Sayoko Kinoshita

The Hiroshima International Animation Festival celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. GH chatted to festival director Sayoko Kinoshita.

Could you tell us a little about how the festival first started?

Back in 1972, my husband Renzo and I made an independent film called "Made in Japan", which won the Grand Prize at the New York International Film Festival. We were very encouraged by this and thought we would be able to continue working as animation artists. Unfortunately, when we got back to Japan we quickly realized that the art-animation world was not really developed enough to support artists working the way we wanted to. So we tried to establish an international festival to stimulate interest in animation and provide a nexus for artists, producers and audiences. We worked on this for about six years.

You were both making animation at this time?

Yes, one was called Pica Don about the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. In those days many people associated animation with cartoons. When we did location hunting and researched for the film we felt there was a great deal of suspicion and apprehension concerning an animation on such a serious subject. No one had made an animation about this subject before. Anyway, we made the film and sent it down to Hiroshima for a screening. There was a long painful month of silence. We had no idea what was happening and expected the worst. The film, as it turned out, was very well received in Hiroshima and became quite a news story. With the success of our animation some people in Hiroshima encouraged us to continue our plans for a festival. Support grew, but it still took another six years to get things going. It wasn't easy to get a project like this off the ground. There were many barriers and inertia to overcome.

So what happened next?

Well, Renzo and I wanted to move from Tokyo and we decided that for us to get on in the animation world we should go to New York. Just as we getting ready to move Hiroshima called up and gave us the green light to start a festival. It was a tough decision. At that point, I was really ready to move and I suppose I felt that someone else could take care of organizing the festival. Renzo helped me see otherwise. It was long haul, but we managed to get the festival going in 1985.

Renzo was a Board Member of the International Animated Film Association (ASIFA). Other members knew of we had been trying to get a festival going for so long and they supported us a lot, so we were could get official status as an ASIFA patronaged animation festival quite quickly.

In those days there were only a few other festivals...

Yes, Annency, Zagreb, Varna, and Ottawa... We were the first international festival in Japan... well we should have been... in fact, as it happened, Tokyo just beat us by two months! It was so interesting. We wanted to make a festival which was a real international cultural exchange. The real thing. Not some imitation. We wanted to make a real exchange, something very international. It was very difficult. Things were different in those days.

I was a woman and it wasn't so easy for me. There was also quite a gap between art and officialdom as well as between the domestic and international. There was quite a lot tension. Of course I was young, had energy and was pretty direct about what I wanted to achieve. Nevertheless, first few festivals were very difficult to do.

I wanted to make sure the basis of the festival was right. I was reluctant to compromise. We couldn't give up. We had spent twelve years trying to get the festival established and knew what shape the festival should be. I often felt like a boxer! Getting knocked down but I must always get up and ready to fight. Boxing is my philosophy! (laughs)

During those early years we were able to gather enthusiastic and reliable staff and volunteers who have helped make the festivals work. The festival always faces challenges. The economic downturn has brought difficulties, but I can always rely on a growing network unpaid volunteers. The festival is like a blossoming flower.

We have had terrific support from abroad too. In the festival we keep the artists at the front of things. This way the audiences can experience and enjoy the real thing. High quality is vital for us. I think it is always high.

Animation is certainly big business these days, but there are still many animation artists struggling to have their work viewed. There is a division between popular commercial animation and animation as art. Do you see the situation changing?

Well yes, those artists want to be successful artistically and commercially and some of them are. For example, a young man called John Lasseter entered a short film in our festival. Later on, in our 3rd festival in 1990 I asked him to hold a seminar on computer animation. In those days animators were a bit nervous about using computers. Anyway he was helping other animators as he was developing his own techniques. Of course in 1999 he made Toy Story and was executive producer of Finding Nemo. By the way, when he was here he scribbled some characters on the wall of Otis! They are probably worth a bit of money now. Young artists want to develop into major animators and the festival is an important way to help them. Of course festival needs its audience too.

Yes. Who comes to the festival? Where are the audiences coming from?

People are coming from all over Japan and from abroad and many of them come festival after festival. There are also regular groups coming each year from, for example, South Korea. But to tell the truth, we are not getting enough people from Hiroshima. (laughs)

That's a bit ironic really considering how you things started.

Yes. We could do with more people. We need an audience of about 40,000 this year to meet our budget.

I hope we can get a few more Hiroshima people involved this year. You were born and raised in Tokyo and you still live there now. How do find Hiroshima?

Well its an interesting question. My husband was from Osaka and he used to compare his city with Tokyo but for me I never think of comparing cities like that. I think of Tokyo in relation to the world. In the same way I think of Hiroshima and its relation with the world. Who knows some day it may be the capital of a peaceful world. That's what we are working for. Animation is a great medium for understanding. I am not just organizing animation. Our lives are more important.

Hiroshima has an historical and larger than life importance, but what about the real, lived in city? For example, what do you like best about the Hiroshima? What are your favorite places?

Nagarekawa!! Yagenbori!! (Sayoko answers instantly!)

That was a really fast answer.

I have got a lot of really good helpers and volunteers from the Nagarekawa. There very nice people there. Drinking and communication. They go together! (laughs)

Could you tell us a little about the festival this year?

Well we have about 1500 entries. We'll have many feature animation programs too, which will be interesting.

And one of your films as well?

Yes, I am just finishing a film now. It's called Ryukyu Okoku - Made In Okinawa, about the Okinawa Islands.

We'll look out for that one. There are about 1500 films to choose from? How can your small selection committee make their choices with confidence?

Well, as far as I am concerned the films that are really good tend to stand out. The simply shine. We just move very steadily taking one step at a time. We try not to compare the films but evaluate them according to our own judgment and artistic intuition.

After all these years, do you ever think running this festival is a bit crazy?

Well things go up and down. It can be a struggle. Things go up and down. A bit like sitting on a playground seesaw! But I am a very positive about it.

What do you do when you're not running a festival?

Illustrating, programming, volunteer work, researching future festival, animation, teaching animation abroad. in Turkey for example. Through the development agencies I have been teaching animation to the audio-visual professionals from more than 30 developing countries, such as Fiji, Nepal, the Philippines, etc.

Do you think that there will be more animation coming from less wealthy countries in the future? Animation still tends to be dominated by the USA, Japan, France, UK and a few other rich countries. Will there be more animations coming from other regions?

Well, it is our aim to support animation in the southern world - the developing nations. At present the world is very uneven and remains dominated by richer northern countries. The festival has special programs, for example for South East Asia, to encourage animation from other parts of the world. This can give animators a step up onto the international stage through the festival circuit. In terms of art and creativity these countries are already developed, and animators given the opportunity will thrive.

Observing the way people in the animation world help each other is heartening. We can really feel how cultural exchanges can pull people together. This year as usual we have a big group of Korean student animators coming as well as one from Indonesia.

Our festival is very important for the future. We are making it together for the future. We are hoping as many people as possible will join us in 2004.

The Hiroshima Internatonal Animation Festival will be held at Aster Plaza Aug 19-23. If you're in Hiroshima at that time we highly recommend you go check out this excellent event. Click here for more details.