New York - Tokyo Creator Series 1: Hiroshi Kashiwabara
With ten days left until the official start of the NYTFGP2008 Festival Part One, we're complementing the event in New York with an online creator series. From today, we will begin with a lecture on Japanese film. Moving forward, each update will be specifically about each film. At the end of each newsletter, we'll have a way for you to interact and win tickets to the screenings, so read carefully!
First up, we're highlighting Hiroshi Kashiwabara, a prolific and influential man in the film industry, whose works range from screenwriting to directing. His most famous works include screenwriting for Godzilla, and the anime Detective Conan and Lupin III.
Below is an incredibly didactic snippet of the interview we had with him. For the entire lesson, head on over here.
NYT: Your work, especially the early ones (late 70's - 80's), would definitely attract those who are young and don't know the era of those times. Even today, projects like "Tantei Monogatari" and "Kizu dareke no Tenshi" are still very cool and interesting. Tell us how these works had an impact on youth culture and film creators at the time.
HK: These two works highly influenced young people, with fashion and lifestyle being the easiest aspects to see the influence which these two works had. For example, everybody wanted to live in a penthouse like Shoken (Kenichi Hagiwara's) - the protagonist of "Kizu darake no Tenshi" Also, the apparel maker whose made the clothes Shoken wore became very popular, and Vespa, the brand of scooter Yusaku rode in "Tantei Monogatari" also got very popular. Also, attitudes shown in these works -such as dandyism, anti-authority, a refusal to lose and finding an appealing hipness in something not traditional seen as cool - were also favored by people.
NYT: As of this year, there were about three hundred films produced in Japan. It's said that we are having a Japanese film boom. Tell us briefly the history of Japanese films from the late 70's to now and current trends.
HK: Films produced by companies tend to lose their originality. However, we see some works that are not in the case. For example, works by Hayao Miyazaki and Takeshi Kitano are the ones that come to mind. Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Shinji Aoyama, not as well-known as Miyazaki or Kitano, also produce pieces that are highly original. Other young film creators are producing many original pieces, too. So, the current Japanese film industry consists of majors and minors and both of them are original. I think we are managing a good balance. If we can pave the path where independent directors can pursue their careers in the majors, that would be awesome.
Now, here's your chance to win one of five tickets of your choice to a screening. Answer these trivia questions below in an e-mail to [email protected], including your name., age, affiliation, and screening of choice. For a list of all general contest rules, please refer to this page. The contest will end by noon tomorrow, EST, so get your detective work done asap!
1. Kenichi Hagiwara, nicknamed Shoken by fans, is often attributed as being a bad-boy no rules type character in Japan. Aside from being a popular actor and working in "Kizudarake no Tenshi," what band was he the lead singer of?
2. Hiroshi Kashiwabara wrote the script for Lupin III's various movie incarnations. Who is the original manga writer?
3. He has also worked on the series of Godzilla movies. Where does the world "Godzilla (gojira)" in Japanese originate?
4. What is the most recent anime that he has worked on?
First up, we're highlighting Hiroshi Kashiwabara, a prolific and influential man in the film industry, whose works range from screenwriting to directing. His most famous works include screenwriting for Godzilla, and the anime Detective Conan and Lupin III.
Below is an incredibly didactic snippet of the interview we had with him. For the entire lesson, head on over here.
NYT: Your work, especially the early ones (late 70's - 80's), would definitely attract those who are young and don't know the era of those times. Even today, projects like "Tantei Monogatari" and "Kizu dareke no Tenshi" are still very cool and interesting. Tell us how these works had an impact on youth culture and film creators at the time.
HK: These two works highly influenced young people, with fashion and lifestyle being the easiest aspects to see the influence which these two works had. For example, everybody wanted to live in a penthouse like Shoken (Kenichi Hagiwara's) - the protagonist of "Kizu darake no Tenshi" Also, the apparel maker whose made the clothes Shoken wore became very popular, and Vespa, the brand of scooter Yusaku rode in "Tantei Monogatari" also got very popular. Also, attitudes shown in these works -such as dandyism, anti-authority, a refusal to lose and finding an appealing hipness in something not traditional seen as cool - were also favored by people.
NYT: As of this year, there were about three hundred films produced in Japan. It's said that we are having a Japanese film boom. Tell us briefly the history of Japanese films from the late 70's to now and current trends.
HK: Films produced by companies tend to lose their originality. However, we see some works that are not in the case. For example, works by Hayao Miyazaki and Takeshi Kitano are the ones that come to mind. Kiyoshi Kurosawa and Shinji Aoyama, not as well-known as Miyazaki or Kitano, also produce pieces that are highly original. Other young film creators are producing many original pieces, too. So, the current Japanese film industry consists of majors and minors and both of them are original. I think we are managing a good balance. If we can pave the path where independent directors can pursue their careers in the majors, that would be awesome.
Now, here's your chance to win one of five tickets of your choice to a screening. Answer these trivia questions below in an e-mail to [email protected], including your name., age, affiliation, and screening of choice. For a list of all general contest rules, please refer to this page. The contest will end by noon tomorrow, EST, so get your detective work done asap!
1. Kenichi Hagiwara, nicknamed Shoken by fans, is often attributed as being a bad-boy no rules type character in Japan. Aside from being a popular actor and working in "Kizudarake no Tenshi," what band was he the lead singer of?
2. Hiroshi Kashiwabara wrote the script for Lupin III's various movie incarnations. Who is the original manga writer?
3. He has also worked on the series of Godzilla movies. Where does the world "Godzilla (gojira)" in Japanese originate?
4. What is the most recent anime that he has worked on?
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