Basic Information

Participants：Six master’s students of Film Production
Location：Paris, France
Period：December 14-19, 2015

Achievements

This workshop on international collaboration in film making had been carried out at La Fémis (Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Métiers de l’Image et du Son) in France, prior to the shooting of a short film by a joint team of three institutions from Japan, France, and South Korea that was held in Yokohama from January 26 through February 5, 2016. During the workshop in Paris, the participants sat along with students of the French state film school to receive lectures and examined a case study on international collaboration in film making, where they acquired specific knowledge necessary to work on a global stage and exchanged opinions about future challenges.

The workshop consisted of the following programs:

・Presentation on the French producing system
・Lecture on the France distribution of Kishibe no Tabi (Journey to the Shore) directed by Kiyoshi Kurowawa
・Case study on Japan-France collaboration in the production of La Femme de la plaque argentique (The Woman in the Silver Plate)by Kiyoshi Kurowsawa
・Lecture on the international sales and distribution of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s Kishibe no Tabi and Naomi Kawase’s An (Sweet Bean)
・Lecture on the international sales and distribution of Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s La Femme de la plaque argentique(The Woman in the Silver Plate)
・Screening of Dheepan by Jacques Audiard with a subsequent discussion
・Screening of films produced by Tokyo University of the Arts with a subsequent discussion
・Lecture on the production and distribution of Dheeepan
・Visit of the exhibition Martin Scosese at the Cinémathèque Française
・Discussion on the relationship between France and Japan in cinema, French interest for Japanese cinema

Almost Coincidentally, Kishibe no Tabi (Journey to the Shore), the film directed by TUA Professor Kiyoshi Kurowawa that won a prize at the 2015 Cannes Film Festival had been released in France, and another film by Professor Kurosawa titled La Femme de la plaque argentique(The Woman in the Silver Plate), which had been entirely shot in France by the joint team of Japan and France, was in the post-production phase. The participants therefore were able to learn about what would happen in international co-production of films through the practical lectures full of up-to-date insights given by the producers, distributing agencies, and international marketers who were involved in these films.

As one can easily imagine, film as a form of art enjoys a much higher status in France than in Japan. While keenly feeling big differences between the two countries in the national policies for film culture in general and systems employed in respective film industries, the participants were able to understand the perspectives held by the international producers that were hard to experience in Japan.

In addition to such global perspectives, the Paris workshop offered various lessons as well as technical and psychological advice to the participants, which would mean a lot to their film making activities in the future.