MEET CUTS

Meet the filmmakers behind this year's hottest films through introductions, Q&As and discussions.

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Naomi Kawase

Director
The Mourning Forest

Born in 1969 in Nara, Japan, critically acclaimed director Naomi Kawase is winner of numerous international film awards. A graduate of the Osaka School of Photography (now called the School of Visual Arts), she is known for chronicling her own personal growth and pain through themes of family, abandonment, and the cycles life and death. Her short documentaries Embracing (1992) and its sequel Katatsumori (1994) have been praised at numerous domestic and international film festivals, including the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival. She became the youngest winner of the Camera d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival in 1997 with her feature debut film, Suzaku (1996). Sharasojyu (2003) was in competition at Cannes 2003. Her fourth feature film, The Mourning Forest won the Grand Prix at Cannes 2007. Her upcoming feature film Nanayomachi will be released in Japan this year.

Q&A with director Naomi Kawase following the 7/2 screening of The Mourning Forest and 7/3 screening of The Origin of Naomi Kawase, featured in Short Cuts.

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Koji Wakamatsu

Director
United Red Army

Born in 1947 in Miyagi, Japan, Koji Wakamatsu was suspended from his high school three times and moved to Tokyo at the age of 17. He entered filmmaking while a security guard on location and made his feature directorial debut in 1963 with the pink film (erotic cinema) Sweet Trap. Wakamatsu's pink films in the 60s and 70s carried strong political views, and were widely supported, especially among students. With a 40-year career and 100 films to his credit, Wakamatsu is praised in international film festivals such as Berlin, Vienna and Jeonju, yet is unable to enter the U.S. due to the close affiliation he had with Japanese left wing militants.

Following the 7/6 screening, provocative director Koji Wakamatsu joins the festival for Q&A live and in real time from Tokyo, Japan, via Keio University's high-speed, high-def digital video network specially installed at Japan Society.

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Masayuki Kakegawa

Screenwriter
United Red Army

Born in 1951 in Yokohama, Japan, Masayuki Kakegawa began staff writing for the weekly magazine Shukan Hoseki in 1981. He has traveled to more than 50 countries, covering stories on the Yugoslavian civil war, the collapse of the Soviet Union, Palestine, the Republic of Zaire (present Congo) and others. After becoming a freelance journalist, he wrote for magazines such as Focus, Weekly Asahi and Forbes Japan. He also edited Wakamatsu's autobiography Jiko-nashi, while working closely with Wakamatsu on United Red Army as a screenwriter. He is a member of the Japan P.E.N. Club.

Pre-screening talk with screenwriter Masayuki Kakegawa on the political and social background of United Red Army and writing its screenplay on 7/6 at 3 pm and 7/8 at 6:30 pm.

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Takako Matsumoto

Director
Near Equal Kusama Yayoi-I Adore Myself

Born in Kanagawa, Japan, Takako Matsumoto has produced numerous documentary programs for television as a freelance director. Her film project at Tokai University Cinema Study Group, Chako's Apa-toru Story was selected at the 6th Pia Film Festival. Matsumoto began developing a documentary on Kusama after meeting the artist in 1996. In 1999, she worked on the NHK TV special, Artist Kusama Yayoi's Fantasy World of Darkness of the Heart, which led her to start filming Kusama privately. Near Equal Kusama Yayoi-I Adore Myself is Matsumoto's theatrical feature debut.

Q&A with director Takako Matsumoto following the 7/12 screening of Near Equal Kusama Yayoi-I Adore Myself.