Kawase and the art of filmmaking

“T he god of filming came to me ... cameras and film came to me. I wanted to know myself and that is how I started making films.” This was award-winning Japanese filmmaker Naomi Kawase speaking to an audience at a masterclass of the recently concluded Qumra Film Festival by Doha Film Institute (DFI) here. She ventured into making films after being challenged by two existential questions, “Who am I?”, “What is my purpose?”These questions seeded her journey into filmmaking despite living in Nara, a close-knit old township with a heritage of over 1,300 years but removed from the bustling industry and limelight of Tokyo.“I entered a film school. At first, I wanted to go to TV production, but somehow I ended up studying films. When I held the 8mm film camera and started shooting for the first time, I felt it was like a time machine which could take me to the past or future,” Naomi explains in an interview with Community.“The ‘present’ never disappears, and it can be brought back to life in the darkness. I thought this must be a similar feeling when Lumière brothers first invented the film,” she describes the feeling of the cameras and film coming to her. Filmmaking for her was a way to look into her, she says. The world she sees through the camera was filled with dazzle and variety, just like a treasure box. “I found out there are things I couldn’t see with my naked eyes, and behind those invisible things there are interesting stories. That is how I got drawn into the magic of films,” says the award-winning filmmaker and director.Born in 1969, the Japanese film director has made many films, most of them documentaries including Embracing which is about her search for the father who abandoned her as a child, and Katatsumori, about her grandmother who raised her.The youth she spent in Nara has had a drastic effect on her career. Many of her first forays into filmmaking were autobiographical, inspired heavily by the rural landscape.Employing her interest in autobiography, most of her first short films focus on her turbulent family history, including her abandonment and her father’s death. Naomi became the youngest winner of the la Caméra d’Or award (best new director) at the 1997 Cannes Film Festival for her first 35mm film, Suzaku. She novelised her films Suzaku and Firefly.In 2006, she released the 40-minute documentary Tarachime, which she prefers to be screened before her film from the following year. Tarachime revisits Naomi’s relationship with her great-aunt, tackling very personal themes such as her aunt’s growing dementia.“I was never particularly conscious about appealing to a global audience. I just believe that looking deeply into things around me can eventually get me connected to the world,” says Naomi. “What we need to challenge is to open up and face ourselves. Sometimes you need to accept your weakness or lazinesss, which can be quite challenging,” she adds.The Japanese filmmaker says films are her “another” life, and it is always there to support her real life. They are the two wheels of the vehicle which supports her existence.In her films, she says, reality is the most important element. It is inseparable, just as film is to her life. Naomi told the Qumra masterclass audience she has been a tough task-master on her actors, confining actress Makiko Watanabe to a hospital for four days before shoot began on the protracted death scene that is artistically shot in her movie Still the Water. “She wanted to run away to Tokyo,” laughed the director. “I put my actors through hardship but I never doubt them. Eventually, she trusted me too, and she today says the film was an important one for her,” she explains.However, Naomi said she goes by instinct and gives enough leeway to the actors while shooting. Her scripts are not too conversational; they are more explanatory of what the characters feel; the actors have the freedom to read between the lines.“I am using professional actors in more recent films. There are many non-actors who can express in a real way. But I do not choose just amateurs,” says Naomi.Being a woman in a male-dominated industry, Naomi has not just managed to carve a niche, she continues to inspire others. In her advice to aspiring female filmmakers, she tells them to focus on not giving up and continue doing what they feel is the best. “I am always doing my best in each role as a film director, a woman, and a mother. Everyone has challenges and hurdles, so I never chose those things as a theme of my film,” says the filmmaker.  Rather, she wants to show a hope in overcoming the challenges. What is important, she says, is to follow what you believe, to make a commitment, to never give up, and to continue doing what you are doing.In today’s technological world, Naomi feels both technology and ideas are important for making a good film, however, idea holds prominence. “I think both are important, but idea always comes first, as it is the fundamental of filmmaking. Rather than deciding one is more important than the other, I want to choose what is best for each situation. It is up to you to make good use of things that are available,” states Naomi.In her advice to the younger filmmakers, she asks them to find a subject matter “that only you can deliver, because that’s what drives you to create.”