The project Ottobre Giapponese - born out of the collaboration betwenn A.S.C.I.G. and Start Cinema - in Ravenna Nightmare's 2018 edition will be focusing on stop-motion animation, starting with a tribute to Isle of Dogs's director Wes Anderson, that we presented in May as one of our Festival Premieres, and continuing with a focus on Japanese animation cinema.
As part of the section's programme, Ottobre Giapponese will propose a retrospective, for the first time in Italy, on Kawamoto Kihachirô (1925-2010), puppet designer and indipendent filmmaker, recognised master of Japanese stop-motion animation.
Kawamoto signed masterpieces as Winter Days (2003) and feature film The book of the dead (2005), his last broad work still unedited in Italy.
Albeit drawing from Japanese cultural tradition, from haiku poems to Nō tragedies, from buddhism to folklore traditions, Kawamoto was an artist known worldwide, able to activate collaborations with the greatest indipendent artists. Despite being a recognised master of stop-motion animation, he experimented different techniques, producing very innovative and visual works. Thanks to collaboration between A.S.C.I.G. and Start Cinema, also Italian audience will be able to appreciate the works of this great master.
