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An Up-and-coming Film Director Speaks at Length

Mr. Junsuke Minamide

Commenting on the new film, Mr. Minamide spoke like a true child of Hokkaido, saying, "When people come to Sapporo, I would like them to make sure they fill up on Teshikaga's soy sauce ramen, Cancun's soup curry, and the Ram's "Genghis Khan" barbecue before they go back home."

"I'll call you tomorrow" is a line from the last scene of director Luc Besson's movie "Subway" that the main character says to his lover as he teeters on the brink of death. As an elementary student, Mr. Minamide got a big kick out of this line. He remembers thinking, "What a cool guy!" Looking back on those times, he said, "'Subway' was a formative experience for me." Influenced by his film-loving father, Mr. Minamide spent his younger days enjoying a life of film appreciation. It was during his second year as a middle school student that he came to an important decision: "I decided I wanted to walk the path of film."

Mr. Minamide became infatuated by film. "It was to the point where I'd rather watch movies than hang out with friends. Maybe that's why my teachers always wrote 'doesn't work well with others' on the back of my report card," he said, sporting a wry smile as he recalled his childhood. His first experience behind the camera took place during his freshman year of high school. "Our class' submission to the school's culture festival was a film. I think the theme was something like 'thinking of water as a natural resource.'" Because of this experience, Mr. Minamide's perspective on film began to change. "So long as you turn the camera on, you can put anything onto film. Shooting something that you actually want to shoot, however, is no simple task. I came to believe that without a firm grounding in a variety of things like music, literature, and the arts, it was impossible to express whatever it was that you wanted to let out." That's actually the reason that Mr. Minamide decided to enroll in Waseda University: he wanted a school that would allow him to pursue his conviction that film was in essence a composite art form.

When Mr. Minamide actually entered college, his hopes and anticipations were so high that he met with some disappointment. However, once he changed his viewpoint a little, his feelings also underwent a transformation. Once he realized that communication was an essential element in the transmission of any art form, including film, his perceptions and way of looking at his everyday student life changed as well. "I came to understand that I actually could work rather well with others," he said, smiling.

In "Dokugasu" (Poisonous Gas), everything he wanted to express took solid shape. "I filmed the movie with the single conviction of communicating the things that were smoldering inside my heart and turning them into a real-life medium. But through the filming process, my gaze began to shift towards the very society that surrounded me."

It was through this new sense of purpose ? the desire to put the problems residing within our society into the medium of film ? that he shot his current work, "Cheap Escape In Nowhere." "I shot the film on location in an area considered to be the edge of nowhere, even in Hokkaido. If the audience feels this sensation of 'nowhere,' then I will be happy," said Mr. Minamide with a grin.

http://film.artful.jp/cheapescape/

(Offered by WASEDA WEEKLY)

Mr. Junsuke Minamide

Mr. Junsuke Minamide was born in Hokkaido in 1983. He graduated from Hakodate La Salle Senior High School. In 2009, he graduated from the School of Letters, Arts and Sciences II (Evening Division). Mr. Minamide began working as a film director in 2006. In 2007 his third work, "Dokugasu" (Poisonous Gas), was awarded the Grand Prize at the first Hokkaido Independent Film Festival. His newest work, "Cheap Escape In Nowhere," is currently showing. Commenting on the new film, Mr. Minamide spoke like a true child of Hokkaido, saying, "When people come to Sapporo, I would like them to make sure they fill up on Teshikaga's soy sauce ramen, Cancun's soup curry, and the Ram's "Genghis Khan" barbecue before they go back home."