PROGRAM
《A》East Asian Experimental Competition1
【TOKYO】Theatre Image Forum：9/30(SAT) 13:00、10/5(THU) 18:30
【KYOTO】The Museum of Kyoto：11/18(SAT) 11:00
【NAGOYA】Aichi Arts Center：11/25(SAT) 11:00
5 works, 85 min.
I stitch my skin to the ground
USAMI Nao / digital / 22min. / 2023
A character mimicking a certain young woman moves through a world constructed with 3D computer graphics. As soon as she sets foot in a subway station, someone emerges from the darkness and assaults this protagonist’s body. A nightmare-like sequence repeats over and over. Then the young woman… A carefully constructed work using screen captures from two games made by the filmmaker.
USAMI Nao
2020 M.A. Department of Film and New Media, Tokyo University of the Arts
2023 TOKAS-Emerging 2023 @Tokyo Arts and Space Hongo, Tokyo, Japan
2022 Changwon International Sculpture Biennale 2022 @Changwon, Korea, Online
2021 Open Studios @GlogauAIR, Berlin, Germany, Online
ok, you are gone. Oct 05 2022
TSENG Yu Chin / digital / 10min. / 2022
This work is an expression of condolences through moving images. A younger cousin has died. The filmmaker sits on a windowsill, speaking in a faltering voice about having been shocked for a while after hearing the news from his mother, about a pet who died, and about not having answered when asked how documentaries are made. The backlit screen shot in one cut is full of grief, and before the viewer realizes it sublimates to a space where nothing can be seen.
TSENG Yu Chin
Born in Taiwan, Asia, Tseng Yu-Chin began his creative career as an experimental filmmaker and now works mainly with video and photography and mixed media installations, living with his partner in Amsterdam and Berlin.
The Stream XII-II
SAKURAI Hiroya / digital / 5min. / 2022
Seaweed that bends as though dancing in a current, clouds that billow dynamically, a vast bed of reeds swaying in the wind. The seasons change and people burn the withered reeds. The bed of reeds from which smoke and flames rise, kindled by the wind, is a sight to behold. This film that condenses the exhilaration and beauty of nature through elements such as footage of waterways and aerial photography using drones is the latest in a series begun by the filmmaker in 2011.
SAKURAI Hiroya
Professor, Seian University of Art and Design.
Awards: Asolo Art Film Festival (2023), Ann Arbor Film Festival (2018) USA, Screenings: Sydney Biennale (1982), Collections: J.Paul Getty Trust.
Confessional Somnium
SHI Shengxue / digital / 4min. / 2022
“Something is growing in my breast. I can always feel a slight pain.” Testing revealed the condition was mastopathy. The pain is like a “stone” growing inside the breast. This is a work of subtle hand-drawn animation in which the filmmaker “confesses” episodes she has experienced as a woman suffering from this condition divided into five chapters. Why are women’s bodies fated to give birth!?
SHI Shengxue
Born in Hangzhou, China. Graduated from Soochow University, Department of Illustration Design in 2020. As of 2023, studying at the Department of Animation at Tokyo University of the Arts Graduate School of Film and New Media.
No changes have taken in our life
XU Jingwei / digital / 44min. / 2022
Failing to find employment after graduating from a music university, the protagonist returns to his hometown and endures days of worry and anxiety. Carrying his sousaphone, a large wind instrument, he leaves home…. The delicately portrayed scenery that makes the town itself a main character is striking. Amid a disturbing, dreamlike atmosphere, the absurdity of life is projected by the figure of a young man spending idle days with his massive instrument.
XU Jingwei
Director, screenwriter, film artist, born in 1991, comes from China. He entered the film industry as a film art, and has participated in a large number of film art and advertising art works. Graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 2023 with a master’s degree, majoring in video visual design. Reveal the Inner Style is his first independent animated film.
