After the millennium, the Russian animator Yuri Norstein often visited Japan and criticised young independent Japanese animators for their lack of interest in the world around them. In his eyes, they appeared to be locked in their abstract inner world. However, without this tendency many of the masterpieces of independent Japanese animation films would never have seen the light of day. Maybe this escape to an inner place can be seen as a form of response to Japanese society and politics, which often seem to just carry on almost oblivious to the problems at hand, such as an ageing population, high suicide rates or the most recent disasters in March 2011. The filmmakers who insist on creating an alternative world with a sense of deep calmness and tranquillity may do so not despite, but actually because of the situation in 21st century Japan. The film ‹Holiday› (2011) of the then 23-year-old filmmaker Ryo Hirano, for example, combines the surreal, metamorphosis-prone story of a woman, her golden husband and a newt with impressions borrowed from the real sultry Japanese summer. In spite of numerous excursions into a fantasy world, the personal experience of a typical season in Japan becomes extremely tangible here.
To mark the 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Japan and Switzerland, Fantoche, the renowned animation film festival, has compiled a selection of films on Japan which will be screened in various Swiss cities during the CULTURESCAPES festival. Curator Nobuaki Doi is a leading expert for Japanese animation films. The programme blocks with short films provide Doi with the opportunity to draw attention to current social and political developments in Japan. Japan’s transformation has also left its mark on animation films.
Original versions are screened; Japanese dialogue and voice-over have English subtitles.
‹When the Wind Stops› (69')
1 ‹Mt. Head›, Koji Yamamura, 2002, 10'
2 ‹La maison en Petits Cubes›, Kunio Kato, 2008, 12'
3 ‹Looking at a Cloud›, Naoyuki Tsuji, 2005, 6'
4 ‹Time›, Yuka Maeda, 2013, 3'
5 ‹Henri›, Yuka Maeda, 2013, 3'
6 ‹Holiday›, Ryo Hirano, 2011, 16'
7 ‹Muybridge’s Strings›, Koji Yamamura, 2011, 13'
8 ‹Dreams›, Nobuhiro Aihara, Keiichi Tanaami, 2011, 6'
