"Special Screening of Director Kosai Sekine" Film and video are communication tools for deep dialogue with people [Director's Interview Vol.245]

The power of images

Q: Recently, you have been active in the field of social activities, such as serving as the founder of ``VOICE PROJECT - Vote is Your Voice'' and producing videos for it. Please tell us why you decided to start direct social activities using images.

Sekine: When I was studying film in America a long time ago, I learned that film is a very scary medium. There is a famous psychological experiment using video, in which there is a video of a man looking at something, and depending on the video shown before and after, the meaning of his facial expressions becomes different. For example, when you see a video of a baby in a cradle and then look at the man's face, he looks happy. On the other hand, when you look at the man's face after the video of the man lying dead, it looks like he has a sad face. This means that humans have the ability to read fiction and context, and images are a perfect fit for that. Images have the power to influence emotions and psychological states, and because of this, they have been used as propaganda and have developed alongside wars. Although I believe that images must be handled with care, it is also true that I wish I could use them properly.

After I started working in film, I forgot about that, but when 3.11 happened and the world turned upside down, I remembered it again. Until then, I had always focused on how to create interesting images for entertainment, and I had the same mindset even if it was from an artistic perspective. However, after the earthquake, we were made to realize that this alone was not enough, and we were made to realize once again that the images we were working with were extremely dangerous. On the other hand, it also gave us an opportunity to start thinking about what we could do using video. This led to an activity called " NOddIN." ``NOddIN'' is a project that was started by a film director named Hiroki Tange, who brought together his friends and started with a bento box in order to properly face their own society. As time passed, my activities themselves changed, but I decided to start the ``VOICE PROJECT'' because of this opportunity.

"VOICE PROJECT"

``VOICE PROJECT'' was started as a way for everyone to simply share what they are thinking, rather than just broadcasting their own ideas. I wish we could listen to each other instead of imposing our own opinions on each other. Bringing dialogue to society. I thought that ``voting'' was directly connected to this.

Q: I think the ``VOICE PROJECT'' is something that has never existed before, and I feel that the fact that it has never existed before is itself a symbol of Japan. I was starting something new under such circumstances, so I was shocked in a good way.

Sekine: I have nothing but gratitude and respect for the people who appeared in that video and spoke publicly. It is built on the courage of those people and their hearts that care for others. What's strange is why it's so hard to say, even though I'm just saying, ``You should go vote,'' and not saying, ``Who should you vote for?'' I think it's healthier to just talk about it normally.

Communication tools to communicate with people