Having just returned from visiting the U.S., I was struck by how bathrooms (both toilets and bathing facilities) are really super nice in Japan _ clean, everything works, the hot water actually comes out in ample quantity, the tiles aren’t cracked, overall pleasant design/appearance if not just outright intelligent etc. _ and all this is available for those living in cheap housing, staying at affordable hotels/inns, and of course public spaces.
When you think about what Freud theorizes, the state of toilets speaks a lot about the thinking in a society, about its views on “equaltity,” what is treasured, and the innermost darkest obsessions. (maybe, anyway).
Here ICYMI is the AP Story I did when the Wim Wenders project was first announced and he talks about the film’s setting and the deep meaning of “restrooms”
FILMS BY ABOUT AND WITH YURI SAT Feb. 11, 2023 in Tokyo
Five films, all featuring bilingual/bicultural poet/storyteller YURI KAGEYAMA, were shown at a tiny Tokyo club. Among the works are two directed by YOSHIAKI TAGO: A performance by American-based actors and musicians in San Francisco, and a documentation of Kageyama’s reading in Japan. Stop motion artist HAYATTO has painstakingly created animation of Kageyama’s short story. SAT Feb. 11, 2023, from 2 p.m. ShimoKitazawaTei https://shimokitazawatei.com/ FREE ADMISSION
YOSHIAKI TAGO directed “Sabai Sabai,” “Women at the Cash Register,” “Worst Contact,” as well as many Japanese TV drama shows, including “Atomu No Ko.” He won an award at the Yasujiro Ozu Memorial Film Festival. A graduate of the prestigious Japan Institute of the Moving Image, founded by Shohei Imamura, Tago has worked with Nobuhiko Obayashi, Takashi Miike, Takashi Murakami and Macoto Tezuka.
HAYATTO specializes in stop motion film, in which the figures he makes by hand are moved, with a minimum of eight frames needed per second. His credits include “Box Cats,” as well as advertising for T-fal and Mitsui Sumitomo.
YURI KAGEYAMA is a poet, writer, journalist and filmmaker born in Japan and raised in Maryland and Alabama. Her books include THE NEW AND SELECTED YURI (Ishmael Reed Publishing Co.). Her works are in KONCH, Bigotry on Broadway (Baraka Books), Life and Legends, Tokyo Poetry Journal and many other literary anthologies and magazines.
カゲヤマユウリ(影山優理)は日本生まれアメリカ育ちの詩人、ものかき、ジャーナリスト、ビデオ作家。
著書にはTHE NEW AND SELECTED YURI (Ishmael Reed Publishing Co.) など数多くの文芸雑誌や文集に掲載。
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FREE ADMISSION Free Drink And Come/Leave As You Wish.
I WILL BLEED, STORY OF MIU by Yuri Kageyama 2 min, 6 min
THE VERY SPECIAL DAY by HAYATTO 12 min
NEWS FROM FUKUSHIMA by Yoshiaki Tago 1 hour 15 min
Q&A with the artists 作者達との談話 20 min
TALKING TAIKO by Yoshiaki Tago 44 min
Photos by On Lim Wong Kouzan Kikuchi a musician in the films at the screening. Photo by On Lim Wong All photos by On Lim Wong With Munenori Tamagawa, a visual artist and collaborator. Photo by On Lim Wong.
I am proud of what we have achieved with our film. Thanks to the film organizers for supporting independent filmmaking. And thanks to my many collaborators for the well-deserved honors we are getting.
The festival was founded by Indian American poet, writer and filmmaker Kalpna Singh-Chitris.
