Uno Port Art Films
Uno Port Art Films (UPAF) is a summer screening series of art films at Uno Port, Okayama, Japan. Under the theme of “Life, Art, Film,” UPAF showcases cutting-edge, creative art films that reflect the lives of the creators, who live around the world. These films cross all times and genres, and are of amazing quality yet remain outside the mainstream commercial distribution. Co-founders/co-Directors Kozo Max Uesugi (He is from Uno. He has been running a B&B and inn business in Uno since 2009 after living in NY for 20 years) and Reiko Tahara (She is from Tokyo. She teaches documentary history, world cinema, etc at NYU and Hunter College and works as a translator & interpreter in NY) have independently produced films for many years. Through organizing UPAF, they wish to connect their fellow independent filmmakers from around the world with the unexpected audiences in a small town in Japan to which they have access. They believe that great things can happen when people connect in the periphery.
Uno Port is also a place where many international art tourists pass through everyday to visit the internationally renowned Naoshima Art Site and other Setouchi contemporary art islands. The town has accommodated many new residents in recent years, including artists and artisans from other Japanese cities, as well as young families and concerned citizens from Fukushima and other Eastern areas of Japan who have relocated after 3.11.2011. UPAF strives to create a rare forum where the colorful new and old residents of this town, international museum-goers, and indie filmmakers from many corners of the globe can meet together and discuss the power of film.
There are many Skype and on-location dialogues with the creators following the screenings. UPAF translates and facilitates these conversations. UPAF hopes that both tourists and filmmakers will learn something about Japan and the town, the people of the town will enjoy the international atmosphere, and everyone will learn something new about the peoples and cultures that are often ignored or stereotyped in the mainstream media or the world news. We especially want young people in this traditional town to know that the window to the world is always open. UPAF translates and subtitles all films if necessary to be enjoyed by both Japanese and English speakers.
Our venue for the evening outdoor screenings is the Pier 2 of Uno Port. It is a special place for many of the older people in the town because it used to be the main point of connection between Japan’s mainland and the Shikoku Island through the famous JR ferry-train in Uno’s golden age in the 70s as a shipbuilding town. The place was filled with tens of thousands of shipyard workers commuting from all directions. UPAF’s outdoor theatre features a trailer (donated by MOL Ferry, Co. every year), the likes of which used to be seen all over the town, as the main stage to screen films. It is a magical space to enjoy films under the starry sky with the calm Seto Inland Sea as our backdrop for everyone. We screen films on a 5x7m screen which was handmade by our wonderful volunteers. Daytime screenings are held at the Tamano-city Sangyo Shinko Bldg 3F near the Uno Station in an air-conditioned media room.
The past and current Uno Port Art Films have been made possible by generous grants from the Fukutake Education and Culture Foundation, Ohdake Foundation, Fukutake Science and Culture Foundation, Tamano City, and private donors. Support is also provided by many local and other Japanese businesses and film festivals such as Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival and Okayama Film Festival, as well as many NPOs in the US such as the Adobe Foundation and Rooftop Films, NY’s legendary outdoor film screening series.
(2015)
Life, Art, Film -Manifest 2010
We are a group of independent filmmakers. We believe in the artistic, ideological and spiritual power of films in our lives and we are boundlessly curious about reading and re-reading films for a better future.
As with any art form, it is not easy living as independent filmmakers. This can be for political or financial reasons, or both. But there have been many who chose this challenging path in order to pass on something important for the better future, to mark the lives of people or events that History had ignored, or to connect with others. In their work, form and content are married as they reflect the life of the creator. We gain courage and inspiration from their work. We are here to celebrate and examine those films, old and new, East and West, South and North (more emphasis on South), and anywhere in between. This is the reason behind the principal theme of this event, “Life, Art, Film.”
We are living in an era overflowing with images. Television has lost its power, movies are copied in smaller, inferior formats as soon as they are made, and anyone can make films. Where has the 100+ years of film history gone? Unless we take the time to reflect on the past, we will be pushed and carried away by the strong current of the times instead of discovering new streams and swimming to new frontiers of our own. Incredible amounts of information floods us. We need to connect the dots from the past to the present; for ourselves and for the future. We have to take control of the time and own our own time.
Our goal is to break the wall between the creator and viewer, overcome the limitations of space and time, and make self-evident the reason for film’s existence. To achieve this, UPAF will: create opportunities for today’s filmmakers from around the world to meet and exchange views with an unexpected audience in a small town Japan; excavate past masterpieces and try to interpret and discuss them with viewers; provide explanations for difficult works before we screen them, provide as many post-screening Q&A sessions as possible with the creators via the internet and on-location guest talks; and give filmmakers the opportunity to curate screenings. In doing so, we hope to create a special place in Uno where viewers will lean forward to watch films and feel them with their hearts.