Bonus Episode 6: Zipangu Fest 2010 Special
VCinema once again goes global to bring you coverage of some of the younger Asian film festivals around the world. In this episode, we take a voyage to the east end of London where the Zipangu Festival, a film festival focusing on new Japanese cinema, took place from November 23-28, 2010. Avid listeners of our podcast might remember from our tenth episode that the festival was started by Jasper Sharp, author of Behind the Pink Curtain: The Complete History of Japanese Sex Cinema and co-founder of Midnight Eye, the longest running and most respected web site covering Japanese cinema in English.
Filmmakers and guests interviewed in this episode include:
Hisayasu Sato, legendary pinku film director (Splatter: Naked Blood, The Bedroom) who talks about his latest film, Love & Loathing & Lulu & Ayano, which made its world premiere at Zipangu.
Tetsuaki Matsue, a widely praised independent filmmaker talks about his documentaries Annyong Yumika and award-winning Live Tape which also played at the festival Live Tape musicians Kenta Maeno and Yuki Yoshida also talked about their roles in the movie.
Takuro Kochi, sound designer, who talks about his work on the kamishibai-style animated short Man-Eater Mountain.
Tom Mes, co-founder of Midnight Eye and author of Agitator: The Cinema of Takashi Miike and Iron Man: The Cinema of Shinya Tsukamoto, who talks about his latest projects including the second Miike book he’s planning.
Jasper and co-curator Julian Ross, who talk about the ongoing activities of the festival as well as the future of Zipangu.
We hope you enjoy this special coverage of Zipangu Fest 2010! Please be sure to check out the Zipangu Fest site for information on this year’s festival as well as future events.
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About The Author
Jon Jung
Jon Jung (aka “Coffin Jon”) is the producer and host of the VCinema podcast and editor-in-chief of the VCinema blog. He is an avid movie fan who specializes in Japanese cinema, but enjoys everything from artsy high-brow to mega-billion blockbusters to straight-to-video turds. As an Asian-American, he got the best of all cinematic worlds as a child by receiving mega-doses of Ozu, Bruce Lee, Kamen Rider, and American drive-in movies in addition to a steady diet of punk rock, Japanese literature, and Buddhism. He spent six years in Japan as an English teacher and translator. In 2004, he returned to the United States to complete his Masters in Language Education and continue his career as a language educator and cultural anthropologist with a focus on language policy and language shift. Jon is a former Myrle Clark Award recipient for excellence in creative writing and has contributed to World Film Locations: Tokyo (Intellect, 2011).