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A
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JAPAN
/ 1998 / Japanese / Color / 16mm / 136 min
Director: Mori Tatsuya
Photography, Editing, Sound: Mori Tatsuya, Yasuoka Takaharu
Music: Pak Poe
Producer: Yasuoka Takaharu
Production Company, Source: "A" Production Committee
World Sales: Gold View Co., Ltd.
Watanabe Bldg. #201,4-35-10 Honcho, Nakano-ku, Tokyo
164-0012 JAPAN
Phone:81-3-5342-7267 / Fax:81-3-5342-7268
E-mail:goldkiyo@aol.com
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Mori
Tatsuya
Born in 1956. Took part in filmmaking from the time he was a student
at Tokyo's Rikkyo University. Appeared as an actor in films by Kurosawa
Kiyoshi and Ishii Sogo. In 1987 he began working for a television
production company. Has worked on more than40 TV documentary and news
reports. Made programs on topics such as censorship in music, midget
wrestling, and people of super ability, all from his own unique point
of view. His first feature - length film "A"was screened
at YIDFF ' 97. The re - edited "international"version, one
that has been seen at international film festivals in Berlin, Hong
Kong, Pusan, and Vancouver will be shown this time. Mori is now shooting
his next film based on the Occupation era Shimoyama incident. |
Filming for "A"began
six months after the Tokyo subway sarin attack (1995), but it was
not for another two years and three months that this unique inside
look at Aum was finally completed. Thanks to its departure from any
preconceived conclusions as well as a production style that favored
subtle engagement over a rush to resolution, the film offers us a
double - barreled perspective not found in television news reports,
one that relativizes the opposites of "them"(the young Aum
converts) and "us"(the police, the media, myself, yourself)
as two sides of the same coin. With this perspective, the saintly
and the self - interested, the just and the hypocritical that are
had on both sides, bleed into each other across any clear demarcation.
As a result, the film locates its objective not in some exposé
of the cult's dark side, but rather in pursuing the spiritual excesses
and deficiencies on our side - yours and mine - that are its source.
This film leaves its viewer with an intense visual and intellectual
question about what documentary film shows and about what it does
not. Since Aum's media strategies continue to win it new members,
they too should warrant interrogation, and we are left in a difficult
position when it comes to appraising the film. Still, the real reason
is surely to be found in current Japanese society that affords little
thought for religion.[Fukushima Yukio]
Director's
Statement
Despite the fact that the organizers waited as long as they possibly
could, I was unable to finish editing "A" in time
for the last Yamagata Film Festival. I truly regret that we had to
go ahead and screen "A"before I'd completed the final
cut. (Besides this cut, which I privately call the "Yamagata
Version," there are two others: the domestically screened
version of "A"and "A: The International Edition"which
is aimed at a viewing public not familiar with the history of the
Aum incidents. Of the three, I have to confess that I find the Yamagata
Version the most thoughtful.)
The last Yamagata Festival was actually my first experience screening
a feature - length film before an audience as well as my first time
appearing on stage along with my film. In the two years since then,
a lot of things have transpired as we've tried to screen "A,"and
I have really come to appreciate that as long as you continue to show
a film it remains a vital thing, even for the people who made it.
Though I am now shooting my next film, "A"is hardly
a thing of the past. The sense of confusion that we, Japanese, have
around Aum has not ended; likewise I remain firmly committed to finding
further opportunities t1o screen the film. At this moment then, I
can find no greater encouragement than being able to screen the film
at Yamagata once again.
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COPYRIGHT:Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival Organizing Committee |