The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival 2021 (YIDFF) runs from October 07 to the 14 and it is an online event due to the coronavirus pandemic. A lot of planning has been put into keeping audiences safe and also connected with films, with filmmakers, and with each other, as the YIDFF community takes to an online space which will be available all across Japan.
Keeping in line with the very best of international festivals, the expert team of progammers have ensured that this edition of YIDFF will have the very latest and best in documentaries, filmmaker Q&As, symposiums, and various exchange programmes that participants of the festival can enjoy sharing together from the comfort of their homes.
Tickets go on sale today at 19:00 (JST) and prices are very, very good(!) with one programme coming to 1,300 yen. With limited availability on tickets, best to nab them before they sell out.
Here’s the trailer:
Spread amongst 11 programmes are films from around the world with venerable filmmakers like Frederick Wiseman (CITY HALL) vying for the International Competition prize to the latest generation of talent to emerge in the New Asian Currents section. For various sections, jurors such as Nanako Hirose (BOOK-PAPER-SCISSORS) and Mark Schilling (critic at the Japan Times) will decide who should walk away with various cash prizes. Most importantly, this is probably the best place to get an international overview of the many different documentaries being produced today!
Here are some highlights.
International Competition is made up of 15 films have been selected from 1,155 entries.
City Hall (Frederick Wiseman, 274 mins.)
Festival Synopsis: Wiseman continues his observation of all the corners of American society. This time, he points his camera at the various activities of Boston City Hall, from their Thanksgiving Day events to recognizing same-sex marriages, reflecting on not just the ideals of democracy but also how it works in practice. A challenge to the idea of a fragmented American society.
New Asian Currents features eighteen films that are described as “gems in the rough that boldly carve out new ways of expression, inviting you to worlds captured and imagined by the filmmakers.”
Ants Dynamics (Dirs: Xu Ruotao, Wang Chuyu, 120 mins.)
Festival Synopsis: Workers wrongfully dismissed wage battle against their employer, China Telecom. Incorporating artistic means of expression such as photography and theater, various artists wage extraordinary performances with the workers in the film, in solidarity with their struggles.
Cinema with Us 2021 is the sixth edition of a programme dedicated to the 2011 Tohoku Earthquake and Tsunami. There are four films in the program this year.
Madeleine Dreams
JAPAN / 2021 / 112 min / Director: Agatsuma KazukiFour Perspectives: A Decade After 3.11
JAPAN / 2021 / 82 min / Directors: Murakami Hiroyasu, Yamada Toru, Agatsuma Kazuki, Kaiko Kiichi
Alone Again in Fukushima 2020
JAPAN / 2020 / 95 min / Director: Nakamura Mayu
My Hometown
JAPAN, AUSTRIA / 2015–2019 / 101 min / Director: Iwasaki Takamasa
ナオト、いまもひとりっきり 「Naoto, Ima mo Hitorikkiri 」
Release Date: N/A
Running Time: 95 mins.
Director: Mayu Nakamura
Writer: N/A
Starring: Naoto Matsumura, Daisuke Matsumura, Shinichi Hangai, Toshiko Hangai,
Synopsis: This is a sequel to the 2015 documentary Alone in Fukushima which was about a man named Naoto Matsumura who, in the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami, stayed behind to care for abandoned animals in his deserted town which lies in the no man’s land area surrounding the Fukushima nuclear reactors. This film shows “Matsumura’s efforts to resist the pressures forcing him to leave his hometown and the nuclear power plant that he helped build.”
Cinema with Us 2021 Live talk session
Dates: Oct 11(Mon)20:00-21:30(JST)
Guests: Agatsuma Kazuki, Iwasaki Takamasa, Nakamura Mayu, Kaiko Kiichi
Languages: Japanese, English
*English-Japanese simultaneous interpretation
Zoom Webinar(URL TBA)
Admission Free/ Available on YIDFF ONLINE! to audiences overseas and in Japan.
Perspectives Japan introduces films that depict issues related to Japan from unique perspectives. There are five titles in this programme and they cover immigration, student protests, the earthquake and tsunami, physical disability and much more.
BETWEEN YESTERDAY & TOMORROW Omnibus 2011/2016/2021 JAPAN / 2021 / 64 min / Producer: Maeda Shinjiro / Directors: Ikeda Yasunori, Oki Hiroyuki, Suzuki Hikaru, Takashi Toshiko
I Remember
JAPAN / 2021 / 224 min / Director: Hatano Shuhei
Transform! 
へんしんっ！ 「Henshin!」
Release Date: June 19th, 2021
Duration: 94 mins.
Director: Tomoya Ishida
Writer: N/A
Starring: Tomoya Ishida, Osamu Jareo, Shizue Sazawa (Nozaki)
This was the 2020 Pia Film Festival Grand Prix winning film. It played at last year’s Tokyo International Film Festival.
Synopsis: A documentary in which Tomoya Ishida, a director in am electric wheelchair works together with a blind actress and a woman named Shizue Sasawa who is dedicated to training interpreters for the deaf, amongst others, to explore the possibility of activities that allow people with disabilities to express themselves. While interacting with various people through filmmaking, he discovers various “differences”. He also pays attention to how he makes a movie that involves the people around him. Eventually, director Ishida is invited by choreographer and dancer Osamu Sunareo to perform on stage. The film was released theatrically as an “open screening” with Japanese subtitles and audio guidance.
Whiplash of the Dead 
きみが死んだあとで「Kimi ga Shinda ato de」
Release Date: April 17th, 2021
Duration: 200 mins.
Director: Haruhiko Daishima
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: Following on from Searching for the Wolf, this documentary interviews people involved in the leftist movements of the 60s. It’s particular focus is the “first Haneda struggle” of October 1967, which resulted in the death of an 18-year-old student protestor Hiroaki Yamazaki at a time when leftist groups were campaigning against America’s war in Vietnam. The impact of his death still reverberates half a century later and some of his classmates and others involved in this episode give their stories. As they age, Yamazaki remains 18…
Check out this website for a review.
Ushiku
牛久 「Ushiku」
Release Date: N/A
Duration: 84 mins.
Director: Ian Thomas Ash
Writer: N/A
Starring: N/A
Synopsis: Using a hidden camera, award-winning filmmaker Thomas Ash interviewed inmates at the Ushiku immigration centre from late 2019 and exposes Japan’s uncompromising refugee policy which leads to human rights abuses.
Yamagata and Film presents four films that are about Yamagata, film’s
relationship to the region, and the film scene that has emerged in the region itself. This programme has some cool-sounding Yamagata local flavour with an online club.
A Movie Capital
JAPAN / 1991 / 98 min / Director: Toshio Iizuka
The World’s “Top” Theater
JAPAN / 2017 / 67 min / Directors: Koichi Sato
Pickles and Komian Club
JAPAN / 2021 / 100 min / Director: Koichi Sato
*Opening Film *No English subtitles /Produced by the Komian Production Committee
The Buddha Mummies of North Japan
JAPAN, CANADA / 2017 / 20 min / Director: Satoshi Watanabe
◆Event Highlights
Online Komian Club
Loved by cineastes the world over as the YIDFF night-time watering hole for all festival guests and audiences, Komian Club will be held online this year. Sadly, the memorable place was torn down with the closure of the pickle shop Maruhachi Yatarazuke in 2020. We remain grateful for the organizers’ thirty-year support for YIDFF and promise to carry on its legacy.
The Online Komian Club will launch on the night of Thursday, Oct. 7, after the festival’s opening film Pickles and Komian Club makes its world premiere — the film documents the final year of the 135-year-old establishment. Every night for seven days of the festival period, a virtual space will be open for everyone worldwide, admission free. Watch out for news updates including opening hours and other details.
Dates: Oct 7(Thu) and 13(Wed) 21:00-22:30
Oct 8(Fri) to 12(Tue) 22:30-24:30
Venue: SpatialChat (Online service)
Admission Free / Available to audiences overseas and in Japan.
Yamagata Rough Cut! gives a glimpse of four films on the process of creation, all made by filmmakers living or born in Asia, including Japan, as well as providing a space for dialogue between creators and participants.
* The aim of this program is not competition.
* Registration required prior to event.
- Rough Cut Online Screenings and Discussion
- Fukushima Keiso Nikki Dir: Hikaru Suzuki (JAPAN) • Oct. 11 10:30–12:30
Love letter to “Mamie” Dir: Hikari Osamura (JAPAN) • Oct. 11 14:00–16:00
Tegrol: Tracing a Song to its Keepers in a Sacred Mountain Dir: Bagane Fiola (THE PHILIPPINES) • Oct. 12 10:30–12:30
To Die A Frenchman Dir: Pankaj Rishi Kumar (INDIA) • Oct. 12 14:00–16:00
That’s it for this glimpse. I hope to offer some coverage of these films so stay tuned! Check out the festival website for more info as it comes.