Yamagata puts on unique film festival
John Badalu, Contributor, Jakarta
Located on a plateau surrounded by mountains and natural hot springs 400 kilometers to the north of Tokyo, Yamagata has been hosting international documentary film festivals since 1989. It is a city that you may never believe capable of hosting such an important event, as most of the population are farmers and art university students.
The origins of the festival lie with city government officials who wanted to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Yamagata. They contacted Ogawa Shinsuke, one of the most important political documentary filmmakers in the 1970s, about making a film about the city.
To understand the farmers' lives, Shinsuke moved to Yamagata along with his aides and lived there as a farmer. Several years later he began a documentary film about the farmers' lives.
From here came the idea to organize an international documentary film festival. Ever since the Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival (YIDFF) has been held biennially.
The juries come from all over the world. Among the filmmakers who have appeared at the festival are Edward Yang of Taiwan, Krzystof Kieslowski of Poland, Abbas Kiarostami of Iran and Errol Morris of the U.S.
So, what's so special about YIDFF compared to other film festivals around the world?
Asako Fujioka, who is in charge of the New Asian Currents section at YIDFF and who happens to be in town for the Jakarta International Film Festival (JIFFest), says, "YIDFF has two big sections. The first one is the International Competition where 15 films are chosen by a team of film critics, festival organizers and some citizen of Yamagata City. So it is not only film experts who serve as judges in the festival, but also ordinary people from the city itself join the member of the jury."
Another unique thing about YIDFF is that the city has its own documentary film library run by the city council. All the films entered in YIDFF are stored in the library. The best films are bought by festival organizers, who act like a distributor to supply the films to other film festivals.
Funded almost entirely by the city and national governments, the Grand Prize for the YIDFF's International Competition is up to US$25,000, while for the New Asian Currents section first prize is $4,166.
Although no Indonesian film has won a prize at the YIDFF, big names in the Indonesian film industry like Gotot Prakosa, Riri Reza and Nan T. Achnas have participated in the festival.
Each year, YIDFF receives 700 entries for the festival. From these the YIDFF committee will select 150 films to be screened at the festival, which runs for seven to eight days at eight venues.
Asako Fujioka is here at JIFFest to look for potential participants for the YIDFF. Indonesian documentary filmmakers are encouraged to apply and submit their films for the 2003 YIDFF.
The deadline for the International Competition is March 31, 2003, and for the New Asian Currents the deadline is May 31, 2003.
For further information on how to enter a film at YIDFF, you can visit the website http://www.city.yamagata.yamagata.jp/yidff/ or email: ydiff.entry@city.yamagata.yamagata.jp