archive FY2023 ARCHIVE

[Application project]
Crossing boundaries with Mockumentary

[Applicant]
Takuro Kotaka

[Subsidy] 500,000 yen

[Overview]
This project involves the production of a new film in collaboration with artists and musicians from Indonesia and Papua, using a mockumentary approach to explore the fictional “negative legacies” left behind by the Japanese military. The potential filming locations are Yogyakarta in Indonesia, where caves once dug by the Japanese military are preserved as tourist spots; West Papua, where traces of wartime violence remain visible; and various locations in Saitama Prefecture, my hometown. The film will be produced collaboratively with local artists, musicians, and filmmakers from each region.
A mockumentary is a type of filmmaking expression that emerged in the 1930s, in which a fictional story is presented through a documentary style. Artists who work in politically unstable regions and conflict zones have developed a range of creative strategies to get away from censorship. As I have often collaborated with such artists since 2021, I have learnt about mockumentary films as measures against censorship and practiced the technique through filmmaking.
For this project, I will collaborate with local artists and musicians from Papuan Voices in Papua and Belum Mati Studio in Yogyakarta to collectively produce a work that examines the negative legacies left by the Japanese military.

[Held / Implemented / Announced]

A group photograph taken with members of the Dani tribe, with whom Kotaka lived communally in Wamena, Papua.

The filmmaking collective “Papuan Voices” provided extensive support throughout the on-site production. In Jayapura, the largest city in Papua, the artist visited a courthouse with Papuan filmmakers and was able to film an ongoing court proceeding. In the rainforest region of Wamena, the artist visited the Dani village, where residents maintain traditional ways of living, and undertook a residency while living communally with members of the Dani tribe. In Biak Island, one of the fiercest battle sites of the Pacific War, traces of the war remain today, and the belongings and remains of Japanese soldiers are still buried in the ground. The artist conducted an interview with a 108-year-old woman and an 88-year-old man who had personally experienced the war. The artist also accompanied young people who collect the remains of Japanese soldiers as their job and filmed their activities.

Filming an interview in Biak Island

The completed film was presented as part of the screening tour program “Papuan Voices Presents Takuro Kotaka Films: Crossing Boundaries with Mockumentary,” which took place in three cities in Papua: Jayapura, Wamena, and Biak. At each screening, local filmmakers were invited as guest speakers for talk sessions and discussions. This tour attracted approximately 300 people in total. | October 21, October 29, and November 7, 2023

In Japan, three related events were organized. During the artist’s stay in Papua, an online live talk was broadcast from Jayapura to Japan in the “Live Broadcast from the Edge of Asia,” one of the programs of NO LIMIT TOKYO 2023. After returning to Japan, two talk sessions were organized, introducing documentary films produced by Papuan filmmakers and journalists, among other programs.

◯ “Live Broadcast from the Edge of Asia! — Does an Unknown Underground Cultural Sphere Still Exist!?”

Speakers: Haruka Iharada, Takuro Kotaka Moderators: Hajime Matsumoto & Kenichiro Egami | September 30

<Venue> Nantoka Bar (Tokyo) *live-streamed on YouTube

◯ Takuro Kotaka Talk Event “Papua Now: Underground Culture on the Island of New Guinea” Special Guest: Kaho Ikeda | December 3

<Venue> Pundit

◯ Takuro Kotaka Talk Event “Dark Papua: What Is Happening on the Island of New Guinea?”

Special Guest: Kenichiro Egami | December 16

<Venue> Irregular Rhythm Asylum (Tokyo)

Talk session at a screening in Papua