Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International Context

This paper explores the last three documentaries made by Japanese filmmaker Sato Makoto before his early death in 2007. Self and Others (2000), Memories of Agano (2004), and Out of Place: Memories of Edward Said (2005). They are not only a prime example of his uniqueness in the recent history of Jap...

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Main Author: Matteo Boscarol
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: University of Bologna 2020-12-01
Series:Cinergie
Subjects:
Online Access:https://cinergie.unibo.it/article/view/10027
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author Matteo Boscarol
author_facet Matteo Boscarol
author_sort Matteo Boscarol
collection DOAJ
description This paper explores the last three documentaries made by Japanese filmmaker Sato Makoto before his early death in 2007. Self and Others (2000), Memories of Agano (2004), and Out of Place: Memories of Edward Said (2005). They are not only a prime example of his uniqueness in the recent history of Japanese cinema, but also a triptych that, albeit in retrospect, could put Sato on the international documentary map and give him the rightful place in the history of cinema. This is at least one of the goals of this essay. These works also reflect and partially crystallize some of the main developments undertaken by Japanese documentary in the last fifty years. In addition, I analyze how Sato was also a very “international” documentarian: Curious and aware of what was going on in the documentary scene around the world and always open to exploring and charting new territories, as he was also a theorist who authored some very important volumes on nonfiction cinema, his last movies have an essayistic and experimental quality that bears a close affinity to the works of Chris Marker and Trinh T. Minh-ha.
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spelling doaj.art-0261bd073d9846b881e09c2cfbc6fb482022-12-21T20:24:59ZengUniversity of BolognaCinergie2280-94812020-12-011813114510.6092/issn.2280-9481/100278504Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International ContextMatteo Boscarol0Independent researcherThis paper explores the last three documentaries made by Japanese filmmaker Sato Makoto before his early death in 2007. Self and Others (2000), Memories of Agano (2004), and Out of Place: Memories of Edward Said (2005). They are not only a prime example of his uniqueness in the recent history of Japanese cinema, but also a triptych that, albeit in retrospect, could put Sato on the international documentary map and give him the rightful place in the history of cinema. This is at least one of the goals of this essay. These works also reflect and partially crystallize some of the main developments undertaken by Japanese documentary in the last fifty years. In addition, I analyze how Sato was also a very “international” documentarian: Curious and aware of what was going on in the documentary scene around the world and always open to exploring and charting new territories, as he was also a theorist who authored some very important volumes on nonfiction cinema, his last movies have an essayistic and experimental quality that bears a close affinity to the works of Chris Marker and Trinh T. Minh-ha.https://cinergie.unibo.it/article/view/10027japan documentaryabsenceexperimental documentarysato makotoogawa pro
spellingShingle Matteo Boscarol
Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International Context
Cinergie
japan documentary
absence
experimental documentary
sato makoto
ogawa pro
title Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International Context
title_full Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International Context
title_fullStr Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International Context
title_full_unstemmed Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International Context
title_short Towards a Cinema of Absence: Sato Makoto in the Japanese and International Context
title_sort towards a cinema of absence sato makoto in the japanese and international context
topic japan documentary
absence
experimental documentary
sato makoto
ogawa pro
url https://cinergie.unibo.it/article/view/10027
work_keys_str_mv AT matteoboscarol towardsacinemaofabsencesatomakotointhejapaneseandinternationalcontext