East River Films

03/09/2020

I'm middle of pre-production of my 2nd year short film "The Daughter of Monster Magnet." The movies I watched in the class, always shed inspiration on my life. I'm grateful to find a joy in life surrounded by cinema. I hope that I could return something inspirational and grateful through creation.

The last 20 films I've seen.
February 25, 2020
621, Dead Man, Jim Jarmusch, 1995
622, Ghost in the Shell, Mamoru Oshii, 1995
623, Akira, Katsuhiro Ohtomo, 1988
624, Code Unknown, Michael Haneke, 2000
625, Parasite, Bong Joon-ho, 2019
626, Persona, Ingmar Bergman, 1966
627, Laurence Anyways, Xaviel Dolan, 2012
628, Shame, Ingmar Bergman, 1968
629, Inland Sea, Kazuhiro Soda, 2018
630, Witness, Peter Weir, 1985
631, Ordinary People, Robert Redford, 1980
632, Monos, Alejandro Landes, 2019
633, L’avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960
634, Vivre sa vie, Jean-luc Godard, 1962
635, Chronicle of a Summer, Jean Roch & Edgar Morin, 1960
636, Black Girl, Ousmane Sembène, 1966
637, Borom Surret, Ousmane Sembène, 1963
638, Atlantics, Mati Diop, 2019
639, Woman Under the Influence, John Cassavetes, 1974
640, Victoria, Sebastian Shipper, 2015

07/05/2019

The Twenty Tenets #12
Evolution has directionality.
a. increasing complexity
b. increasing differentiation/integration
c. increasing organization/structuration
d. increasing relative autonomy
e. increasing telos
Addition 2: Every Holon issues an IOU to the Kosmos.
Addition 3: All IOUs are redeemed in Emptiness.
- from Ken Wilber, A Brief History of Everything

06/16/2019

The Audition

I like to present two shorts I've worked at Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema. It's the second-semester assignment of Production Workshop 3 & Directing Workshop classes. PW3 has a specific condition. I choose a script from the cohorts; the budget is under $500; under six minutes length; two shooting days; cinematographer and editor were pre-assigned by the professor. It was a fun and challenging assignment. I want to say thank you to all my cast, staff, and instructors who have contributed their skills and time into this project. Enjoy, and happy Father's day. 🦑

#feirsteingraduateschoolofcinema
#shortfilm
#zombievstruckervsotakusenpai

https://vimeo.com/332119720

Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema 2019, HD, 5min 50sec, HD, in English Cast: Randy: Lance Mitchell Baker Justin: Christine Campbell Senpai: Jun Suenaga Ensemble:…

06/02/2019

The last 20 films I've seen.
May 30, 2019

461, The Silence, Ingmar Bergman, 1963
462, Advise & Consent, Otto Preminger, 1962
463, L'Avventura, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1960
464, La Notte, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1961
465, The Manchurian Candidate, John Frankenheimer, 1962
466, Raging Bull, Martin Scorsese, 1980
467, Goodfellas, Martin Scorsese, 1990
468, Werckmeister Harmonies, Béla Tarr, 2000
469, Goodbye, Dragon Inn, Tsai Ming-liang, 2003
470, The Taste of Cherry, Abbas Kiarostami, 1997
471, Stranger Than Paradise, Jim Jarmusch, 1984
472, KINO84: Jim Jarmusch, Martina Müller, 1984
473, A Raisin in the Sun, Daniel Petrie, 1961
474, Double Suicide, Masahiro Shinoda, 1969
475, Roma, Alfonso Cuarón, 2018
476, Au Hasard Balthazar, Robert Bresson, 1966
477, Red Desert, Michelangelo Antonioni, 1964
478, People of the Po Valley (1947) & Nettezza Urbana - Department of Sanitation (1948), two early shorts by Michelangelo Antonioni
479, East of Eden, Elia Kazan, 1955
480, Taipei Story, Edward Yang, 1985

PHOTOS TAIPEI STORY

05/27/2019

My graduate study of the first year is closing at Feirstein Graduate School of Cinema at Brooklyn College. I'll keep you posted two shorts I made.

05/27/2019

East River Films's cover photo

03/27/2019

East River Films's cover photo

01/14/2019

Year of Supernova

01/05/2019

East River Films's cover photo

01/03/2019

The Good, and the True, and the Beautiful

12/15/2018

Kōan: The Shape of A Forest

I hope it captures strangely fluid and polymorphous beings in the forest.

https://vimeo.com/304373458

7801G Production Workshop 1 / Professor Jason Kliot MOS assignment: non dialogue narrative HD, 05min 00sec, color, in English December 2018 Mother: Paolina Webber Son:…

09/24/2018

Location scout

09/24/2018

The last 20 films I've seen.
September 14, 2018

Now I am a film student again. It’s a good feeling to study silent films. The photos are from “Intolerance,” “ Battleship Potemkin,” and “Hell or High Water.”

361, Wonder Wheel, Woody Allen, 2017
362, Elle, Paul Verhoeven, 2016
363, Riot in Cell Block 11, Don Siegel, 1954
364, Big Bang Love, Juvenile A, Takashi Miike, 2005
365, La La Land, Demien Chazelle, 2016
366, Kaili Blues, Bi Gan, 2015
367, Mary and the Witch’s Flower, Hiromasa Yonebayashi, 2017
368, Things To Come, Mia Hansen-Love, 2016
369, September 11, 11 directors, 2002
370, La Grande Illusion, Jean Renoir, 1937
371, Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans, F. W. Murnau, 1927
372, The Graduate, Mike Nichols, 1967
373, La Haine, Mathieu Kassovitz, 1995
374, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Robert Wiene, 1920
375, Nosferatu, F. W. Murnau, 1922
376, Intolerance: Love’s Struggle Throughout the Ages, D. W. Griffith, 1916
377, The Birth of a Nation, D. W. Griffith, 1915
378, Battleship Potemkin, Sergei M. Eisenstein, 1925
379, Man with a Movie Camera, Dziga Vertov, 1929
380, Hell or High Water, David Mackenzie, 2016

07/18/2018

The last 20 films I've seen.
July 14, 2018

341, Horrors of Malformed Men, Teruo Ishii, 1969
342, Orgies of Edo, Teruo Ishii, 1969
343, Inferno of Tortures, Teruo Ishii, 1969
345, The Erotomaniac Daimyo, Norifumi Suzuki, 1972
346, School of Holy Beasts, Norifumi Suzuki, 1974
347, Japanese Hell, Teruo Ishii, 1999
348, Jour De Fete, Jacques Tati, 1949
349, On the Beach at Night Alone, Hong Sansoo, 2017
350, Slow West, John Maclean, 2015
351, The Beguiled, Sofia Coppola, 2017
352, Following, Christopher Nolan, 1998
353, Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan, 2017
354, Tattooed Life, Seijun Suzuki, 1965
355, The Other Side of Hope, Aki Kaurismaki, 2017
356, Shadows In Paradise, Aki Kaurismaki, 1986
357, Florida Project, Sean Baker, 2017
358, Toni Erdmann, Maren Ade, 2016
359, Aquarius, Kleber Mendonça Filho, 2016
360, Biutiful, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2010

The photos are from "Toni Erdmann" & "Aquarius."

07/04/2018

福島の子どもたちの心に寄り添うアート体験をシンガポールで - クラウドファンディング Readyfor (レディーフォー)

友人の平川典俊さんが主催するアートセラピー活動、今年で5年目になります。クラウドファンディング残り二十数日、多くの皆様方のご支援をよろしくお願い致します。

https://readyfor.jp/projects/titdf

福島県双葉郡広野町の小学生児童を対象に、専門家によるアートセラピーを用いたトラウマケアをシンガポールに滞在して行う保養形式のプログラムです。 - クラウドファンディング Readyfor

06/30/2018

My favorite New Yorkers :-)

My favorite New Yorkers :-)

06/24/2018

Kosaku Horiwaki worked as an editor on a bonus featurette “Malformed Movies: Masahiro Kakefuda,” which contains an interview with a Toei exploitation master screenwriter.

https://www.facebook.com/698377253/posts/10156170553387254/

UK/US/CAN TITLE: Horrors of Malformed Men (Blu-ray)

A unique oddity of Japanese cult cinema.

Pre-order in the UK via Arrow: https://bit.ly/2M8AaGG
Pre-order in the UK via Amazon: https://amzn.to/2lpMd71
Pre-order in the US via DiabolikDVD: https://bit.ly/2KhF8TY
Release date: 17/18 September

Cult director Teruo Ishii (Shogun’s Joy of Torture, Blind Woman’s Curse) presents a nightmarish, hallucinogenic tale drawn from the fevered imagination of Japan’s celebrated pioneer ofero-guro (“erotic grotesque”) literature, Edogawa Rampo.

Medical student Hirosuke Hitomi slips out of the asylum in which he has been wrongfully confined and stealthily assumes the identity of a recently deceased nobleman with whom he bears an uncanny resemblance. Hirosuke eases his way into the nobleman’s household and his dead double’s marital bed. But as long-repressed memories begin to bubble to the surface, he soon finds himself drawn to a remote isle where he is confronted by a mad scientist and his malformed men, and discovers the key that will unlock some long-suppressed mysteries of his own.

A dark labyrinth of the monstrous and perverse that fuses mystery and horror while incorporating motifs from a myriad of Rampo's tales, Horrors of Malformed Men boasts astonishing carnivalesque art design and haunting performances. Withdrawn from cinemas by its own studio after its original scandalous release nearly fifty years ago, the film is among the very best screen interpretations of the author’s macabre brand of horror-fantasy fiction, and a unique oddity of Japanese cult cinema.

SPECIAL EDITION CONTENTS
• Brand new 2K restoration of the film from the original negative
• High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
• Uncompressed mono 1.0 PCM audio
• Newly translated optional English subtitles
• Two audio commentaries by Japanese cinema experts Tom Mes and Mark Schilling
• Malformed Movies: a new video interview with Toei exploitation movie screenwriter Masahiro Kakefuda
• Malformed Memories: Filmmakers Shinya Tsukamoto (Tetsuo the Iron Man) and Minoru Kawasaki (The Calamari Wrestler) on the career of director Teruo Ishii
• Ishii in Italia: Ishii and Mark Schilling visit the Far East Film Festival
• Image Gallery
• Theatrical trailer
• Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dan Mumford

FIRST PRESSING ONLY: Collector's booklet featuring new writing by Jasper Sharp, Tom Mes and Grady Hendrix

06/17/2018

We drove up to Maine over the last weekend and took a hike to a beautiful island. About 15 years ago, we made a TV documentary about Margaret Wise Brown who wrote "the Little Island (1946)." She is one of the favorite authors of American children's picture books. It was a nice revisit, and again imagining how Margaret spent her days on creating her books in this beautiful setting. She was born in Brooklyn and drove up here every summer. She passed away when she just engaged at her age of 42. I'm sure that in 1946 it was much quieter... Somehow we were talking about another favorite author Marie Hall Ets on this island. I wish I can make a short documentary about her someday. Next we need to drive up to Milwaukee where she spent her days.

05/13/2018

In this list of 20 films, it took me four months. How many movies and books are good enough for one life? I don't know the answer, but without them, I don't know how to venture the world along with my day to day living. From this list, I've found another favorite directors. They are James Gray and Safdie brothers. Their films are marble of the cinema art, which illuminate the world as we often cannot grasp a riddle without the help of a visionary. Happy Mother's Day.

The last 20 films I've seen.
May 12, 2018

321, The Pleasure of Being Robbed, Joshua Safdie, 2008
322, Daddy Longlegs, Ben Safdie, 2009
323, Heaven Knows What, Joshua Safdie, 2015
324, I, Daniel Blake, Ken Loach, 2016
325, Cure, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, 1997
326, Edge of Tomorrow, Doug Liman, 2014
327, Sonatine, Takeshi Kitano, 1993
328, The Great Adventure of Horus, Prince of the Sun, Isao Takahata, 1968
329, Inside Out, Pete Docter, 2015
330, Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve, 2017
331, Lady Bird, Greta Gerwig, 2017
332, Robocop, José Padilha, 2014
333, Sun Scarred, Takashi Miike, 2006
334, The Square, Ruben Östlund, 2017
335, Steve Jobs, Danny Boyle, 2015
336, BPM (Beats Per Minute), Robin Campillo, 2017
337, Faces Places, Agnès Varda & JR, 2017
338, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, Rian Johnson, 2017
339, The Immigrant, James Gray, 2013
340, The Lost City of Z, James Gray, 2016

Three photos are from BPM (Beats Per Minute), The Immigrant, & Heaven Knows What.

01/09/2018

After viewing these cinemas, I again confirm that filmmaking is art which interlaces with sociology, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, linguistics, and evolution on the planet Earth. I admire Asghar Farhadi, Safdie brother's approach to contemporary time as well as Hong Sang-soo and Jodan Peele. And after all, I am fond of being zen about storytelling; I was relieved by Michael Dudok de Wit's "the Red Turtle" after being too critical to be our time.

The last 20 films I've seen.
January 8, 2018

301, The Power of Kangwon Province, Hong Sang-soo, 1998
302, Woman on the Beach, Hong Sang-soo, 2006
303, Tony Takitani, Jun Ichikawa, 2005
304, The Revenant, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, 2015
305, L’Argent, Robert Bresson, 1984
306, Son of Saul, László Nemes, 2015
307, The Death of Louis XIV, Albert Serra, 2017
308, Personal Shopper, Olivier Assayas, 2017
309, Dawn of the Planet of the Apes, Matt Reeves, 2014
310, War of the Planet of the Apes, Matt Reeves, 2017
311, The Salesman, Asghar Farhadi, 2016
312, Fireworks Wednesday, Asghar Farhadi 2006
313, About Elly, Asghar Farhadi, 2009
314, Good Time, Ben & Joshua Safdie, 2017
315, The Past, Asghar Farhadi, 2013
316, Get Out, Jordan Peele, 2017
317, Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ang Lee, 2016
318, A Separation, Asghar Farhadi, 2011
319, The Red Turtle, Michael Dudok de Wit, 2016
320, The Eagle Huntress, Otto Bell, 2016

The image is from Michael Dudok de Wit's "The Red Turtle (2016)"

12/30/2017

Thanks for all the fun, and lovely moments we shared. May we have lots more in the glorious New Year.

12/12/2017

Deep enjambment of filmmaking, worth of watching several times :-)

L’Argent, Robert Bresson, 1984

11/24/2017

Happy Thanksgiving Day to you and your family!

Two giant & super-minimalist filmmakers, I saw in last 20 films.
Kelly Reichardt & Hong Sang-soo are must-see artists.

The last 20 films I've seen.
November 20, 2017

281, Friday, F. Gary Gray, 1995
282, Evolution, Lucile Hadzihalilovic, 2016
283, Certain Women, Kelly Reichardt, 2016
284, Wendy and Lucy, Kelly Reichardt, 2008
285, Fire at Sea, Gianfranco Rosi, 2016
286, Over Your Dead Body, Takashi Miike, 2014
287, Old Joy, Kelly Reichardt, 2006
288, River of Grass, Kelly Reichardt, 1994
289, El Sicario: Room 164, Gianfranco Rosi, 2010
290, Meek’s Cutoff, Kelly Reichardt, 2010
291, David Lynch: The Art Life, Jon Nguyen, 2016
292, Night Moves, Kelly Reichardt, 2013
293, White Material, Claire Denis, 2009
294, A Man Called Ove, Hannes Holm, 2016
295, The Blue Kite, Tian Zhuangzhuang, 1993
296, Springtime in a Small Town, Tian Zhuangzhuang, 2004
297, Right Now, Wrong Then, Hong Sang-soo, 2015
298, The Day He Arrives, Hong Sang-soo, 2011
299, Night and Day, Hong Sang-soo, 2008
300, In Another Country, Hong Sang-soo, 2012

10/12/2017

"Fire at Sea" directed by Gianfranco Rosi (2016)

Script writing exercise: imagine and create a dialogue between the boy and the bird after you watch the movie.

10/01/2017

The last 20 films I've seen.
September 30, 2017

261, Rings, F. Javier Gutiérrez, 2017
262, The Other Side, Roberto Minervini, 2015
263, A Touch of Sin, Zhang Ke Jia, 2013
264, Our Little Sister, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2015
265, Batman V Superman:Dawn of Justice, Zack Snyder, 2016
266, Hacksaw Ridge, Mel Gibson, 2016
267, The Virgin Spring, Ingmar Bergman, 1960
268, Akira, Katsuhiro Otomo, 1988
269, Ghost in the Shell, Mamoru Oshii, 1995
270, Ghost in the Shell, Rupert Sanders, 2017
271, Shin Godzilla, Hideaki Anno, 2016
272, After the Storm, Hirokazu Kore-eda, 2017
273, Tout Va Bien, Jean-Luc Godard, 1972
274, Yella, Christian Petzold, 2007
275, Jerichow, Christian Petzold, 2008
276, Barbara, Christian Petzold, 2012
278, Phoenix, Christian Petzold, 2015
279, The American Soldier, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, 1970
280, Frantz, François Ozon, 2017

The photos are from "Frantz by François Ozon (2017)," "Phoenix by Christian Petzold (2015)," & "Jerichow by Christian Petzold (2008)."

09/17/2017

Rock climbing in Adirondack mountains

09/15/2017

Three months long seasonal job at the US Open Tennis credential department has ended today. It was rejuvenating experience working with young friends and veterans. I had a chance to see in depth background of how to prepare the greatest Grand Slam tennis tournament.

09/06/2017

New Departure:
I drove my young man to his college middle of US Open Tennis tournament. He has begun his own journey, it's a good feeling to witness his own departure as I compared it with my own. Life is strange, but awesome and I'm grateful with where I am.

09/03/2017

Cone, 2017

09/01/2017

Why Barack Obama Is Right to Play It Quiet for Now

Individual voicing matters in time of transformation.

http://www.thedailybeast.com/why-barack-obama-is-right-to-play-it-quiet-for-now

It’s understandable that his partisans want him to throw down. But that will just make it about him. And it isn’t. It way isn’t.

08/28/2017

R.I.P. Tobe Hooper, "The Texas Chain Saw Massacare" (1974)

08/25/2017

Corona Maintenance Facility 2017

08/21/2017

Digital Zoom 2017

08/09/2017

R.I.P. Shogoro Nishimura

08/09/2017

Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Broken Circuits

Another video editing piece by K. Horiwaki (East River Films). Director, Kiyoshi Kurosawa talks about his filmography and his "Pulse (2001)."
https://vimeo.com/224752679

Arrow Films presents Kiyoshi Kurosawa’s “Pulse” (2001) Dual-Format First Blu-Ray (2 disks) in US & UK Kiyoshi Kurosawa: Broken Circuits 43min…