Panel Discussion
How to Make a Film in Japan & Beyond

Panelists:
Kenneth Eng, Director (Kokoyakyu: High School Baseball)
Kazuyoshi Kumakiri, Director (Non-ko, Freesia)
Keiko Kusakabe, Producer (Non-ko, Vital)
plus surprise guest!

Moderator:
Matthew O’Neill, DCTV Director/Producer (China’s Unnatural Disaster, Baghdad ER, Section 60)

Japan has been a very popular character in and of itself in American movie culture, but is the filmmaker’s journey as exotic and intriguing as the locale they’re shooting in? In this panel discussion, learn about international production and cross-border storytelling from an array of filmmakers.

Topics will include, how to:

• gain access to subjects, locations, and crew
• overcome language barriers
• find domestic and foreign financing
• prepare yourself in a particular political/cultural climate

This panel is a must for filmmakers, actors, translators, and anyone interested in filmmaking in Japan and beyond.

Part of JAPAN CUTS: Festival of New Japanese Film, June 30 – July 12, 2009.

Tickets:
$10 Japan Society/DCTV Members
$12 IFP/Shooting People/NYWIFT/WMM Members
$15 General

DCTV, IFP, Shooting People, NYWIFT and WMM members’ tickets will be held at Will Call.  Please be prepared to show your member ID.

Buy Tickets Online or call the Japan Society Box Office at (212) 715-1258, Mon. – Fri. 11 am – 6 pm, Weekends 11 am – 5 pm.

Bio: Kenneth Eng
Upon receipt of the 2007 Guggenheim Fellowship, Kenneth Eng has begun to work on his latest film project entitled My Life in China. Ken’s last film Kokoyakyu: High-School Baseball, a documentary film about baseball in Japan, premiered nationwide as part of POV, PBS’s award-winning documentary film showcase. Prior to Kokoyakyu, Ken directed/edited Take Me To The River, a feature length documentary shot in India about the Maha Kumbh Mela, the largest gathering in history.

Bio: Kazuyoshi Kumakiri
Born in Hokkaido, Kazuyoshi Kumakiri quickly gained an international recognition with his sensational thesis film Kichiku (1997), an extremely brutal portrait of the 1970s student movement and its corruption. Kumakiri always enjoys exploring difficult topics, and Non-ko is his seventh feature film following Hole in the Sky (2001), Antenna (2004), The Violated Woman (2004), Green Mind, Metalbats (2006) and Freesia (2006, JAPAN CUTS 2007).

Bio: Keiko Kusakabe
Born in Tokyo, Kusakabe first started her film career in 1986 as a freelance publicist. Since then she has been involved in all aspects of the film industry from acquisition, theatrical distribution, promotion, production, financing and foreign sales. She is one of the founding members of There’s Enterprise, Inc. which has produced and distributed many films by distinguished directors such as Shinya Tsukamoto (Bullet Ballet, 1998, A Snake of June, 2002, Vital, 2004, Haze, 2005), Toshiaki Toyoda (Blue Spring, 2001), Kazuyoshi Kumakiri (Green Mind, Metal Bats, 2006, Non-ko, 2009) and Tak Sakaguchi (Be a Man! Samurai School, 2007).

Bio: Matthew O’Neill
Matthew O’Neill is a Director, Producer, and Cinematographer at DCTV in New York. His reporting overseas has taken him from the steppes of Siberia to the scrap mines of Potosi in Bolivia and on to Turkey, China, Cuba, Iraq, Afghanistan and North Korea. Some of his documentaries include China’s Unnatural Disaster (HBO), Baghdad ER (HBO), Turkey Tigers (PBS), Venezuela: Revolution in Progress (Discovery). He has won three Primetime Emmy Awards, a Columbia duPont Award, a Peabody Award, an Overseas Press Club Award among many others.