TRIBUTE TO SATOSHI KON

Satoshi Kon (今 敏) a Japanese animation filmmaker and comic-book artist whose visual compositions and emotionally resonant stories won him devoted fans in animation circles and beyond, was born in Hokkaido, Japan, on October 12th 1963 and died  in Tokyo on August 24th 2010.

He started to study painting at the Musashino Art University, but soon became interested in illustration and began to draw manga for Young magazine. There he met Katsuhiro Ōtomo, creator of the famous manga Akira. Satoshi San worked as an animator on Hiroyuki Kitakubo’s 1991 feature, “Rojin Z” (written by Katsuhiro Ōtomo), and contributed to Ōtomo’s 1995 science-fiction anthology animation film, “Memories.” In 1997 he directed his first animation feature, “Perfect Blue.” “Millennium Actress” (2002), “Tokyo Godfathers” (2004) and “Paprika” (2006) followed, in addition to “Paranoia Agent”, a television series. In 2008 he signed the short “Ohayō” included in the NHK Television project “Ani –Kuri 15”. At his death he was working on “The Dream Machine,” “a road movie for robots,” and left directorial tapes to Studio Madhouse to finish it.

While his film work incorporated many familiar anime elements (pixie-like female characters, sensitive robots, futuristic cityscapes and an anxious fascination with the creative and destructive power of technology), it was also informed by literary (Philip K. Dick, Kenzaburo Ōe), artistic (Yasukata Tsutsui) and cinematic (Yasujirō Ozu, Akira Kurosawa, John Ford) traditions far beyond contemporary Japanese popular culture.

With the precious support of the Japan Foundation.

Paprika

A group of brilliant scientists have developed a form of psychotherapy with the invention of a machine which enables a person to enter another's dreams. When the device is stolen by a "dream terrorist”, it is up Atsuko Chiba, a scientist under the code name Paprika, to track down the apparatus and save the world from madness.

 

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Perfect Blue

Mima was a pop idol until fashion dictated otherwise. In order to salvage her career, she is advised to pursue acting. A soap opera role is offered, a character with troubled identity. She begins to feel reality slip and discovers her identical twin that hasn’t given up singing. Internet sites appear describing every intimate detail of her life, her friends and associates are threatened as Mima descends into a dangerous world of paranoid delusion. She must unravel fact from illusion in order to stay alive.

 

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Tokyo Godfathers

Three homeless people, a former professional bicycle racer, a transvestite and a run-away young girl - live together in Tokyo. On Christmas Eve, the three discover a baby girl at a garbage dump. They head for the brighter parts of the city, to look for the baby's parents. The baby will finally lead these three protagonists to their destiny.

 

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