fire houses The director of United Red Army (2008), Koji Wakamatsu, who had been personally involved in the political conflict of the 1970s in Japan, reflects on the idea of cinema as a weapon against power and authority. A concept he has reasserted throughout his 40-year career. “I was blown away by Wakamatsu’s United Red Army. The sadness of it felt like a paradox, it was liberating. Like this was all behind and we could finally think of a new way to change the world, not being enslaved by the nostalgia of the 60s and 70s. It was very brave to say ‘this is (may be) why it went wrong’. It took a lot of courage, especially when you were part of it like Wakamatsu at the time. I felt the film was an invitation to talk about it and I decided to accept it. We met in Tokyo only few days after filming Oguri. They were like two sides of a same, beautiful, courageous, poetic fight. Warriors. Wise men.
Biography
film director
Antoine Barraud
Antoine Barraud (1972) in 2004 made his first short, Monstre, which participated at numerous international festivals. He then directed other films, part documentary and part experimental, including portraits of filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, Shuji Terayama and Koji Wakamatsu. Song (2007) and La forêt des songes (2010) were both presented at the Torino Film Festival, where, in 2011, another film of his was screened, Son of a Gun, which he co-directed with Claire Doyon. He has participated as a producer in many projects including the film by Stephen Dwoskin Age Is..., which is participating at this year’s Torino Film Festival.
FILMOGRAFIA
Monstre (cm, 2004), Déluge (mm, 2005), Song (2007), Monstre, numéro deux (mm, 2007), River of Anger (mm, doc., 2007), Danièle Gould (doc., 2007), Plug (cm, 2009), La forêt des songes (mm, doc., 2010), La montagne de la terreur (cm, doc., 2010), Les maisons de feu (cm, doc., 2010), Son of a Gun (coregia/codirector Claire Doyon, cm, 2011), Les gouffres (2012).
Cast
& Credits
regia, fotografia/director, cinematography
Antoine Barraud
montaggio/film editing
Agnes Contensou
musica/music
Antoine Dumont
interpreti/cast
Koji Wakamatsu
produttori/producers
Philippe Dijon De Monteton
produzione, vendita all’estero/production, world sales
House On Fire