen, accompanied by a minimalist acoustic guitar soundtrack by Junji Ichinose (一瀬純司). 

Check out the work of Ichinose and Joko on their official YouTube channels: 

Hiroco Ichinose 

Tomoyoshi Joko 

Decovocal 

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2018

Women Directors at Nippon Connection 2017

Women Directors at Nippon Connection 2017

http://www.nipponconnection.com

Since 2010, I have made a point to watch all of the films directed by women at Nippon Connection.  This year’s programme includes feature films, documentaries and animation by women directors…. with women also featuring prominently behind the scenes in the areas of production and screenwriting.

Guests include the Japanese producer Yukie Kito (Tokyo Sonata, Sakebi), who is presenting the documentary Mifune: The Last Samurai (Steven Okazaki, 2015), Akiyo Fujimura will be on hand to present her feature debut Eriko, Pretended at its German premiere, and Tokyo University of the Arts student Rina Tanaka will present her directorial debut Snake Beneath the Flow at its international premiere.

Women are currently dominating the student population in animation courses across Japan, which is why this year’s Tokyo University of the Arts selection is predominately female directors.  There are two women in my selection Poetic Landscapes – Recent Gems in Japanese Indie Animation.  Eri Okazaki is a graduate of the Tama Art University (Tamabi) animation programme.  Kiyoko Nakai belongs to the art unit kesyuroom2013 (ケシュ#203)  with Minami Nakai. Both women are graduates of Film Studies at Waseda. 

Here is a quick overview of what to look out for:

NIPPON ANIMATION

A Silent Voice

映画 聲の形

Eiga koe no katachi

Director: Naoko YAMADA

Japan 2016, 129 min.

German premiere

Thursday, May 25, 12:00 Mousonturm Saal

Saturday, May 27, 13:30 Mal Seh’n Kino

Poetic Landscapes – Recent Gems in Japanese Indie Animation

in the presence of the curator Dr. Catherine Munroe Hotes and director Hayato Nove

Sunday, May 28, 17:15 Naxoshalle Kino

Tokyo University of the Arts: Animation

In the presence of Taruto FUYAMA

Thursday, May 25, 15:15 Naxoshalle Kino

NIPPON CINEMA

The Long Excuse

永い言い訳

Nagai Iiwake

Director & script: Miwa NISHIKAWA

Japan 2016, 124 min.

German premiere

Competition Nippon Cinema Award

Friday, May 26, 20:00 Mousonturm Saal

Sunday, May 28, 17:45 Mal Seh’n Kino

NIPPON VISIONS

95 and 6 to go

Director, camera & world sales: Kimi TAKESUE

USA 2016, 85 min.

German premiere

Wednesday, May 24, 15:00 Naxoshalle Kino

Eriko, Pretended

見栄を張る

Mie o haru

Director & script: Akiyo FUJIMURA

Japan 2016, 93 min.

German premiere in the presence of the director

Saturday, May 27, 17:15 Naxoshalle Kino

Parks

パークス

Director & script: Natsuki SETA

Japan 2017, 118 min.

International premiere

Thursday, May 25, 19:45 Naxoshalle Kino

Start Line

Director: Ayako IMAMURA

Japan 2016, Blu-ray, 112 min, Japanese with English subtitles

European premiere

Friday, May 26, 12:15 Naxoshalle Kino

Snake Beneath the Flower Petals

湖底の蛇

Kotei no ja

Director and script: Rina TANAKA

Japan 2016, 59 min.

International premiere in the presence of the director Rina TANAKA

Cathy Munroe Hotes 2017

Fusako Yusaki: Master of Metamorphosis

Fusako Yusaki (湯崎夫沙子, b. 1937) is a Japanese clay animation pioneer.  Most of the early independent Japanese animators who came of age in the 1960s are men.  Women animators in this period were often behind the scenes working as inbetweeners and assistant animators and rarely took a directorial credit.  Yusaki is the exception to this rule, but she made her name not in Japan but in Italy.  Her works range from the abstract to narrative works – though many combine elements of both.  Using a colourful palette of clay, her works are defined by her use of metamorphosis.  Scenes flow seamlessly into one another in a very organic style. 

Interview with Yusaki at the  Ca' Foscari Short Film Festival this year: 

Yusaki was born in the city of Moji-ku, one of the five cities that merged to create the city of Kitakyūshū in Fukuoka Prefecture in 1963.  She graduated with a degree in Fine Arts from Joshibi University of Art and Design in 1960.  She then won a scholarship to study at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera in Milan in 1964 and has lived and worked in Milan ever since. 

She established her own independent studio – Studio Yusaki (スタジオ・ユサキ) – and is famous for her commercials and for her children’s television programming in collaboration with public broadcasters such as RAI (Italy’s public broadcaster) and the NHK.  Yusaki rose to fame in Italy in the 1960s for her popular series of clay animation advertisements for the liqueur Fernet-Branca (1968-1977), for which she won the Bagatto d’oro (the top prize for Italian commercials) in 1971. 

In the 1990s and 2000s, she became known for her sweet clay animation characters such as Peo (ペオ) the blue dog and the red and blue figures Naccio + Pomm (ナッチョとポム).  Naccio + Pomm have been released by the NHK in Japan as part of their Petit Petit Anime (プチプチ・アニメ) series for kids.    

Order: NHK Petit Petit Anime: Nacho to Pom Ongaku

Among her many honours, Yusaki has won a Bronze Lion from the Festival international de la créativité - Lions Cannes (1972) and the award for lifetime achievement from the Festival Internazionale del Cinema d'Arte in Bergano (2004).  She has been on the international juries at many festivals including Annecy (1989), Hiroshima (1990), Zagreb (2000), Espinho (2002), and Wissembourg (2003).

Yusaki continues to be very active on the animation scene, teaching workshops and participating in festivals as well as making films.  She teaches three-dimensional illustration at l’Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan and her films are part of the collection of the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo.

Filmography

Animated Shorts – Claymation

1972  Pentalogia del mondo perduto 

1973  Ballata dell’omino stanco 

1974  Ominide

1975  Termituomo 

1983  Ama gli animali 

1984  Convergenza 

1986  Rotondo quadrato triangolo 

1988  Buongiorno 

1991  Stagioni senza parola  

1992  T.V.U.O.G. 

1998  Un giorno sì, un giorno no 

1998  Gioco di forme  

2000  Gioco di numeri 

2000  Gioco di colori 

Animated Series - Claymation

1989-90  Toki Doki – 13 x 2’  

1992-4  Talpy – 60 x 1’

1997  Peo plastilina – 13 x 30”  

1997-9  Peo in Svizzera, I parte – 13 x 2'  

2000-2  Peo in Svizzera” II parte – 13 x 2'  

2001-3  Naccio e Pomm – 13 x 5'  

Educational Film - Claymation

1984  Dipartimento Litosfera, 10 films 

1986  Unità 2, film for videodisc

1987  La struttura interna del computer – animated inserts

1998  Ippocrate – RAI Educational

2000  Ecolabel, emas, rifiuti – 3 x 30”

Advertisements – Claymation

1968-78  Fernet Branca – 56 ads

1976  Marcolin  

1977  Zurigo Assicurazioni

1978  Ariston  

1978  TVS sigla TV   

1980  Telenova sigla TV  

1981  A.I.E.D.  – 6 ads

1982  SAIWA  

1982  A.I.E.D.   

1983  Rete A sigla TV

1984  Rocher Ferrero  

1984  Bi-Bici  

1985  Mobilsol

1985  Denise  

1986  Ars Nova  

1987  Asgow  

1991  Valle d’Aosta

1991  3 x 2  

1992  Pubblicità Progresso – 5 films

1994  Volta pagina 

1995  Peo (sigla) 

1999  Glu-Glu (sigla)  

2001  Albero Azzurro (sigla) 

2001  Intermezzo per pubblicità  

2001  Colazione con Peo 

Animated Shorts - Cel animation

1985  L’incredibile Usil   

For more information:

Fusako Yusaki’s profile at RAI

“Fusako Yusaki / Documentazione,” arskey: magazine d’arte moderna e contemporanea  

2015 Catherine Munroe Hotes