Although I have had the honour of screening in Holland's Camera Japan Festival three times before (with "In the Grey Zone" in 2012, "A2-B-C" in 2013 and "-1287" in 2014), this year was the first time for me to have the additional honour of actually attending the festival. Arriving on Thursday (Sept 21), the opening day of the festival, I stayed through the end of the festival on Sunday (Sept 24), experiencing wonderful films, food, and cultural events.
The screening of "Boys for Sale", for which I was the executive producer, was on Friday (22nd), the second day of the festival (INFO), and during the post-screening Q&A, led by festival director Alex Oust, the audience asked really engaging questions.It was a wonderful time to meet old friends like Alex and to meet new ones as well. Among the new ones, were the cast and crew of the film "Noise", a sharp, reflective feature based loosely around the Akihabara massacre (WEBSITE).
Several of the films that were screening in Camera Japan, went on to screen in London's Raindance Film Festival, including "Boys for Sale" and "Noise", so on Monday, I traveled with the "Noise" crew to London. Our trip included such adventures as running for the plane, getting stopped at the border, one person losing a train ticket, with time for a few drinks along the way; and with two of the "Noise" members never having left Japan and none of them able to converse in English, I was really glad I could be there to help out! Thinking about it, there's a film in there somewhere...
~~ to be continued ~~