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Kimura Hidefumi
This program commemorates Kimura Hidefumi, who passed away in March of this year. In 1959, he joined the RKB Mainichi Broadcasting Corporation in Fukuoka, and over the ensuing 40 years he would go on to produce a large body of work in documentary programs. Winning art-festival awards and numerous prizes within the television industry, he came to be known as a “prize pony,” and he had wide-reaching influence on documentary producers at other networks as well as at his own. Throughout his career he turned his camera toward a true diversity of subjects, including Minamata disease, coal mining in Chikuho, “tekiya” street hawkers, and even his own daughter. These works, inscribed with a strong authorial presence, will undoubtedly continue to appeal. In this special retrospective focusing on work from the 1970s, ten films will be screened.
All the following programs are directed by Kimura Hidefumi. Production Company: RKB Mainichi Broadcasting Corporation.
Fly Ogachi
(Tobeya Ogachi)- JAPAN / 1970 / Japanese / B&W / Video / 57 min
Narrative Structure: Ida Bin
Photography: Oe Yasuhiro, Inoue Kenji
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Fujiki Daijiro
Music: Sato Keijiro, Oba Masao
Biwa: Nakamura Kyokuen
A portrait of a man who challenges the record for flight in a human-powered aircraft, and of his “skyward dreams” driven by a passion approaching madness.
Pure Land, Poisoned Sea
(Kugaijodo)- JAPAN / 1970 / Japanese / Color, B&W / Video / 49 min
Original Story: Ishimure Michiko
Photography: Kinoshita Junsuke, Oe Yasuhiro
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Ono Hiroyuki, Inoue Yoshinobu
Music: Sato Keijiro
Appearance: Kitabayashi Tanie
Narration: Imafuku Masao, Kitabayashi Tanie
Producers: Tanigawa Kiyoaki, Tsuji Kazuko
In this program based on the book of the same name by Ishimure Michiko, Kitabayashi Tanie plays “Goze,” a blind wandering performer who drifts around the stricken region of Minamata in the wake of methylmercury contamination.
Darkness
(Ima wa fuyu)- JAPAN / 1972 / Japanese / Color, B&W / Video / 35 min
Narrative Structure: Katsuki Takashi
Photography: Kimura Mitsunori
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Ono Hiroyuki
Narration: Nakamura Yasushi
A portrait depicting the solitary life of Eguchi Shinichi, a poet, a Christian, and the founder of the “Box of the Salt of the Earth” movement.
Pitch-Black
(Makkura)- JAPAN / 1973 / Japanese / Color, B&W / Video / 48 min
Narrative Structure: Morisaki Kazue
Photography: Kimura Mitsunori, Aimoto Takuro
Art Direction: Eguchi Koichi
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Ono Hiroyuki
Lighting: Sakaki Isao
Appearances: Tokita Fujio, Shiraishi Kayoko, Chikushi Misuko, Doi Michitoshi
Set in Chikuho amid the closing of the region’s coal-mining industry, this film recounts the histories of miners and their families in a narrative that unfolds in a mixture of fact and fiction.
Lead Fog
(Namari no kiri)- JAPAN / 1974 / Japanese / Color, B&W / Video / 41 min
Narrative Structure: Katsuki Takashi
Photography: Kimura Mitsunori
Editing: Akutagawa Chikao
Sound: Ono Hiroyuki
Narration: Sugiyama Akio
A report that follows the long struggle of a lead factory owner to rebuild in the aftermath of a pollution incident at the factory.
I Can Hear Festival Music
(Matsuribayashi ga kikoeru)- JAPAN / 1975 / Japanese / Color / Video / 91 min
Photography: Kimura Mitsunori, Aimoto Takuro
Art Direction: Hotta Keisuke
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Fujiki Daijiro
Music: Fukui Shun
Biwa: Nakamura Kyokuen
Narration: Ueda Akiko, Mizuno Masao
Producers: Sera Shuzo, Tanigawa Kiyoaki
A vivid portrayal of the world of so-called “tekiya” street hawkers who make a living on the fringes of festivals, centering on the big boss of the entire Kyushu region.
I Love Yu-chan
(Ai rabu Yu-chan)- JAPAN / 1976 / Japanese / Color, B&W / Video / 48 min
Cooperation Staff: Awamura Koji, Endo Hiromi, Aimoto Takuro, Kitani Shigekatsu, Fujiki Daijiro, Ono Hiroyuki, Hotta Keisuke, Furuyama Kazuko
Narration: Nakamura Motoki
Producer: Sera Shuzo
A Kimura-style self-documentary in which the director turns the camera on his own daughter, who suffers from congenital hip and brain impairments, and observes her life over the course of a year.
The Journalist: Rokko/Kikutake Sunao
(Kisha ariki: Rokko Kikutake Sunao)- JAPAN / 1977 / Japanese / B&W, Color / Video / 86 min
Narrative Structure: Toriyama Hiroshi
Photography: Aimoto Takuro
Art Direction: Nagaoka Morio
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Fujiki Daijiro Technical
Director: Ishibashi Yukitaka
Lighting: Sakaki Isao
Appearance: Mikuni Rentaro
Producers: Nishijima Hikoichiro, Sera Shuzo
An exploration of the nature of journalism that focuses on Fukuoka Nichi Nichi newspaper reporter Kikutake Sunao, with reenactments of scenes from his life, in which he is portrayed by the actor Mikuni Rentaro.
Bongseonhwa
(Hosenka—Chikaku harukana utagoe)- JAPAN / 1980 / Japanese, Korean / Color, B&W / Video / 72 min
Photography: Kimura Mitsunori
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Endo Hiromi
Technical Director: Ishibashi Yukitaka
Producers: Nishijima Hikoichiro, Otani Shoji
This program portrays the modern history of Korean-Japanese relations through Korean songs, putting the spotlight on the popular songs “Bongseonhwa” and “Arirang.”
A Portrait of the Author
(Mukashi otoko arikeri)- JAPAN / 1984 / Japanese, Portuguese / Color, B&W / Video / 85 min
Narrative Structure: Toriyama Hiroshi
Photography: Kimura Mitsunori, Aimoto Takuro
Editing: Awamura Koji
Sound: Fujiki Daijiro
Technical Director: Sakaki Isao
Assistant Director: Shirouchi Akihide
Appearance: Takakura Ken
Narration: Shirasaka Michiko
Producer: Otani Shoji
Actor Takakura Ken visits Santa Cruz in Portugal and traces the footsteps of the writer Dan Kazuo, who spent his last years living there.
An Interview with Awamura Koji