This year’s Tokyo Film Festival (TIFF) has three Japanese filmmakers playing in competition — a haul that TIFF programming director Ichiyama Shozo told Deadline is a welcome high for the fest.
One of this year’s set is filmmaker Kotsuji Yohei, who screens his debut feature, A Foggy Paradise, an enigmatic pic shaped around two unrelated narratives that advance parallel to each other without specifying a setting, time, or destination. The two loose stories depict ideas of life and death with a distinct sci-fi twist.
On the ground here in Tokyo, the pic has been compared to the work of slow cinema masters like Ming-liang Tsai. Kotsuji crafted the project over five years, during which he also worked as a teacher at a school for children with special needs. He had no producer and only a government subsidy. Below, Kotsuji speaks with Deadline about his debut feature, working in Japan as an independent filmmaker, and how he managed to scrape together funds to shoot the film.
DEADLINE: How are you feeling about the Tokyo Film Festival and bringing your debut to audiences here?
KOTSUJI YOHEI: At the Tokyo International Film Festival, all of the films that are in the competition category are just really amazing. I’ve already seen about four, and they’re all quite wonderful, so the fact that I’m included in this category makes me feel very honored. I also believe the audience is very seasoned, so I look forward to hearing their response to the film.
DEADLINE: You’re a full-time teacher and have been producing films in your spare time. Can you tell me a little about how you became a filmmaker?
YOHEI: I consider myself to be an independent filmmaker, so I’m not hired by somebody to make a film that they envision making. I don’t really have a producer. It’s really about me making the films that I want to make. From an outsider’s view, it might just seem like a hobby. This film took about five years to make. I would spend a few hours after I was done with my work thinking about the script, and I did that for about four years after which I finally had a general framework for the movie.
DEADLINE: So how did you acquire the equipment to shoot the film and find actors and collaborators?
YOHEI: I had my own fund of 1 million Yen, so around $10,000, and I wanted to make the film with just that money. About halfway through the shoot, I’d already burned all of that 1 million yen, so I was trying to figure out what to do when I learned of a grant program that the Japanese culture agency has called AFF. They provided a 2.5 million yen grant, so I was able to get that grant and do the filming. As for the equipment, that all came from the cameraman and I recruited the actors on the Internet.
DEADLINE: What is it like being an independent filmmaker in Japan? Do you feel supported?
YOHEI: This depends on the filmmaker. Before this movie, I was a complete unknown, so I could not even consider getting a producer, and I made the film without a producer. But there are also some filmmakers out there who are basically independent, but still work with a producer, and then there are also filmmakers who fund their work out of their pocket. In terms of the support that I get, I would say it’s certainly not nearly enough.
DEADLINE: What is the genesis behind the story in A Foggy Paradise?
YOHEI: For many years before he passed away, my grandfather had dementia and also suffered from muscular dystrophy, so he was bedridden. When I would visit him at his hospital, I would take videos on my phone and spend time with him. It was an indescribable time, but after he passed away, I realized I had this experience, and from that, I envisioned the two main scenes that make up the majority of the film.
DEADLINE: You’ve said that you didn’t expect this film to blow up the way it has. How did you end up at the Tokyo Film Festival? Did you submit or did they find you?
YOHEI: I did the entry submission, but I never expected it to go through. It was more like I was just going to send the film in for memory’s sake, so when they contacted me, I was very amazed. When I was sending an email to my friends to let them know, my hands were shaking.
DEADLINE: What are you hoping will happen after this premiere? What is the best-case scenario for you and this film?
YOHEI: I’m hoping that I can travel with my family. I don’t have any confirmed screenings anywhere yet, but my dream would be to have the opportunity to screen this at international film festivals elsewhere.
DEADLINE: It is notoriously difficult to obtain permission to shoot in Tokyo. Did you shoot the film here, and what was your experience?
YOHEI: It is indeed very difficult to get permission to shoot in Tokyo. I did most of my filming in Kanagawa, which is the prefecture right next to Tokyo. It was easier to get a permit there. The main residential house in the film is Kawasaki City in Kanagawa.
DEADLINE: Do the students you teach and your colleagues know you have a film at TIFF? If so, what do you think?
YOHEI: I’m a teacher for a special needs school, so my students cannot talk, and they’re all in wheelchairs, so I’ll say that they’re not aware of the situation. My fellow teachers are very happy for me and now jokingly call me the maestro or the master.
DEADLINE: What are you doing next? Are you thinking about a second feature?
YOHEI: I will continue to work as an independent filmmaker. Right now, I’m considering two ideas. The first one is inspired by a trip I took to my hometown recently. I caught up with old friends, and we did what we used to do when we were young. We would hang out at the convenience store and talk until the wee hours. It then occurred to me that nothing had changed, but we’d just grown into middle-aged men. That reminded me of John Cassavetes’ Husbands, so I thought that could be the type of movie I’d make. And the other idea: people have been describing A Foggy Paradise as being close to sci-fi, so when I heard that, I thought I could maybe do something science fiction and more story-driven.
DEADLINE: How are you finding the experience of doing interviews and having all this attention?
YOHEI: I remind myself that it shouldn’t get to my head, and I shouldn’t fool myself into thinking I’m someone superior or important because I’m really a nobody.
