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2008 News and Information
Japanese Animation in Next Film Series Installment
14 November 2008A feast of animation and a celebration of Japanese-Canadian animators are on tap in the November 22 session of the New Asia Film Festival monthly series at the Richmond Cultural Centre. Two of the featured filmmakers and an animation specialist are special guests at the event, which offers a rare opportunity to discover local Japanese-Canadian filmmakers and their works, as well as understand animation as a form of cinematic art.
More than eight works will be screened on Saturday, November 22 at the Richmond Cultural Centre starting at 7 p.m.
The first part of the program is a collection of works by Japanese-Canadian filmmakers, featuring more than seven titles produced in the past 20 years, including veteran filmmaker Michael Fukushima’s animated documentary Minoru: Memory of Exile (1992); Alison Reiko Loader’s two shorts, Showa Shinzan (2002) and Roots (2006); award-winning director Jeff Chiba Stearns’s What Are You Anyway? (2005) and Yellow Sticky Notes (2007); award-winning director Randall Okita’s Machine with Wishbone (2007); and Japanese-Canadian visual artist Cindy Mochizuki’s mini animation series.
The style and technique of these works are as diverse as the theme. Fukushima’s Minoru is a touching family story artfully combining classical animation with archival photos and texts; Showa Shinzan is a story of nature’s destructive beauty based on actual events and created by 3-D computer and drawings. Entirely hand drawn, Chiba Stearn’s two shorts are self-reflections of his life as a mix of Japanese and Caucasian and an artist. Okita’s new work is a dreamscape of mechanical oddities, a one-of-a-kind creative combination of kinetic sculpture and boundless imagination shot without special effects. And visual artist Mochizuki’s mini series will present an alternative way to see and understand animation as a form of art. All the films are in English.
The international acclaimed masterpiece from Japan, Mushi-Shi, will be screened during the second part of the evening. Adapted from manga into an animated television series by Japanese filmmaker Hiroshi Nagahama in 2005, this film explores Japanese mysticism and its impact on the characters’ lives, and has won critical award and commercial success all over the world. Two episodes will be screened, in Japanese with English subtitles.
Filmmakers Chiba Stearns of Kelowna and Okita of Vancouver then take the stage, using storyboards, drawings and sculptures to tell the behind-the-scene story of how animation is created.
Edmund Yee, the communication director from Anime Evolution, one of the event sponsors will give an overview introduction of Japanese animation at the beginning of the second program. Anime Evolution is Vancouver biggest Japanese animation association. The National Film Board of Canada is also a sponsor. The series is presented by Richmond Cultural Centre and Cinevolution Media Arts Society.
The films are free, but one-time membership fee of $5 is required. Seats are limited, so plan to arrive early. This is the last instalment for 2008; the monthly series will resume in January 2009.
For more information call 604-247-8300 or visit www.vnaff.ca
