Doron Coron (ドロンコロン, 2012)

Doron Coron (ドロンコロン, 2012) is an amusing 3-minute clay animation that Yūichi Itō (Harbor Tale, Knyacki!) produced for "The Earth and Children of Tomorrow - Pray for Happiness" campaign by TVK (Television Kanagawa).

Doron Coron comes to life after a child angel tinkles off a cloud.  This unusual heavenly elixir rains down onto a dark city street and brings to life the titular boy character made of dirt who rolls off to explore the city.  He has a pleasant interaction with a worm, and a not so pleasant interaction with bird excrement, but is cheered by the growth of a plant on his head.  The plant grows and grows and Doron Coron heads to the countryside where he enjoys pleasant interactions with the natural world. 

Order Itō's Knyacki!

This animated short is an imaginative celebration of the natural world that is sure to delight a preschool spectator.  The animation is accompanied by a delightful musical soundtrack and a playful voice, who speaks a nonsense language which seems to express the feelings of Doron Coron.  As is typical of Itō, this stop motion animation is very colourful and has an impressive depth of space, with just as much attention to detail paid to the background as to the foreground.

Upon winning the FutureCity Yokohama Award at the Short Shorts Film Festival 2013 for Doron Coron, Itō said of the film, “I hope viewers experience a difference in their feelings and the way they think about their everyday life as connected to the future.”  Follow Itō on twitter @knyackiii to learn about future screenings of this charming stop motion animation.

Yūichi Itō (伊藤有壱, b. 1962) was born in Tokyo and established his own animation studio I.TOON Ltd in 1998.  He uses a variety of animation techniques but favours clay animation.  He first came to my attention in 2005/6 when I saw his Puchi Puchi anime series Knyacki!  (ニャッキ！, 1995) featuring an amusing little caterpillar on the NHK.  He has also made many memorable television commercials and music videos such as the coffee chain Mister Donut’s Pon de Lion and Ken Hirai’s Kimi wa Tomodachi. In addition to his own animation projects, Itō teaches animation to graduate students at the Tokyo University of the Arts (Geidai).  

Official website: http://www.i-toon.org/

Camera Japan Festival 2014 / カメラジャパン・フェスティバル２０１４

Camera Japan Festival 2014 / カメラジャパン・フェスティバル２０１４

http://camerajapan.nl/

2-5 October, LantarenVenster, Rotterdam

6-9 October, De Melkweg, Amsterdam

10-12 October, Kriterion, Amsterdam

Check out the schedule for more details.

CAMERA JAPAN, the Netherlands’ annual celebration of Japanese film and culture, is back for its 9^th year.   The organisers have selected 43 films from the past year’s bumper crop of Japanese films.  The films will be accompanied by lectures, exhibitions, live performances, a Film Brunch, a Kids’ Day and, of course, a range of Japanese delicacies for filmgoers to enjoy.

Most of the films are Dutch premieres and many have been the recipients of awards both in Japan and abroad. The thriller Forma by debut female filmmaker Ayumi Sakamoto received the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlinale in February.  The lovely film The Tale of Iya by young director Tetsuichiro Tsuta won a Special Mention at the Tokyo International Film Festival last year and went on to win prizes at Tromsø, Pan Asia, and Hong Kong.   Azuma Morisaki’s Pecoross’ Mother and Her Days has been very popular with both audiences and critics. Many Japanese film critics named it the best film of 2013 and it went on to win Best Film at the the Kinema Junpo Awards and the Nippon Cinema Award for audience favourite at Nippon Connection 2014, among other plaudits.  Ken Ochiai’s nostalgic look back at the golden age of chanbara (sword-fighting dramas) Uzumasa Limelight recently won the Cheval Noir prize at the Fantasia International Film Festival in Montreal. 

The festival opens in Rotterdam on Thursday, October 2^nd with Sang-il Lee’s jidaigeki remake of the Clint Eastwood western Unforgiven.  It stars Ken Watanabe as a former samurai on the run in the wilds of 19^th century Hokkaido.  Under the heading of J-Dream, this year’s CAMERA JAPAN plans to “[shine] its light on all that is weird, wondrous and fantastic.  .  .  The theme programme is a wide and wild selection of exploitation, action, horror, fantasy and science fiction.”  The J-Dream programme includes 16 films such as the intimate documentary Love Hotel by Phil Cox and Hikaru Toda, the Midnight Madness winner Why Don’t You Play in Hell? by Sion Sono, and the much talked about The Apology King by Nobuo Mizuta, in which comedian Sadao Abe solves small and big problems as a specialist in the traditional act of apologising.

Cuushe - Airy Me from flau on Vimeo.

Other highlights of the festival include a live double-bill of performances by the young artists Cuushe and aus, as well as lectures by architecture historian and Japan specialist Dave van Eijnsbergen on ‘manga architecture’, by Japanologist and literary translator Luk van Haute on fantasy elements within the Japanese literary tradition.  Urban planner Rob van der Bijl will present an exhibit of urban photography converted into manga inspired images and artist Yoshiyuki Koinuma will present newly created work inspired by games, biology, science fiction and Japanese comics.

I highly recommend the animation programme, which features Katsuhiro Otomo’s award-winning Short Peace (ショート・ピース, 2013) – read my reviews of Shuhei Morita’s Possessions and Otomo’s Combustible to learn more.  There are also two programmes of Geidai (Tokyo University of the Arts) animation – one for kids (read about Mari Miyazawa’s Twins in the Bakery) and one is a must-see selection of their best works by students.  I have written reviews for many of these films, so click on the film titles to learn more:

In A Pig’s Eye, WADA Atsushi, Japan 2010, 11 min

A Gum Boy, OKUDA Masaki, Japan 2010, 4 min

Writings Fly Away, ORIKASA Ryo, Japan 2011, 14 min

A Wind Egg, OKAWARA Ryo, Japan 2012, 11 min

Sunset Flower Blooming, HU Yuanyuan, Japan 2012, 11 min

The Sakuramoto Broom Workshop, TSUGEHATA Aya, Japan 2012, 10 min

Maze King, KIM Hakyun, Japan 2013, 7 min

It’s Time For Supper, MURAMOTO Saki, Japan 2013, 9 min

00:08, KUBO Yutaro, Japan 2014, 6 min

My Milk Cup Cow, ZHU Yantong, Japan 2014, 11 min

Here is the full line-up of films to be screened:

anime

Bayonetta: Bloody Fate (ベヨネッタ ブラッディフェイト, Fuminori KIZAKI, 2013)

Geidai Animation Kids Selection

Geidai Animation Best Selection

Roujin Z (老人Z, Hiroyuki KITAKUBO, 1991)

Short Peace (ショート・ピース, Katsuhiro OTOMO, Shuhei MORITA, Hiroaki ANDO, Hajime KATOKI, 2013) - read my reviews of Possessions and Combustible

documentary

 

Tale of a Butcher Shop (ある精肉店のはなし, Aya HANABUSA, Japan, 2013)

Beyond Metabolism (Stefanie Gaus/Volker Sattel, Germany, 2014)

Get Action!! (Junya KONDO, Japan, 2014)

Hybrid (MMAドキュメンタリー HYBRID, Japan, Daishi MATSUNAGA, 2013)

Love Hotel (Phil COX / Hikaru TODA, UK/France, 2014)

Super local hero (スーパーローカルヒーロー, Toshinori TANAKA, Japan, 2014)

Tale of a Butcher Shop (ある精肉店のはなし, Aya HANABUSA, Japan, 2013)

feature film

 

Friendship (友達, Mikihiro ENDO, 2013)

And the Mud Ship Sails Away (そして泥船はゆく, Hirobumi WATANABE, 2013)

The Apology King (謝罪の王様, Nobuo MIZUTA, 2013)

Broken Pieces (こっぱみじん, Yuji TAJIRI, 2014)

Capturing Dad (チチを撮りに, Ryota NAKANO, 2012)

The Crazy tune for Maria (マリア狂騒曲, Kishu IZUCHI, 2013)

Dancing Karate Kid (琉球バトルロワイアル, Tsukasa KISHIMOTO, 2013)

Danger Dolls (少女は異世界で戦った, Shusuke KANEKO, 2014)

Forma (Ayumi SAKAMOTO, 2013)

Friendship (友達, Mikihiro ENDO, 2013)

Fuku-chan of Fukufuku Flats (福福荘の福ちゃん, Yosuke FUJITA, Japan/UK/Italy/Taiwan/Germany , 2014)

Greatful Dead (グレイトフルデッド, Eiji UCHIDA, 2013)

High Kick Angels (ハイキック・エンジェルス, Kazuhiro YOKOYAMA, 2014)

Jossy’s (女子ーズ, Yuichi FUKUDA, 2014)

Kanagawa University of Fine Arts: Office of Film Research (神奈川芸術大学映像学科研究室, Yuichiro SAKASHITA, 2013)

Kept (ら, Maki MIZUI, 2013)

Kids Return: The Reunion (キッズ・リターン 再会の時, Hiroshi SHIMIZU, 2013)

Leaving on the 15th Spring (旅立ちの島唄~十五の春~, Yasuhiro YOSHIDA, 2012)

The Little House (小さいおうち, Yoji YAMADA, 2014)

Live (ライヴ, Noboru IGUCHI, 2014)

Ningen (Guillaume GIOVANNETTI / Çağla ZENCIRCI, Japan/Turkey/France, 2013)

Pecoross' mother and her days (ペコロスの母に会いに行く, Azuma MORISAKI, 2013)

Short Hope (ショートホープ, Masaki HORIGUCHI, 2014)

The Snow White Murder Case (白ゆき姫殺人事件, Yoshihiro NAKAMURA, 2014)

Still the Water (2つ目の窓, Naomi KAWASE, 2014)

The Tale of Iya (祖谷物語 -おくのひと, Tetsuichiro TSUTA, 2013)

Unforgiven (許されざる者, Sang-Il LEE, 2013)

Uzumasa Limelight (太秦ライムライト, Ken OCHIAI, 2013)

Why Don’t You Play in Hell? (地獄でなぜ悪い, Sion SONO, 2013)

Zentai (ゼンタイ, Ryosuke HASHIGUCHI, 2013)

short film

Fantastic Shorts

- The Lust of Angels, a take on 1960s political exploitation films, Ninja Theory (Extended Edition), a puppet animation about the daily life of ninjas in a peaceful world, and At the Last Stop Called Ghost Chimney, about a girl taking the on her last day of school.

Keblujara (ケブルジャラ, 2013/14)

- 4 experimental shorts by Akihito NONOWE, Isao SANO, and Konoka TAKASHIRO

New Directions in Japanese Cinema: NDJC shorts

Serori (Pedro COLLANTES, The Netherlands/Spain/Japan, 2014)

Short Shorts Film Festival (a selection from SSFF)

Catherine Munroe Hotes 2014

The 5th Annual Tokyo Food Lovers Film Festival / 第５回東京ごはん映画祭

The 5th Annual Tokyo Food Lovers Film Festival (第５回東京ごはん映画祭)

http://tokyogohan.com/

 A festival that brings together “delicious films” and “delicious food”.

おいしい映画」と「おいしいごはん」を真ん中に、みんなで繋がる映画祭

Dates: October 10^th – 24^th, 2014

2014年10月10日(金)～10月24日(金)

Locations: Omotesando Hills and the Image Forum Theatre (Shibuya)

10月10日(金)〜13日(月) 表参道ヒルズ 本館B3F スペース オー

10月11日(土)～24日(金) シアター・イメージフォーラム(渋谷)

The Tokyo Gohan Film Festival is back for its fifth year.  “Gohan” is the Japanese word for “meal”.  In the festival notes, the organizers point out that the prefix “Go-” in front of the word for “meal” (“han”) demonstrates respect and love for the food that they eat.  It is with this desire to share their passion for food that the festival was created.  With Washoku (traditional Japanese cuisine) being added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List in 2013 and Tokyo being named Michelin’s Gourmet Capital of the World for the past seven years, Tokyo is the ideal place for such an event. 

This unique film festival is a celebration of food and film.  Each year, the festival allows foodie film fans to enjoy some of the dishes served up in memorable cinematic dining scenes.  As in previous years, the Tokyo Gohan Film Festival will be presenting a wide range of films from foodie classics like Yasujirō Ozu’s The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice (1952) and Gabriel Axel’s Babette’s Feast (1987) to contemporary favourites like Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share (2012), Aki Kaurismäki’s Drifting Clouds (1996), and Wong Karwai’s In the Mood for Love (2000).  There is also a selection of documentary films.

Some of the directors and actors are already familiar to the Food Lovers’ Festival audiences.  Glasses director Miwa Nishikawa’s films are famous for their use of food, and films styled by her frequent collaborator Nami Iijima make regular appearances at the festival.  Marianne Sägebrecht makes an appearance in her recent film Omamamia (2012), but she is most famous for her role in Percy Adlon’s Bagdad Café (1987), which played at the festival last year.  Bob Giraldi’s Dinner Rush (2000) starring Danny Aiello and the docs eatrip (2009) by Yuri Nomura and El Bulli: Cooking in Progress (2011) by Gereon Wetzel are back by popular demand. 

This year, the Tokyo Gohan Film Festival announced an official partnership with the San Sebasti án International Film Festival.  A jury from the Tokyo Gohan Film Festival will award a Culinary Cinema Award at this month’s festival (19-24 September).  The contest Culinary Zinema: Film and Gastronomy was originally created in collaboration with the Berlin International Film Festival and the Basque Culinary Centre “to unite cinema, gastronomy and activities related to food in education, science and agriculture.”  Like the Tokyo Gohan Film Fesitval, this section of the San Sebastián festival brings gastronomy-related films together with themed dinners. The award consists of a prize of €10,000 and an Asian premiere of the winning film at the Tokyo Gohan Film Festival. The festival hopes that “this partnership will create a meaningful meeting point for the world’s great food cultures and traditions, and lead towards the future.”

Babette’s Feast 『バベットの晩餐会』

Babettes gæstebud, Gabriel Axel, Denmark, 1987

Feature film, drama

Dish: turtle soup and cailles en sarcophage (quail and foie gras in puff pastry)

Learn more about these dishes in an archival New York Times article from 1988.  Molly O’Neill recreated cailles en sarcophage for the The New York Times and J. Bryan Lowder has written an engaging piece on his attempt at recreated the dish for Slate.

Inheritance 『オリンダのリストランテ』

Herencia, Paula Hernández, Argentina, 2001

Feature film, drama, the Japanese title directly translates as “Olinda’s Restaurant”

Dish: Argentinian cuisine

Drifting Clouds  『浮き雲』

Kauas pilvet karkaavat, Aki Kaurismäki, Finland, 1996

Feature film, drama

Dish: White fish in a Meunière sauce

Omamamia 『バチカンで逢いましょう』

aka “Oma in Roma”, Tomy Wigand, Germany, 2012

Feature film, comedy

Dish: Kaiserschmarrn 

The Angels’ Share 『天使の分け前』

Ken Loach, Scotland, 2012

Feature film, comedy-drama

Dish: Scotch whisky

Scotch whisky is an obvious partner for this film, but I really think that Irn-Bru should have been contacted to introduce the Japanese to the joys of Scotland’s most popular soda pop.

Glasses 『めがね』

Miwa Nishikawa, Japan, 2007

Feature film, drama

Dish:  Japanese breakfast, kakigōri (shaved ice)

One of my favourite Japanese films of the Noughties, read my review to learn more.

The Flavour of Green Tea over Rice 『お茶漬の味』

Yasujirō Ozu, Japan, 1952

Feature film, family drama

Dish: Ochazuke (green tea over rice)

In the Mood for Love 『花様年華』

Wong Karwai, Hong Kong, 2000

Feature film, drama

Dish: food cart style zongzi (chimaki in Japanese) and noodles

Eat Drink Man Woman 『恋人たちの食卓』

Ang Lee, Taiwan, 1994

Feature film, drama

Dish: Taiwanese cuisine, particularly soups

Dinner Rush  『ディナーラッシュ』

Bob Giraldi, USA, 2000

Feature film, drama

Dish: pasta

Check out this review with recipes by Kristin Eddy.

Wings of Desire『ベルリン・天使の詩』

Der Himmel über Berlin, Wim Wenders, West Germany / France, 1987

Feature film, drama

Dish: Coffee

The Dinner『星降る夜のリストランテ』

La cena, Ettore Scola, Italy, 1998

Feature film, drama/comedy

Dish: Italian cuisine

Cooking Up Dreams

De ollas y sueños, Ernesto Caellos, Brazil/Peru, 2009

Documentary

Dish: Ceviche (fresh Peruvian fish in a marinade) with Pisco Sour (a Peruvian cocktail)

eatrip  『eatrip』

Yuri Nomura, Japan, 2009

Documentary

Dish: Roast Chicken in a Green and Lemon Sauce / in a Strawberry and Sayori (fish) Marinade

El Bulli: Cooking in Progress  『エル・ブリの秘密 世界一予約のとれないレストラン』

Gereon Wetzel, GERMANY, 2011)

Documentary

Dish: El Bulli Creative Cuisine

Go to the festival's official website to learn more about this year's events and guests.