A FESTIVAL OF HIS OWN
Japanese curator gives all to promote Chinese independent film
While Chinese independent films are still working hard to pave their way to theaters in China, over in Japan Hiroki Nakayama, a Japanese curator, has been introducing Chinese independent films to his fellow countrymen men since 2008.
Having run a dental care re company for years and working in a fashion company before that, Nakayama’s former experiences have little to do with Chinese film. According to him, it was his desire to promote cultural exchange between China and Japan that motivated him to spend nearly all his savings to establish the Chinese Independent Film Festival in Tokyo.
Currently working on gathering works for next year’s 6th Chinese Independent Film Festival, Nakayama sat down for an interview with the Global Times on August 8 in Beijing.
While film works from China have a larger market share in Japan than in many other countries, independent works are still a rare sight in theaters and at festivals, Nakayama explained.
“I find these works very interesting. And since no one else is working on introducing them, I want to be the man who does,” he told the Global Times.
Rising interest
Though Nakayama studied in China during the 1990s, it wasn’t until after he returned to Japan that he saw his first Chinese independent film in Tokyo in 2005. He was immediately inspired to seek out similar films. To his dismay, he soon discovered that low commercialco returns meantmean that Chinese independentpen films rarely made it to Japanese theaters, e even during major film festivals. Desiring to change this situation, Nakayamak decided to launchla his own festival for Chinese independent films, even if it meant doing it all by himself. “Things are much better now,” Nakayama said. “More colleges are cooperating with me and covering some costs, and audiences are increasing, leading to improved box office results.” According to Nakayama, despite the relatively cold political relationship between China and Japan in recent years, interest in China is rising in Japan. “The audience for Chinese films in Japan is larger than the audience for European and US films,” Nakayama noted. “There are also more Chinese films being released in Japan than in other countries.”
While the Chinese mainland imported less than five Japanese films last year, Nakayama noticed that more than 10 Chinese films made their way to Japan in 2015.
From running his festival he has also discovered that roughly two types of audiences come to screenings – veteran filmgoers and people who have a special interest in China, with the latter making up a larger percentage.
Different landscapes
With Japan’s longer film history, Japanese independent films tend to be much different than works by Chinese filmmakers.
“Filmmakers in China feel a certain kind of social responsibility, so Chinese independent films focus more on social problems,” Nakayama said, adding that Japanese independent filmmakers tend to focus on presenting their own personal understanding of the world.
While Chinese independent films still have a difficult time getting into commercial cinemas, Japan has a much larger market for similar works, Nakayama pointed out.
Art theaters in Japan started becoming popular in the 1990s and there is a dedicated audience for these films, yet that doesn’t mean that Japanese independent film isn’t facing pressure.
“Independent films are often produced with a lower budget in Japan, because studios want to get their investment back so they can make their next project. Independent filmmakers in China, however, tend to have much lower expectations when it comes to box office, instead focusing more on gaining attention for their films at overseas film festivals,” Nakayama said.
It’s certainly true that independent filmmakers in China tend to only become well- known at home after they have made a name for themselves at foreign film festivals. Bi Gan and his Kaili Blues is one relatively recent case. While new Chinese names such as Bi Gan, Li Ruijun and Hao Jie have continued to appear at these events, Japanese filmmakers who get attention at overseas festivals are mainly from the older generation of filmmakers.
“Those close to their 50s, like Naomi Kawase,” Nakayama said, adding that the audience for independent films in Japan tend to be of a similar age.
“In China, those who enjoy independent films are usually in their 20s or early 30s.”