View People View Cities
—The World of UNESCO Creative Cities
Yamagata Creative City Promotion Council
Supported by: Yamagata Autumn & Winter Arts Festival Committee
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Yamagata Renaissance Project |
Universal Human Endeavors
The theme of this year’s festival program is once again “Cities and People, People’s Daily Lives.” As I reviewed the submitted films—spanning various genres, lengths, and production years—I was reminded that documentary is a truly “fluid” medium. It may seem to have a form, yet it resists being neatly defined.
Why is that? Unlike the myriads of fiction films which often follow conventional formats, documentary is more complex. It involves engaging with real people in the present moment and wrestling with how best to capture their lives on film. When pursued fully, filmmakers often transcend fixed models or boundaries. Like the ever-shifting flow of time, documentary has no fixed form—it exists as a fluid. In selecting across genres, I was once again made aware of its singular nature—its lofty isolation.
That said, the inclusion of fiction and animation is a key aspect of this program. The Lumière brothers’ early films also captured “cities and people,” recording many instances of universal human activity. I deliberately chose not to set strict selection criteria. But one thing is certain: only those works that revealed universal human endeavors—the origin point of cinema—remained.