Three years ago, Tamaki Okamoto founded her own film production company ‹CARTE BLANCHE› in Paris. The company has since proved to be quite a sensation at various European film festivals. Okamoto promotes, in particular, independent films and various Japanese experimental film directors. The new perspective she thus brings to Japanese animation films is exceptional. The productions distributed by Okamoto do not have a lot in common with the mainstream manga or the Kafkaesque gloomy style of many other film distributors. Okamoto wishes to present a small, but artistically sophisticated selection. Therefore, she has compiled a succinct range of documentaries, animations and experimental films for Neue Kino Basel. ‹Nikotoko Island› is, for example, a poetic short film featuring two young protagonists exploring an unfamiliar island and discovering their own landscape of the soul. In contrast, ‹Columbos›, an animation film by the director duo Hiroki Okamura and Takumi Kawai, is a bizarre mystery movie. The story of a murder case is illustrated by a special montage of time and space along with fantasy and reality. The programme, which has been compiled especially for CULTURESCAPES provides a personal, yet convincing insight into the contemporary Japanese film scene.
Programme
1 ‹Kamakura›, Yoriko Mizushiri, 2013, Animation, 5'
2 ‹flow›, Tadasuke Kotani, 2013, Documentary, 19'
3 ‹Airy Me›, Yoko Kuno, 2013, Animation, 5'
4 ‹To the light 1.0›, Kei Shichiri, 2014, Experimental, 3'
5 ‹COLUMBOS›, Kawai+Okamura, 2012, Animation/Experimental, 9'
6 ‹Residents of Fantasy›, H. Nakamoto, 2012, Documentary/Experimental, 8'
7 ‹NIKOTOKO ISLAND›, Takuya Dairiki & Takashi Miura, 2008, Fiction, 47'
8 ‹WONDER›, Mirai Mizue, 2014, Animation, 8'
