(born 11 December 1966) is a Japanese
film director
A film director controls a film's artistic and dramatic aspects and visualizes the screenplay (or script) while guiding the film crew and actors in the fulfilment of that vision. The director has a key role in choosing the cast members, p ...
,
documentary film maker, and video activist. His works have focused on the search for identity amongst
Japan
Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
ese youth, particularly the allure that
nationalism
Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a in-group and out-group, group of peo ...
or extreme ideologies have offered to troubled young people.
Career
After producing several experimental
video art
Video art is an art form which relies on using video technology as a visual and audio medium. Video art emerged during the late 1960s as new consumer video technology such as video tape recorders became available outside corporate broadcasting ...
pieces, Tsuchiya first came to prominence with ''
A New God'', a personal documentary shot on video about his relationship with a right-wing, neo-nationalist
punk rock band. Even though Tsuchiya is on the left, he ended up marrying the singer for that band,
Karin Amamiya, who has since emerged as a spokesperson for disaffected Japanese youth in the media. ''The New God'' won an award at the 1999
Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival
The Yamagata International Documentary Film Festival is a documentary film festival held biennially in Yamagata, Japan ( ).
It was first held in October 1989, which makes it one of the longest running documentary film festivals in the world and ...
.
His next work, ''
Peep "TV" Show'', was a fictional post-9/11 tale of numbed young people seeking the "real" on a violent, voyeuristic internet site. Eight years passed before he made his next film, ''
GFP Bunny'', which won the award for best film in the Japanese Eyes section at the 2012
Tokyo International Film Festival
The is a film festival established in 1985. The event was held biennially from 1985 to 1991 and annually thereafter. Along with the Shanghai International Film Festival, it is one of Asia's competitive film festivals, and is considered to be the ...
.
Tsuchiya is a key organizer in the Japanese left-wing community, founding VideoAct!, an umbrella organization that helps distribute the documentaries and experimental works of many activist organizations.
Filmography
*
What Do You Think About the War Responsibility of Emperor Hirohito? (あなたは天皇の戦争責任についてどう思いますか？〈96.8.15靖国篇〉)(1997)
*
The New God (新しい神様 Atarashii kamisama) (1999)
*
Peep "TV" Show (2003)
*
GFP Bunny (2012)
Notes
External links
VideoAct!– Official site
– Documentary Box (Interviewer: Aaron Gerow)
Yutaka Tsuchiya and Karin Amamiya Interview– Midnight Eye (Interviewers: Jasper Sharp and Michael Arnold)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tsuchiya, Yutaka
1966 births
Japanese documentary film directors
Living people
Japanese film directors