Nippon Connection (film festival)
Nippon Connection is a festival for Japanese films . It has been held annually in spring or early summer in Frankfurt am Main since 2000 . Until 2012 the festival center was in the student house of the University of Frankfurt am Main . Since the 13th Nippon Connection Festival in 2013, the main venues have been the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm and the Willy Praml Theater in the Naxoshalle and last for six days. Other venues are the cinema in the Deutsches Filmmuseum , the Mal Seh'n Kino and the International Theater . In 2019 over 17,000 spectators attended the festival.
The festival
At the Nippon Connection Festival over 100 short and feature films are shown each year, most of them as German, European or international premieres. The films presented run in different sections and, in addition to thematic retrospectives and contemporary films, include a large thematic range of current feature film and documentary productions. The film program is divided into 5 sections: Nippon Cinema , Nippon Animation , Nippon Visions and Nippon Retro . In 2018, the Nippon Docs program was expanded to include a documentary film series. Many Japanese filmmakers present their films personally at the festival and take part in panel discussions (over 60 filmmakers and artists from Japan were guests in 2014). The Nippon Cinema Award has been presented since 2005 for the best film in the Nippon Cinema section , the Nippon Visions Jury Award since 2010 and the Nippon Visions Audience Award since 2014 . Since 2015, the Nippon Honor Award has been given to personalities who have made a special contribution to Japanese film.
Furthermore, lectures, demonstrations and workshops on topics of Japanese culture are offered under the name Nippon Culture . In the past, this included tea ceremonies, drum workshops, Japanese calligraphy, dance demonstrations, martial arts presentations and much more. In the evening there is usually a live concert or party. Since 2012, Nippon Kids has been offering its own program for children (workshops and Japanese children's films).
Parts of the program section Nippon Visions , a line for independent productions, went on tour as the Nippon Connection Film Festival on tour through various cities around the world (including New York, Barcelona, Berlin).
The festival is run by the non-profit association Nippon Connection e. V. organized and carried out mainly on a voluntary basis.
history
The beginnings of the Japanese film festival Nippon Connection go back to 1999. The two film studies students Marion Klomfaß and Holger Ziegler had the idea of showing some Japanese films at the University of Frankfurt am Main . Already at the first festival in 2000 there was the basic concept of not only showing films, but also embedding them in an extensive supporting program in order to lure visitors into unknown films in Japanese with English subtitles. The organizers' expectations of the first festival were exceeded many times over: 10,000 visitors instead of the expected 1,500.
Due to the great demand, the organization team decided to continue the festival. It should now take place on an annual basis. After a one-year break and the founding of the non-profit association Nippon Connection e. V. the second Nippon Connection Festival took place in 2002.
The basic idea was continuously expanded: In 2002, a separate film line for digital productions was set up ( Nippon Digital ) and an exhibition was organized in cooperation with the Künstlerhaus Mousonturm . In addition, the Nippon Connection Newcomer Award was given to the best young film.
At the Nippon Connection Festival 2003, a retrospective was shown for the first time in cooperation with the cinema in the German Film Museum ( Nippon Retro ) and events were organized in cooperation with the Literaturhaus Frankfurt .
In 2004 parts of the program went on tour to Leipzig and Barcelona . In addition, the festival organizers from the Japanese Ministry of Culture ( Bunkacho ) z. B. invited to Tokyo to take part in a symposium on the impact of Japanese film abroad.
In 2005 the tour program was further expanded and the Nippon Cinema Award was presented for the first time .
In 2007, as part of Nippon Connection, the Kinema Club Conference took place for the first time in Europe , the most important academic event on film and moving image media from Japan.
At the tenth anniversary in 2010, a jury of experts awarded the Nippon Digital Award for the first time , which is primarily intended to support young talent. The winner will receive free subtitling for his next film. In 2011 the prize was renamed the Nippon Visions Award .
In 2012, the children's program Nippon Kids was offered for the first time .
In 2013, festival director Marion Klomfaß received an award of merit from the Japanese Foreign Minister ( Gaimu Daijin Hyosho ) in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the promotion of Japanese-German exchange .
In 2014, the Nippon Visions Award was renamed the Nippon Visions Jury Award and the Nippon Visions Audience Award was presented for the first time .
From 2012 to 2014 the VGF Nippon in Motion Award was presented for the best 12-second commercial.
At the 2015 festival, the Nippon Honor Award was presented for the first time .
Since 2018 there has been a separate section for documentary films with Nippon Docs .
In 2020, due to the restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic , the festival took place exclusively online for the first time from June 9th to 14th, 2020. With the first ever Audience Award Nippon Online Award was Tokachi Tsuchiya for the documentary An Ant Strikes Back excellent.
meaning
Nippon Connection has now developed into a major platform for current Japanese films. Most of the films that are shown are premiered. As part of the festival, many talented directors were discovered and continuously accompanied in their work, including Nobuhiro Yamashita , Toshiaki Toyoda and Yuki Tanada .
An important concern of the festival is to promote the exchange between the audience and filmmakers. Every year, many directors, actors and producers present their films in Frankfurt and answer questions from the audience. Among the guests present were previously numerous sizes of the Japanese film like Koji Yakusho , Shinobu Terajima , Kaori Momoi , Kōji Wakamatsu , Shinya Tsukamoto , Kiyoshi Kurosawa , Akira Ogata , Go Hirasawa , Haruhiko Arai , Makoto Shinozaki , Minoru Kawasaki , Nobuhiro Yamashita , Ryuichi Hiroki , Shinsuke Sato , Yuki Tanada , Toshiaki Toyoda and Yukihiko Tsutsumi .
Academic engagement with Japanese film also plays an important role at the festival itself. There is close cooperation with Japanese Studies and the Institute for Film Studies at the University of Frankfurt am Main . Numerous international Japanese film connoisseurs give the audience deep insights into Japanese filmmaking in lectures.
Award winners
Nippon Connection Newcomer Award (2002)
- 2002 Blue Spring (Aoi haru) by Toshiaki Toyoda
Nippon Cinema Award
- 2005: Turn Over - An Angel is Coming on a Bicycle (Tenshi wa jitensha ni notte) by Keiichi Nomura
- 2006: University of Laughs (Warai no daigaku) by Mamoru Hoshi
- 2007: La Maison de Himiko by Isshin Inudo
- 2008: Fine, Totally Fine (Zen zen daijbu) by Yosuke Fujita
- 2009: Detroit Metal City by Toshio Lee
- 2010: Oblivion Island: Haruka And The Magic Mirror by Shinsuke Sato
- 2011: Arrietty by Hiromasa Yonebayashi
- 2012: The Woodsman and the Rain (Kitsutsuki to ame) by Shuichi Okita
- 2013: Key of Life (Kagidorobou no mesoddo) by Kenji Uchida
- 2014: Pecoross' Mother and Her Days (Pekorosu no haha ni ai ni iku) by Azuma Morisaki
- 2015: Uzumasa Limelight by Ken Ochiai
- 2016: Ryuzo and the Seven Henchmen by Takeshi Kitano
- 2017: The Long Excuse by Miwa Nishikawa
- 2018: Oh Lucy! by Atsuko Hirayanagi
- 2019: Fly Me to the Saitama ( Tonde Saitama ) by Hideki Takeuchi
Nippon Digital Award (2010)
- 2010 live tape from Tetsuaki Matsue
Nippon Visions Award (2011-2013)
- 2011 Doman Seman from Go Shibata; Special Mention: Door to the Sea (Umi e no Tobira) by Reiko Ohashi
- 2012 The Sound of Light (Hikari no oto) by Juichiro Yamasaki; Special Mention: Fukushima: Memories of a Lost Landscape (Soma kanka: dai ichi bu - ubawareta tochi no kioku) by Yojyu Matsubayashi
- 2013 A2-BC by Ian Thomas Ash
Nippon Visions Audience Award
- 2014 Tale of a Butcher Shop (Aru seinikuten no hanashi) by Aya Hanabusa
- 2015 -1287 by Ian Thomas Ash
- 2016 Under the Cherry Tree by Kei Tanaka
- 2017 Start Line by Ayako Imamura
- 2018 Ramen Heads by Koki Shigeno
- 2019 Melancholic by Seiji Tanaka
Nippon Visions Jury Award
- 2014 antonym (lawn ginga) by Natsuka Kusano
Honorable Mention: Friendship (Tomodachi) by Mikihiro Endo
- 2015 The Cockpit by Sho Miyake
Honorable Mentions: Treasure Ship: Latitudes of Lust (Shikido shiju had: takarabune) by Koichiro Ikawa and Dual City by Yokna Hasegawa
- 2016 Dear Deer from Takeo Kikuchi
Honorable Mentions: Under the Cherry Tree by Kei Tanaka and The Man Who Was Eaten by Keisuke Kondo.
- 2017 Poolsideman by Hirobumi Watanabe
Honorable Mention: Going the Distance by Yujiro Harumoto
- 2018 Trace of Breath by Haruka KomoriI
Honorable Mention: Of Love & Law by Hikaru Toda
- 2019 Sea by Kensei Takahashi
Honorable Mention: Blue Hour by Yuko Hakota
VGF Nippon in Motion Award (2012-2014)
- 2012 koi-man by Micaela Fonseca
- 2013 Nippon Invasion by Michael Herber & Liwen Shen
- 2014 Onigiri no origami (beer festival) by Christine Mai & David Clausmeier
Nippon Honor Award
- 2015 Tadanobu Asano
- 2016 Kiyoshi Kurosawa
- 2017 Koji Yakusho
- 2018 Shinobu Terajima
- 2019 Shinya Tsukamoto
Nippon Online Award
- 2020 An Ant Strikes Back by Tokachi Tsuchiya
Retrospectives
- 2003 Shuji Terayama
- 2004 Anime Classics - Early Japanese Animated Films (1924–1944)
- 2005 Seijun Suzuki
- 2006 Exploding Japan - Subversive genre cinema of the 60s and 70s
- 2007 Shooting the Sun - Japanese experimental film from 1960 to today
- 2008 Wizards of Japanese Independent Animation: 1960s - Today
- 2009 Sexploitation and Experimentation: The Many Shades of Pink Film .
- 2010 Best of Nippon Connection 2000-2009
- 2011 Sion Sono
- 2012 Visual Resistance: Protest Culture in Japanese Documentary Film
- 2013 Eccentric and Explosive - The Cinema of Sōgo Ishii
- 2014 Kō Nakahira - The Wild Child of the Sixties
- 2015 Luminous and Vibrant - The Cinema of Shinji Sōmai
- 2016 Ghosts and Demons - Scary Tales from Japan
- 2017 Ecstasy & Desire - In the Realm of Roman Porno
- 2018 Elegance & Bloodshed - Japanese Sword Fighting Films from the 1960s
- 2019 Ayako Wakao - Magnificent Icon Of Japanese Cinema
design
Since the first festival in 2000, the corporate design has been a trademark of the festival. The posters in soft pink to bright pink were awarded German creative and design prizes.
music
In addition to the program, the festival team is working on numerous other projects. For example, the idea for an own music CD was born. The festival organizers brought various sounds of the Tokyo subway with them from Tokyo and passed them on to German musicians, who were inspired by these sounds to create an imaginary soundtrack of the Japanese mega-city. The result of this music project was released in 2003 on the Ckp label under the title Nippon Connection - The Tokyo Metro Soundtrack . In April 2005 the label released the second CD Nippon Connection Exchanging Tracks modular . Two traditional Japanese pieces of music were made available to 28 remixers from Europe and the USA. They were inspired by the atmosphere of the pieces and the samples and composed their personal soundtracks. Under the project title “Exchanging Tracks”, the festival team again gave the pieces of music on the two CDs to Japanese directors who made short films for them.
organization
The organization is mainly carried out on a voluntary basis by the non-profit association Nippon Connection e. V. The organization team now consists of around 70 people. During the festival the team will be supported by over 100 volunteers. The festival budget is made up of the income from the festival as well as various funding and sponsorship funds. Since 2013 it has been possible to support the festival privately via the crowdfunding platform Startnext . Nippon Connection is a member of the network of Hessian film festivals . The festival's patrons at the 2019 festival were Peter Feldmann , Lord Mayor of the City of Frankfurt am Main, and the Japanese Consulate General in Frankfurt am Main.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ "Frankfurt's Nippon Connection brings together an extensive collection of Japanese films" . Japan Times , May 18, 2016
- ↑ "The Spirits I Called" . Frankfurter Allgemeine . May 27, 2016, Eva-Maria Magel
- ^ Hessenschau de, Frankfurt Germany: Films and more from Japan at Nippon Connection in Frankfurt. May 28, 2019, accessed on November 25, 2019 (German).
- ^ "Hurt-till-you-laugh approach to making comedies" . Mark Schilling, The Japan Times .
- ^ "Nippon Connection is getting better and better" , Frankfurter Allgemeine , June 2, 2015
- ^ The Long Excuse wins the top Nippon Connection award . In: Asia in Cinema . June 2, 2017 ( asiaincinema.com [accessed November 14, 2018]).
- ↑ "Nippon Connection" comes to an end with a record number of visitors. Retrieved November 25, 2019 .
- ^ "Nippon Connection 2005, Part I: Big in Japan" . Evolver , Michael Kienzl. May 13, 2005
- ↑ First program highlights - Nippon Connection - Japanese Film Festival 2018. Accessed on March 29, 2018 .
- ^ "Self-Control is Killing Japanese Movie Prospects" . Variety , October 3, 2014 Mark Schilling
- ^ Nippon Connection Film Festival: Japan is getting bigger , FAZ from May 23, 2018, accessed November 14, 2018
- ^ Nippon Connection Online - Nippon Connection - Japanese Film Festival 2020. Accessed April 6, 2020 .
- ↑ Nippon Online Award 2020. Accessed June 22, 2020 .
- ↑ Shinya Tsukamoto receives Nippon Honor Award , Nippon Connection press release January 31, 2019, accessed June 2, 2019.