Cop Festival – Curated by Shinozaki Makoto

Last year an indie cinema in the Shimo Kitazawa district of Tokyo found itself with a sudden gap in its programme schedule. The owners contacted Shinozaki Makoto to see if they could programme his TV film Asakusa Kid (shown at the Rotterdam Festival two years ago) in the slot. That didn’t work out, but Shinozaki offered to come up with something else for the cinema. He called around to various film maker friends and asked if they could make ten minute video shorts on the theme of police detectives (in Japanese deka which can also mean ‘big’). So was born the Cop Festival (Deka Matsuri) phenomenon, which has already run to four programs of shorts with a fifth currently in progress.
In this special one off presentation, Shinozaki Makoto will introduce a selection of Cop Festival shorts, rarely seen outside Japan before. The selection of eight short films will comprise some by such well known directors as Kurosawa Kiyoshi, others will be first films by individuals well known as actors, such as Tanaka Yoji (who has been seen in everything from Oshima’s Gohatto to films of the One Piece! Series). (Tony Rayns)

titles:
1. Ghost Cop by Kurosawa Kiyoshi
2. The Unforgettable Detectives by Shinozaki Makoto
3. Atopy Cop by Iguchi Noboru
4. Love Juice Cop by Honda Ryuichi
5. The Gate of Cop by Fujita Hideyuki
6. Kitty Cop by Ozawa
7. Small Elephant Cop by Tsuda Kanji
8. Coming-out Cop, Kamaoka, by Tanaka Yoji