From: Mistral Japan (email suppressed)
Date: Sun Jan 04 2004 - 23:17:36 PST
My name is Kaoru Katayama. I am distributing some of Stan Brakhage's films
with Akira Mizuyoshi at MISTRAL JAPAN Co.. We distribute some Japanese
experimental films as well, not only those of Stan. We have heard often
times about FrameWorks' mailing list over the years, and we finally got to
join the list recently. Since neither of us speaks English, we have to have
our words translated by our volunteers. Please excuse the delay in response
cased by the process of translation.
Stan Brakhage Film Exhibition in Japan, which Mr. Fred Camper kindly
referred to in his Web Site the other day, is run by Brakhage Eyes
Preparating Commitee. The committee is consists of many volunteer staffs
and sets its head office at Mistral Japan Co.. It had been prepared to have
the first large sclae Stan Brakhage Film Exhibition in Japan since before
Stan's death.
In Japan, ever since Stan's films were introduced along with other American
experimental films in the 60s, there has been a few screenings by the film
collectors or as a part of film festivals. However, not so many of his
films were introduced here.
In the year 2000, we Mistral Japan Co. had theatrical screenings of every
chapter of DOG STAR MAN for the first time in our country, and we received
strong support by young people who had never seen Stan's films before.
The generation who started making films inspired by Stan's films that were
introduced in the 60s are teachers now, and they made a pitch for our
screenings of his films to their young students.
Our current exhibition opened in November and lasts until March traveling
various locations of Japan. In the screening exhibition held in Yokohama in
November, we screened the films by Mary Beth Reed and Phil Solomon, who
were visiting Japan, and we held an event called "Respond Dance."
We had large attendance in Yokohama from various groups of people, not only
the genaration who aspired to filmmaking after seeing Stan's films, but
also the young people who are just about to go into film and other arts,
and even those who had never been exposed to experimental films before.
That is because we have kept having screenings at the places like movie
theaters where general film audience would go, not just at art centers. We
felt that the threshold that experimental films are difficult was lowered,
and people were drawn straight out to what resonates with their
sensibility.
The event named "Resond Dance" is held mainly in Yokohama. It is an attempt
to make various interpretation of Stan's films through art, Buto, live
painting, symposium, filmmaking, music composition by Japanese artists.
Many of the artists and Buto dancers had never seen Stan's films, but we
asked them to participate since they were interested in them when we showed
the films to them. The art exhibition and performances were closed in
Yokohama, and cannot be seen in other locations. We are discussing in the
commitee on how we should assemble the records of the event.
The films titled as "Respond Dance Films" are all made with 16mm, so they
are going to be screened in other locations not just in Yokohama. We asked
12 visual artists to create a 100-foot work. Although video has become the
primary medium of visual art among young generation, most of the artists
whom we asked keep creating works sticking to film medium. And every one of
them creats works that quest deeply for each artist's own world.
The concept of this project is not to make mimicry of Stan, but to have the
artists create works in response to the experimental spirit that Stan had
and to the question about the act of "seeing" based on each artist's own
style and view of the world.
We are hoping to have screenings of these films outside Japan someday.
Kaoru Katayama
MISTRAL JAPAN / BRAKHAGE EYES ORGANIZING COMMITTEE
KAZAMA-BLDG. 2-27-5 JINGUMAE SHIBUYA-KU,
150-0001 TOKYO JAPAN
TEL:81-3-3479-7499
FAX:81-3-3479-7436
email suppressed
http://mistral-japan.co.jp
http://www.brakhage-eyes.com/
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.