On body memory
Films by Nao Yoshigai, Nao Usami and Kaori Oda
Event Slider
Date
- / Cancelled / Sold out
Location
Studio Centro de Arte Moderna GulbenkianPricing
10% – Cartão Gulbenkian
They say the body remembers what the mind forgets. Exploring the limits of bodily expression from digital animation to dance film, this programme proposes that the body carries history and transforms this weight into gestures.
Dancer and choreographer Nao Yoshigai features twice in the programme: as director in ‘Hottamaru days’ and as speechless spirit in ‘Gama’.
Offering a glimpse into the exhilarating world of Japanese artists’ moving image, ‘Engawa Films’ seeks to stake a place for its existence in Japanese contemporary art and cinema.
Duration: 120 min.
'Hottomaru days', by Nao Yoshigai
Japan, 2015, 38’
In Japanese, with English and Portuguese subtitles.
A fantastical and beautiful visual poem about joyful spirits who reside in a house.
There is a wooden one-story house. In this tiny house, four dancer nymphs are living besides Satoko (Singer), a human being. They are absorbed in Satoko’s music and having a comfortable life. But one day, dancer nymphs found by chance that another little girl was living in the house.
‘Hottamaru’ is a coined word that is made of two Japanese words ‘Hotteoku’(leaving something as it is) and ‘Tamaru’(accumulating). It means things that accumulate if we leave something as it is. Fallen things from human body such as hair, nails, skins of the sole of their feet. Or various smells that accumulate in everyday life.
Credits
Cast
Shibata Satoko
Orita Risa
Kogure Kaho
Director and screenplay
Yoshigai Nao
Music
Shibata Satoko
Sound
Masaya Kitada
'I stitch my skin to the ground', by Nao Usami
2023
Japão, 23’
In Japanese, with Portuguese subtitles.
This video contains depiction of sexual violence.
This work is composed of two video games, ‘Ambiguous Lucy’ (2021) and ‘Replay over and over’ (2023) and captured as video (game-play). The story is based on accounts of people who have experienced sexual violence in the past that turned their bodies into ‘objects’. They feel the touched skins are dirty and try to remove it. They embark on journeys to look for new bodies, and at once also to connect with others, such as machines, plants or stones.
Credits
Directed, animated and programmed
Nao Usami
Music
Chiho Oka
Voice
Manae Shimizu
Nao Usami
'Gama', by Kaori Oda
2023
Japan, 53’
In Japanese with Portuguese subtitles
In Okinawa, where intense ground fighting took place at the end of World War II, there are many natural caves called "GAMA". Mitsuo Matsunaga, a peace guide and collector of remains from the Battle of Okinawa, describes how civilians involved in the war sheltered in GAMA. As the fighting on the ground intensified, mass deaths occurred in some GAMA, and in others people tried to communicate with U.S. soldiers, and many lives were saved. The experiences of those who spent their time breathing underground are relieved through "Darkness Experiences" woven into the narratives. The blue dressed "Shadow" roams by. The remains of those who died unknown appear before us living today. Traces of time and human activity layered on GAMA shaped by the passage of time were captured on 16mm film.
Credits
Director, editing and sound design
Oda Kaori
Photography
Takano Yoshiko
Sound, technical direction and DI colorist
Nagasaki Hayato
Lighting
Hiraya Risa
Assistant director, assistant camera and researcher
Torii Yuto
Production coordinator
Oda Eriko
Producers
Tsutsui Ryohei
Sugihara Eijun
Appearances
Matsunaga Mitsuo
Yoshigai Nao
Engawa – A Season of Contemporary Art from Japan
‘Engawa’ is a programming that brings to Lisbon a set of creators from Japan and the Japanese diaspora, many of them for the first time in Portugal. More info
Duration: 120 min.
/
Biographies
-
Kaori Oda
Kaori Oda (Osaka, 1987) is a filmmaker and artist. Through images and sounds, her works explore the memories of human beings. Her first feature, ‘ARAGANE’ (2015) had its World Premiere at YAMAGATA International Film Festival and received Special Mention. The film has been screened at festivals such as Doclisboa, Mar del Plata IFF, Sarajevo FF, Taiwan International Documentary FF, and more. Her second feature ‘Toward A Common Tenderness’ (2017) had its World Premiere at DOK Leipzig and her latest film, ‘TS’ONOT/Cenote’ (2019) shot in underwater caves in Yucatan Mexico, was premiered in Bright Future section at International Film Festival Rotterdam 2020. ‘GAMA’ (2023) has been screened at MoMA Doc Fortnight, Cinéma du Réel and Cinéma de Brive (Jury SFCC de la Critique).
-
Nao Usami
Nao Usami is an artist currently focused on game development using 3DCG technology. In her practice she seeks to break free from social categorization. She vouches for games because of their ability to experience situations with other people and objects. Recent Awards: “Prix Ars Electronica 2024” Honorary Mention. Recent solo exhibitions include TOKAS-Emerging 2023 at Tokyo Arts and Space. Recent group exhibitions include Digital Art Festival Taipei 2023 at National Taiwan Science Education Center and Changwon International Sculpture Biennale. Recent screenings include Image Forum East Asian Experimental Competition 2023 at Theatre Image Forum.
-
Nao Yoshigai
Nao Yoshigai (Japan, 1987) is a filmmaker, dancer and choreographer. Her films are a ‘dance.’ She choreographs images, sound and text as a motion picture for a time to focus on ‘experience’ based on physical sense and phenomena which are unique to living things. Her film ‘Grand Bouquet’ was selected for the Directors’ Fortnight at Cannes in 2019.
Credits
Curatorship
Julian Ross
Partnership
Collaboration
The Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation reserves the right to collect and keep records of images, sounds and voice for the diffusion and preservation of the memory of its cultural and artistic activity. For further information, please contact us through the Information Request form.
Related
No results were found for your criteria.