When hearing "short film" I usually think of self-produced movies. Hard- and software used for photography and post-production is getting cheaper, and as a consequence of the spreading Internet, "movies" distributed via the Net are increasing rapidly. However, most people seem to believe that there’s no business to do with such movies. Cinema Angelica, a movie theatre in Shibuya, and Moving Pictures Japan (MPJ), a film production group, have launched with the Angelica + MPJ Short Film Market 2006 a joint project with the aim to change this situation.
The press release announcing the project was full of ebullient phrases, such as "An open system exceeding the frameworks of cinemas and production firms", "create a 'platform' to meet for filmmakers who are about to start work on their next work, and film-related professionals that are eager to explore new possibilities (thus are potential supporters), and promote the 'collaborations' that emerge out of such encounters." "Unprecedented video projects of a totally new kind", to quote but a few. In reality, a number of MPJ-produced movies are being screened at the "film market" between July 1 and 28 at Cinema Angelica. Among the 16 titles on the program are brand new movies by Kawase Naomi, who was awarded a Prix de la Camera d'Or at the Festival de Cannes for "Moe no suzaku" (1997), and Shu Lea Cheang, who caused a stir with her controversial "cyber porno" sort of movie, "I.K.U." (2000), and others starring such popular actors and actresses as Sugimoto Tetta and Fukikoshi Mitsuru.
I interviewed Komura Koji, one of the planners and at once director of the film market. Komura, who was working at a bank up to the age of 25 but then decided to devote himself to cinema, was nominated twice for a grand prix at the Pia Film Festival in the early 1990s. At present the central figure of this project earns his bread and butter as a freelance TV director, and on the side commits himself to the production of short films by young creators. Komura emphasizes that he is seeing great potential in the short film genre.
"You don't need one or two hours, but you can entertain an audience with films of only 30 or 40 minutes length. Like there are short stories as opposed to novels in literature, it appears to me that short films are following a request of our times. We show 40-minute-long movies for 1,000 yen each, and we believe that we'll be successful also on the business side."
Another goal on the business side is a protection of copyrights and income guarantee for directors and scriptwriters. According to Komura, in Japanese TV there exists no such term as "royalties", and even in the realm of cinema directors and writers don't get more than 1.75% each. Komura says he wants to raise this figure to 17.5%.
"The Japanese TV industry is taking it for granted that film directors don't own copyrights. Even when programs are being sold to overseas stations, in most cases the director doesn't get a penny. There do exist cases of people getting in trouble for violating antitrust laws these days, but there is still little awareness. Our aim is a rate of 50% for sponsors, 15% for producers, and 35% for creators (directors, scriptwriters, etc.). It would be great if that spread out.
In the film and video industry with their already established systems, though, this sounds rather impossible, but Komura and his colleagues are trying in an awesome way to change the awareness of people in the film business and those about to enter it.
"During the preparation period of two years and a half we made 16 movies out of a budget of 2 million yen each, including 500,000 yen each for promotion, and now we want to show people that its possible. It’s hard work, of course, but Panasonic for example provided all equipment for free, and with such help it’s really not impossible."
"For now our goal is to finish 50 movies, and in the extreme case it would be OK if there was only one box-office hit among them. We keep production costs low so we can pay everyone involved properly, and I really believe in a coming shift in people’s awareness of short film as a genre. If we had 50 titles to offer, local movie theatres and TV stations could put together their own lineups, and even if they don't take all 50 they can still make good programs out of whatever number of films they choose."
At the same time Komura states that there is no intention to impound directors.
"Our business model focuses on the recovery of costs through secondary steps, such as selling films abroad or producing DVDs. There are already several cases of newcomers who won acclaim with a short film, and were then approached by such production companies as V-Cinema to make feature films. Once they make it there too, that means again that their early works sell, and then we've got the ball roling. First and foremost, we want to do something exciting."
The press release further talks about an "enduring project that focuses on a point 10 or 20 years from now, rather than thinking about immediate profit." Komura himself jokes that "our revenue is still zero," but then adds energetically, "but this is the lifework I chose for myself to pursue next to my work for TV." Komura explains that you'd get close to the idea if you imagined somebody setting up 50 independent music labels. Another aspect is to start an international movement by recruiting actors from the general public, and getting in touch with other countries — Korea and China in particular (which was already done successfully).
I don't know if this project is currently progressing perfectly according to the plans of Komura and his team, but I think it’s amazing to produce a commercial movie with only 2 million yen. Nevertheless, due to such minimal budget one can't of course expect highest quality, but as long as such experienced producers as Komura are on board there’s certainly no need to worry. The size of the budget inevitably requires "cleverness", which is very likely to result in masterpieces we'll never see coming out of Hollywood. Also, from the standpoint of capital investment, even for ordinary people the small sums of money involved give this project a realistic sort of mass appeal. For myself it was the first time in a while that I heard the story of someone with a dream and a vision.
Ozaki Tetsuya / Editor in chief / REALTOKYO