"Village" Director Michito Fujii's origin of the movie and sense of crisis for the future [Director's Interview Vol.307]

How to “rescue” directors in their 20s or younger

Q: When I talked with Mr. Fujii about ` `Everything Everywhere All at Once' ' (22), he said, ``If the movie was distributed by a major domestic distributor, the stone scene would probably be dropped.'' If you think about it that way, I think there were many expressions in ``Village'' that could only have been done by Star Sands.

Fujii: I think that's exactly right. In fact, I feel like anything other than Star Sands won't work at the proposal stage in the first place. I think people are scoffing and saying, "'Village' starring Yokohama Ryusei? There's no way it'll pass." There's a place I went to because it was Mr. Kawamura.

Q: However, I personally think that there should be more works like ``Village'' in the future.

Fujii: I agree. Right now, I just feel a sense of crisis. I think Mr. Kawamura died when he should have died the most. If he had stayed another 10 years, the movie industry would definitely have changed.

“Village” ©️2023 “Village” Production Committee

Of course, Kawamura-san wasn't everything, but the films he made had a future. Great writers are coming out all the time. Like Tetsuya Mariko's `` From Miyamoto to You '' (19) and Keisuke Yoshida (`` My Love Irene '' (18) and `` Intolerance '' (21))... However, on the other hand, I also think that only people in their 30s and 40s could be saved. I wanted Mr. Kawamura to meet a director in his 20s, and I think it will be difficult to find a rare producer who can make such a project work. Of course, I have high hopes for the heir, Yoshiyoshi Yukiji (producer of ``Village'').

A producer that I feel the same way about is Kazutaka Sakamoto of Netflix (Vice President of Content Vice at Netflix). He is a pioneer and a changer, and I wish there were more people like him in the film industry.

Q: It's Mr. Sakamoto!

Fujii: Mr. Sakamoto is truly The Game changer, someone who understands our work and is like a comrade in arms. Mr. Kawamura is a one-man runaway locomotive, and Mr. Sakamoto is the exact opposite type, listening to everyone's opinions and saying, ``I think it would be interesting to do this now,'' but they are both gamblers. It was really interesting to see the explosive power when these two collaborated, and I'm prepared to never meet an old man like Mr. Kawamura again. I guess I have no choice but to become it.

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