Kanai Katsu is an unusual and endearing filmmaker who deserves discovery. Born in 1936, his career parallels that of many independent Japanese filmmakers, but he always marked currents that he crossed with a truly independent and always offset approach, which makes his work quite obscure and little known. He has a long career behind him, but his personal filmography amounts to about 6 hours of movies!
He started as a cameraman for the studios, and then continued his career as a freelancer. In 1968, he founded his own company to produce, develop and disseminate his "trilogy of the smiling Milky Way" ("The Desert Archipelago" in 1969, "Good-bye" in 1971 and "The Kingdom" in 1973). He likes to use and shake up the young codes of the "Japanese new wave" and artistic movements such as street theatre and performance, already embedded in a social and stylistic movement of contestation. It explores political "hot" topics but adds layers of symbolism and detours that cover their tracks and leave the audience puzzled. Kanai does not hesitate to mix his own life into his fictions and claims to work with the unconscious, which guarantees surprising narrative developments and outstanding images! Not to mention his taste for the grotesque and his offbeat sense of humour. His films are rich, sometimes confusing and certainly indescribable. Still, they leave the viewer with an impression and, 40 years later, they still surprise. After his trilogy, Kanai continued his career as a producer for television and directed some shorts. More recently, the advent of video and editing on computer has allowed him to work more freely. He films himself at home and makes some funny little mysterious movies of which we present an example, "Super-Documentary: The Avant -Garde Senjutsu".
We are pleased to welcome Katsu Kanai for an evening during which we will alternate projections and discussion.
In collaboration with the Lausanne Underground Film Festival
12.10 > 20:00
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