Five filmmakers in the Tokyo International Film Festival’s Nippon Cinema Now selection discussed how their features came together. The How We Make Films panel explored routes from a vertical social-media drama to a cinema release, sponsor support and direct contact with collaborators. The directors described their own experiences of developing and financing original films.
Five filmmakers discussed how their features took shape at the How We Make Films panel during the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival in Japan. Programming director Ichiyama Shozo moderated the Nippon Cinema Now event at Tokyo Midtown Hibiya. The speakers were Ueda Shinichiro, Saito Kisin, Natori Satoshi, Matsumura Shingo and Yaza Takenoshin, each describing experiences behind a film in the festival selection.[1], [2]
Ueda said Earthlings in Love began as a 30-episode microdrama for social media, and retained its vertical frame. He compared its budget to that of a conventional independent feature and said production was approached as filmmaking from the start. Saito’s debut Kefi began with a sponsor suggesting maternal love as a theme. The director said that support subsequently came with creative freedom. The completed story follows three sisters after news of their father’s death.[1]
Natori drew on his experience as a hunter and a house in eastern Hokkaido for Chihiro | Akemi. Matsumura focused on the overlap between theatre and reality in Between Us. Yaza described contacting cinematographer Kitagawa Yoshio, who works with director Hamaguchi Ryusuke, by direct message. Yaza went on to work with Kitagawa on the shoot and met a producer through him. Yaza said he had never previously been on a film set.[1]
