Director Tsukamoto Shinya at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival
Beloved independent filmmaker Tsukamoto Shinya gave a masterclass at the 39th Tokyo International Film Festival, speaking about the key works of his career as well as his most recent English-language feature "Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?". TIFF programming director Ichiyama Shozo moderated the session and called the director's 1989 feature "Tetsuo: The Iron Man" a shock for emerging from the Japanese independent film scene.
Tsukamoto recalled shooting the 1989 feature on 16mm film without any computer graphics or special effects technology. "No CG. We had a little bit of tokusatsu technology at the time but this didn't use any of that, this used stuff which was thrown out on the street and we basically stuck it on [Taguchi Tomorowo]'s face," the director said. The project took about a year to complete, with the creator working alone on tasks like the sparks at the end of the clip.
Choosing Independence Over Studio Offers
The success of "Tetsuo" led to international film festivals and his second feature, the higher budget horror film "Hiruko the Goblin". Ichiyama pointed out that Tsukamoto has consistently produced his own projects independently over the years, including "Bullet Ballet" and "Tokyo Fist".
"I did receive offers from studios but I didn't want to become a director for hire, I didn't think that suited me, and there's certain things you want to do as a filmmaker," the director said. He explained that staying independent allowed him to maintain his initial creative impulse and play with the material himself.
Making Fires on the Plain Independently
Tsukamoto noted that his 2014 war film "Fires on the Plain", based on a novel by Ooka Shohei that Ichikawa Kon adapted in 1959, was also made independently. Shooting locations included the Philippines, Okinawa, and Saitama Prefecture.
The director stated that he wanted to adapt the book from his teens through his fifties, eventually attempting self-distribution using social media. The release eventually expanded to 80 cinemas after starting with 40 theaters.
Directing Mr. Nelson and Continuing With War Themes
Short on time, the discussion shifted to "Mr. Nelson, Did You Kill People?", which is his second English-language film following 2009's "Tetsuo: The Bullet Man". The production played in competition at Venice in September and follows Allen Nelson, a New Yorker who joined the Marines at 18 and deals with his experiences in Vietnam, featuring a cast that includes Rodney Hicks, Geoffrey Rush, and Lily Franky.
Asked about his focus on war themes, Tsukamoto explained that world events kept him returning to the subject. "The theme of war wasn't something that I was going to linger on this long, I was going to be happy just creating 'Fires on the Plain,'" he said. "Pero it's the state of the world which made me continue to focus on war."
