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Production: Japan, 1960
Director: Jonouchi Motoharu
Category: Experimental
One of the most renowned Japanese experimental films of the early 60s, comprising surrealistic sequences of a profane burial rite intercut with found images. Jonouchi was one of the founders of the VAN Institute for Cinematic Science, along with the likes of Masao Adachi; this progressive film group was heavily involved in anti-art and political movements, producing multi-media happenings as well as such films as Jonouchi’s Document LSD (1962) and Hi Red Center Shelter Plan (1964), a record of the Neo-Dadaists Akasegawa Genpei, Nakanishi Natsuyuki and Takamatsu Jiro. Jonouchi also continued to document the ongoing student unrest in Tokyo, producing the Gewaltopia series of riot and protest footage, including Hakusan Street: Nihon University (1968), Mass Collective Bargaining: Nihon University (1969), and Shinjuku Station (1974). These films would be screened in various edits, with differing soundtracks and live accompaniment, rejecting fixed form and remaining as works in revolutionary flux.
Posted by Captain Nightshade