Since 2016, Eiga Sai, the Japanese Film Festival, presented by the Japan Foundation, Manila has been an Allied Festival of the Cinemalaya Philippine Independent Film Festival.
Because of the ongoing pandemic, the 16th edition of the Cinemalaya has undergone some major changes. The festival has migrated online with the focus primarily on short films. But these changes didn't stop the festival’s partnership with Eiga Sai as two Japanese short films are in the lineup as part of the Visions of Asia section.
A Japanese Boy Who Draws/ある日本の絵描き少年
Directed by Masanao Kawajiri, A Japanese Boy Who Draws (ある日本の絵描き少年) is a mockumentary mixing various forms of animation with live action that follows the life of Shinji as he scribbles his way to becoming a professional manga artist.
Through mixed forms of animation, the film shows Shinji's art style evolving as he gets older unlike his childhood friend Masaru, whose crude drawings mainly feature masked figures in often unusual and sometimes alarming situations. Soon enough, Shinji distances himself from Masaru with the two losing in touch with each other when Masaru leaves town.
Despite some promising early minor successes, Shinji never makes it big in the extremely competitive manga scene despite numerous attempts to jump on what was current and trendy. He ends up ditching art and returns home as a failure that signals the film to shift from the colorful mixed animation to the monochromatic live action.
The 20 minute short is a reflection on how the pursuit of one's childhood dreams leads to the loss of that child-like wonder that once served as the fuel for the passion. And in Shinji's case, it was reconnecting years later with Masaru's art, still unchanged and untainted with the harsh realities of life, that reignited the spark for art and life that he somehow lost along the way. If he eventually finds the elusive success in his return to creating manga, that remains to be seen.
My Little Goat/マイリトルゴート
Tomoki Misato’s My Little Goat (マイリトルゴート ) puts a new spin on The Wolf and the Seven Young Goats, a fairy tale from the Grimm brothers' collection.
Using stop motion animation reminiscent of images of childhood fairy tale books, the film starts with the mother goat rescuing her children from the belly of a wolf, but realizing that the eldest Toruku is missing.
She later brings on a young boy whose reluctance and very human like appearance compares to her other kids poses the question if he was indeed her missing child. This was also raised by the other goats since he was the first to be eaten and yet his “coat” remains pristine.
The identity of Toruku was just the first of the many questions raised as the world of the Grimms fairy tale collide with the all too real, contemporary world through the “wolves” who prey on children. The fairy tale, might've served as a cautionary tale for children not to let strangers in and in this new, chilling take, the caution is that the wolves may not be strangers at all.
The screening of A Japanese Boy Who Draws and My Little Goat is made possible through the partnership with Eiga Sai, the Japanese film festival organized by the Japan Foundation, Manila.
