F/T News

Ishinha's "Landscape - Tokyo, Ikebukuro" broadcast online

2012-05-11T06:37:40Z

One of our most popular productions from F/T11, "Landscape - Tokyo, Ikebukuro", performed by veteran Osaka theatre company Ishinha on top of the Seibu department store in Ikebukuro, has been filmed and will be available for viewing online this month.
]]> It will be broadcast on Theater TV between May 11 and May 29:

May 11 (Fri) 20:00
May 12 (Sat) 01:30
May 13 (Sun) 19:00
May 17 (Thu) 01:00 / 10:30 / 23:00
May 29 (Sun) 21:30
May 23 (Wed) 02:20 / 15:00 / 20:00
May 27 (Sun) 20:30
May 29 (Tue) 01:00 / 23:00

Please see the Theater TV website for schedule details and how to join the service (Japanese only).

You can also view a digest version of Ishinha's "Landscape - Okayama, Inujima":
http://www.theatertv.co.jp/movie/play.php?movieid=10704

F/T11 Documents on sale from May 10!

2012-05-03T02:24:39Z

F/T11 Documents, the special magazine booklet reporting on last year's Festival/Tokyo, will go on sale from May 10.

]]> Every year we publish a post-festival report, reflecting on the events and performances from the previous autumn. This year's Documents is a more compact size, and includes full colour photographs and numerous articles on the issues raised by post-3.11 F/T11.

It features essays and contributions from a range of international critics and writers, as well as full details of the F/T11 program and line-up.

Much of the texts in the book are in Japanese, though selected parts are bilingual (English and Japanese). It will be available from bookstores in Tokyo and online at Amazon.co.jp, priced ¥1,500.

F/T12 Emerging Artists Program: Final Participants Announced!

2012-04-03T22:50:28Z

Many thanks to all the companies and artists who applied to participate in the F/T12 Emerging Artists Program.

Following an internal process of assessment, we have decided on the program as below. These companies and artists will present productions of their work during the Program (November 5-25, 2012) at venues in Tokyo.

]]> Final Selected 13 Companies

Companies (creative base) (in order of Japanese syllabary):
Against Again Troupe (Taiwan)
Co-Lab Project Group (Korea)
Teater Studio Indonesia (Indonesia)
The end of company JIENSHA (Tokyo, Japan)
The New Youth Group (China)*1
Syudan:hokoukunren (Yamaguchi, Japan)
Jyuuryoku/Note (Tokyo, Japan)
daniel kok diskodanny (Singapore)*2
WCdance (Taiwan)
Banana Gakuen Theater Company (Tokyo, Japan)
Hippie-b (Tokyo, Japan)
Peachum Company (Tokyo, Japan)
Takuya Murakawa (Kyoto, Japan)

*1: Previously announced as "Toya Theatre"
*2: Previously announced as "Daniel Kok"

The final 13 companies feature 7 from Japan, 2 from Taiwan, 1 from South Korea, 1 from Indonesia, 1 from Singapore and 1 from China.

F/T12 Emerging Artists Program Selection
Total applications: 180
Japan: 94
Rest of Asia: 86

Japanese applications by area:
Hokkaido: 1; Aomori Prefecture: 1; Chiba Prefecture: 3; Tokyo: 60; Kanagawa Prefecture: 10; Saitama Prefecture: 3; Gunma Prefecture: 1; Aichi Prefecture: 1; Osaka Prefecture: 3; Kyoto Prefecture: 7; Yamaguchi Prefecture: 2; Ehime Prefecture: 1; Fukuoka Prefecture: 1 (Total: 94)

Asian (excluding Japan) applications by area:
India: 2; Indonesia: 1; South Korea: 23; Singapore: 2; Thailand: 2; Taiwan: 22; China: 18; Nepal: 3; Philippines: 3; Other: 10

Selection Process
From this year the selection process for applicants from both Japan and the rest of Japan was identical, and was conducted in two stages. The first round of selections took into account the companies' publicity videos of 10 minutes or less and the application texts, from which 27 companies were chosen (16 from Japan, 3 from Taiwan, 2 from South Korea, 2 from China, 2 from Singapore, 1 from Thailand, 1 from Indonesia), and the videos and company information for each selected candidate was published then on the F/T website.

To view the videos of the work of the first round candidates, please visit:
http://festival-tokyo.jp/en/12/koubo_result_1st/

For the second round of selections, assessment of candidates was made through interviews with the artists and viewing video footage of previous performances. Internal evaluation and final selection was then decided based on the level of individual approach to issues and themes, on the level of self-awareness of methodology to integrate these issues into creative expression, and on the artists' career and activities so far (including production performance and external reputation), as well as their future vision.

Shortlist Announced for F/T12 Emerging Artists Program

2012-02-17T10:23:54Z

The F/T Emerging Artists Program is the premiere platform for supporting the work of up-and-coming Asian theatre artists, and takes place as a satellite festival to the main Festival/Tokyo program in autumn 2012.

]]>
This year's program will, like 2011's, feature artists from the whole of Asia. Applications closed on January 22, 2012, and we received 94 Japanese entries and 86 from overseas (a total of 180).

27 companies have been selected to go forward to the next stage, after a process of judging and evaluation of the artists' performance video footage, publicity material and other application materials. Of these 16 are from Japan, 3 from Taiwan, 2 from Korea, 2 from China, 2 from Singapore, 1 from Thailand and 1 from Indonesia.

To view the shortlist for the F/T 12 Emerging Artists Program, please see the special F/T Emerging Artists Program website. Further information on the shortlisted groups, including profiles and artist statements, will be available bilingually later in February.

The final selection of the program will be made from these candidates. Please check back later this year to find out who is chosen!

F/T12 Emerging Artists Program: 180 Entries Received!

2012-01-27T08:52:28Z

Entries closed for F/T/12 Emerging Artists Program on January 22. We received 94 Japanese entries and 86 from mainland Asia, for a total of 180 entries!

]]>
In 2011 we also expanded the Program out into the rest of Asia and it continues to draw entries widely. As with last year we received many entries from Korea, China and Singapore, but there were also many from Taiwan and other Asian countries. F/T is now fast becoming the premier Asian performing arts platform for emerging artists and we hope to continue our work promoting and enhancing the region's up-and-coming talent in 2012's Festival.

Now begins the task of judging the theatre artists and companies from around the continent. In mid-February we will be announcing the first round of selections for the Emerging Artists Program. Please check this blog or our official Twitter account for updates!

F/T12 Emerging Artists Program: Entry Applications Closing Soon!

2012-01-11T23:28:05Z

You only have until January 22nd (Sunday) to send in your application for the F/T12 Emerging Artists Program!

]]> Online application form

The Emerging Artists Program is the premiere platform for young up-and-coming Asian theatre artists to present their work on the global stage.

Plenty of applications have been pouring into the F/T office here in Tokyo but there's now only a little more than a week to go until the deadline.

F/T12 Emerging Artists Program entries

You can apply using this online form.

For F/T11 the Festival has aimed to create a platform for the Asian arts, expanding its Emerging Artists Program out into the Asian mainland. From around 150 applications (70 domestic, 80 international), a Program was selected featuring 7 Japanese groups, 1 Chinese, 2 Korean and 1 from Singapore. F/T11 also saw the establishment of the new F/T Award to honour the best production among the Emerging Artists, and that company is then invited to present at the following year's Festival.

Deadline: January 22 (Sunday), 2012, 24:00 (Midnight)
Please be aware that no applications can be accepted after this deadline.

Inquiries: koubo (at) anj.or.jp

Links

Online application form

Download Program Guidline (English)

Download Q&A (English)

F/T Award Winner: Pijin Neji, "the acting motivation"

2011-11-09T05:29:25Z

Dancer and choreographer Pijin Neji has won the inaugural F/T Award, selected from the F/T11 Emerging Artists Program, for his documentary performance, "the acting motivation".]]> F/T11 Emerging Artists Program.

The votes were assigned as following:
Pijin Neji "the acting motivation" 5 votes
Takuya Murakawa "Zeitgeber" 4 votes
Pure BANANA girls glass "BANAGAKU★☆Super Spunky Sports Autumn Grand Tournament!!!!!" 3 votes
Geumhyung Jeong "Oil Pressure Vibrator" 3 votes
Ka Fai Choy "Notion: Dance Fiction" 2 votes
Peachum Company "Resurrection" 1 vote
LANDSTAGING Theatre Company "River! River! River!" 1 vote

Pijin Neji is a choreographer with Butoh roots and who produces experimental dance works. His piece "syzygy" received the Yokohama Dance Collection EX2011 Jury Award. "The acting motivation" is a self-documentary based on Neji's own experience with part-time work. It was staged as a fringe project at last year's Kyoto International Performing Arts Festival and for F/T11's Emerging Artists Program he reformed it with a new cast. Utilizing the real life careers and so-called Freeter lifestyle of actors and artists, it considers the motivation for theatre artists to continue pursuing their dreams in the face of economic challenges.

The judges praised the performance for the way it explored the identity of the performers themselves and the relationship between the arts and unorthodox employment.

The runner-up, Takuya Murakawa's "Zeitgeber", meanwhile, involved audience members in the role of a disabled person during the performance. The judges praised the piece for, rather than focusing on narrative and character, meticulously exploring issues of caring for the impaired in today's society.

F/T Theatrotheque Program 2: Foreigners Out! Schlingensief's Container

2011-10-26T08:45:21Z

"The best film ever about me." (Christoph Schlingensief)

A container house installed right in front of the Vienna Opera House. On the roof of the container a huge banner: "Foreigners Out!" Inside: 12 asylum-seekers are living in the container, observed by the passers-by through window-slots offering an insight into the daily-life of the foreigners. Each day of the week-long installation one of the foreigners is selected by the audience for immediate deportation to his or her home country. The last asylum-seeker remaining in the container wins the top prize: a permit of residence in Austria.

]]>

This installation by polarizing German film and theatre artist Christoph Schlingensief (1960-
2010) stirred up the public in Austria, as well as the media worldwide. As long as the installation was happening, more and more people continued to gather in front of Schlingensief's container - forming a mass of hundreds and thousands of Viennese citizens. War veterans made crude speeches, African immigrants claimed their rights to stay in Austria, and an elderly lady even physically attacked Schlingensief. Vienna seemed to catch alight.

With this provoking work Schlingensief addressed the Austrian public, who had just seen a heavy swing to the right as the ultra-right party FPÖ became a part of the government. Schlingensief's installation made the mental and political climate in Austria painfully visible.

With "Foreigners Out!" Schlingensief set a remarkable example for what "political theatre" can mean in the twenty-first century. Without any preset message and without trying at all to resolve its contradictions, he managed to create situations where what was hidden inside people was brought to the surface

At the screening there will be commentary from Professor Hans-Thies Lehmann, author of "Postdramatic Theatre" and one of the foremost theatre theorists in the German-speaking world.

F/T Theatrotheque Program 2: Foreigners Out! Schlingensief's Container
A documentary film by Paul Poet

Germany / 2002 / Colour / 90 minutes / German, with Japanese subtitles

Date: Nov 1 (Tue), 2011 19:00
Venue: Goethe-Institut Tokyo
Commentary: Hans-Thies Lehmann

Tickets: ¥500
Ticket reservation:
http://festival-tokyo.jp/en/ticket

9/21, 9/22 "Cinecitta Aperta, Ruhr Trilogy Part 2"

2011-09-20T11:40:40Z

Due to a typhoon, the performances of "Cinecittà Aperta, Ruhr Trilogy Part 2" on September 21 (Wed), at 19:30, and September 22 (Thu) at 19:30, will both be cancelled. We understand the great disappointment this will cause but please understand that the safety of our audiences, performers and backstage crew is naturally our first priority.]]>
Substitute Performance Dates
September 23 (Fri) 21:30
September 24 (Sat) 21:30
(Performances expected to end at 23:00)

Depending on availability, customers may also change their tickets to regular tickets for another performance of "Cinecittà Aperta" (September 23 [Fri] 18:00, September 25 [Sun] 18:00).

Please make reservations by email to the F/T Ticket Center from September 21 (Wed), 12:00.

Email: ticket@anj.or.jp
Please include your name and the number of tickets.

Please be sure still to bring your original ticket for the cancelled performance to the new substitute performance after making your reservation.

Refunds
Customers who purchased tickets via the F/T website's PayPal system will be automatically refunded. Those who purchased tickets via Ticket Pia or e-plus should please check here (Japanese only).

9/17 "From Kenji Miyazawa / Yumenoshima"

2011-09-16T05:35:57Z

Today's (September 16) performance of "From Kenji Miyazawa / Yumenoshima" will go ahead as planned.

*Update: September 17's performance will also go ahead as planned!

]]> Since this is an outdoor performance, we ask visitors to be prepared in advance for the special conditions that this kind of performance creates, about which more can be read on the F/T News blog
(http://www.festival-tokyo.jp/en/news/2011/08/notes-on-outdoor-performances.html).

Day tickets will be sold at the venue 1 hour before the start of the performance.

Access: Shin-Kiba Station
http://www.festival-tokyo.jp/en/program/Yumenoshima/

F/T12 Emerging Artists Program: Open Call for Entries!

2011-09-08T04:46:54Z

F/T12 Emerging Artists Program Open: Call for Entries / 公开征集项目 / 모집요강

]]> Apply online

For F/T11 the Festival has aimed to create a platform for the Asian arts, expanding its Emerging Artists Program out into the Asian mainland. From around 150 applications (70 domestic, 80 international), a Program was selected featuring 7 Japanese groups, 1 Chinese, 2 Korean and 1 from Singapore. F/T11 also saw the establishment of the new F/T Award to honour the best production among the Emerging Artists, and that company is then invited to present at the following year's Festival.

The Program will be returning in 2012 as part of the next Festival/Tokyo. It is aimed at artists and theatre groups under the age of 40 and who base their activities in Asia. Artists are selected through online applications and submission of DVD footage of their performances.

Submissions are now open for the F/T12 Emerging Artists Program!

Download Program Guidline (English)

Download Q&A (English)

After reading over the guidelines, please apply using the online entry form.

从2011年秋天举行的F/T11起,以构建亚洲舞台艺术的创作与普及的平台为目的，将"F/T公开征集项目"的对象范围扩大到整个亚洲地区。今年收到国内外大约150部征集作品（国内：约70部/国外：约80部）,最终我们挑选了7部日本国内的作品、1部中国大陆、2部韩国与1部新加坡的作品。并且为此次项目上演的作品设立了"F/T奖"。获奖者在明年之后可以作为F/T主办作品参加演出。公开征集的艺术家和创作人必须是40岁以下并以亚洲为创作中心的个人和团体。我们参考网上报名资料和邮送的DVD资料进行选拔。
期待与才华横溢的你相识！敬请参与!

征集内容下载
　
 Q&A 下载

2011년 가을에 개최되는 F/T11부터는, 아시아를 기점으로 하는 작품의 창조와 보급의 역할을 수행하는 플랫폼을 지향하여, [F/T공모프로그램]의 대상지역을 아시아로 확대하였습니다. 이 공모에는 국내외로부터 약 150(국내 약70, 해외 약80)건의 응모가 있었고, 최종적으로 일본 국내7, 한국 2, 중국 1, 싱가폴 1 단체/아티스트가 선정되었습니다. 또한 공모프로그램에서 상연된 작품을 대상으로 [F/T어워드]를 수여하여, 수상자는 이듬해 이후 F/T의 주최작품으로 초청됩니다.공모 프로그램의 대상 아티스트, 크리에이터는 만40세 이하의 아시아 지역을 거점으로 하는 개인 및 단체입니다. 웹 엔트리와 우편발송에 의한 DVD심사를 통해, 상연 작품을 선정합니다.재능 있는 여러분과의 만남을 기대하고 있습니다.
적극적인 응모를 기다리겠습니다!

모집요강 다운로드　

Q&A 다운로드

English Surtitles & Performances for Foreign Audiences

2011-09-06T08:23:51Z

So, you're interested in catching one of the local or visiting productions at Festival/Tokyo 2011 but are worried about language barriers? Sure enough, there's nothing more frustrating than wanting to understand and appreciate a two-hour theatre performance but to be prevented just by a lack of knowledge of the language!

Rest assured, no matter your nationality or linguistic levels, there is still plenty of choice for everyone in the F/T11 Program!]]> "Hemispherical Red and Black" (OKAZAKI ARTS THEATRE), "Oil Pressure Vibrator" (Geumhyung Jeong), "The Unending Warmth of a Bedwetting Bog" (Bird Park), "the acting motivation" (Pijin Neji) and "BANANAGAKU★☆Super Spunky Sports Autumn Grand Tournament!!!!!". "Resurrection" by Peachum Company will also feature English commentary at some performances.

Ka Fai Choy's meditation on digital media and dance, "Notion: Dance Fiction", will be completely in English.

There are also a number of productions and performances that are mostly visual and/or without dialogue. These include the outdoor performances Romeo Castellucci's "The Phenomenon Called I" and Norimizu Ameya's "ground", and Ishinha's "Landscape - Tokyo, Ikebukuro".

Needless to say, the dance piece "still life" by F/T regular Tsuyoshi Shirai will be universally understood, as will the contribution to the Emerging Artists Program from Modern Table. Jerome Bel's "The Show Must Go On" originated in France but is in fact made of famous (English language) pop songs.

French- and German-speakers will also be able to enjoy some of the satellite programs in the Theatrotheque, not to mention René Pollesch's epic "Cinecittà Aperta".

Performance literature, pamphlets, announcements and other important information are all available bilingually (English and Japanese), and there will be staff at the box office and reception who can speak English and answer your questions. If you're worried about being unable to understand or enjoy a performance due to language problems, please feel free to ask our team for advice!

Stage designer Bert Neumann will be talk guest for the F/T Theatrotheque

2011-09-02T04:22:14Z

Bert Neumann, one of the most influential stage designers of the German-language theatre scene, has, with his unique style looking deeply behind the facade of today's urban spaces, given many outstanding performances of the last 20 years an unforgettable "face". Applying images of suburbs, urban blight and cheap glamour, he sharp-sightedly questions the ideas of happiness and salvation that capitalism conveys.

]]> Prior to the Tokyo performances of "Cinecitta Aperta - Ruhr Trilogy, Part 2" (Text/Direction: René Pollesch) for which he created a filmset and trailer park at a wasteland, Neumann will show pictures of some of his major works and introduce his ideas on stage design.

In the F/T Theatrotheque we will screen one of the recent masterworks of René Pollesch, a playwright and director, Neumann is bound with a long-term collaboration. "Ich schau Dir in die Augen, gesellschaftlicher Verblendungszusammenhang" (I look into your eyes, social context of blindness) premiered at the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz, Berlin in 2010, won high acclaim among critics and the audience and since its premiere been travelling many cities all over the world.

F/T Theatrotheque / Program 1:
1. Ich schau Dir in die Augen, gesellschaftlicher Verblendungszusammenhang! / René Pollesch
Guest: Bert Neumann (Stage Designer, Germany)
Germany / 2010 / 90 minutes / German, Japanese Subtitles

This solo play premiered in 2010 and has enjoyed great popularity. In the huge main space of the Volksbühne Theater in Berlin, actor Fabian Hinrichs performed the parody work in his underwear. Blending dialogue, songs and dancing, this comical play brings to light Pollesch's unique, sharp theories of humanity, the stage and society

Date: Sep 13 (Tue), 2011 19:00
Venue: Goethe-Institut Tokyo
Tickets: ¥500

Ticket reservation:
http://festival-tokyo.jp/en/ticket

F/T Emerging Artists Program: Modern Table (Korea) Performance Change

2011-09-01T06:51:03Z

It was previously planned for Modern Table to stage "Awake" and "Darkness PoomBa" (choreography, music: Jaeduk Kim) at the Owlspot Theater on November 7 (Mon) and 8 (Tue), as part of the F/T11 Emerging Artists Program. However, due to the wishes of the company it has been decided instead to stage "Awake" with "Joker's Blues".

]]> The performance change now means that the double-bill by Modern Table both become Japan premieres.
"Joker's Blues" features traditional pansori songs and music alongside a highly physical performance. It explores the ambivalence of contemporary society through the motif of the clown, in a sublime physical rendering of the duality of the sad and the comic.
Please also note that ticket for the F/T Emerging Artists Program go on sale from September 10 (Sat), at 12:00.

F/T11 Press Conference Report

2011-08-17T03:47:21Z

The F/T11 press conference on July 6 saw the artists Tsuyoshi Shirai, Yudai Kamisato (OKAZAKI ARTS THEATRE), Akio Miyazawa (U-enchi Saisei Jigyodan), Yukichi Matsumoto (Ishinha), Akira Takayama (Port B) and Yohei Kurose (CHAOS*LOUNGE) all gather together in Ikebukuro to discuss the upcoming autumn edition of Festival/Tokyo. 2010 edition.

The 2011 Festival is scheduled to be held over a period of almost two months, from 16 September to 13 November. Although the number of productions presented by F/T has shrunk from around 20 in previous years to a more modest 13 this time, F/T11 presents a couple of works of a dimension never seen before. The double bill "ground" and "The Phenomenon Called I" by Norimizu Ameya and Romeo Castellucci respectively, will be staged in the open-air Multipurpose Colosseum in Yumenoshima Park in Tokyo Bay. Inspired by the texts of Kenji Miyazawa, "ground" and "The Phenomenon Called I" have the capacity to hold 1,000 spectators per performance. In the same way the large-scale "Cinecittà Aperta Ruhr Trilogy, Part 2" by René Pollesch is a site-specific work that will borrow the wasteland bordering the west side of Toyosu Park for its stage.

The main reason for the Festival to move out further into the city of Tokyo is practical: one of Festival/Tokyo's main venues, the Tokyo Metropolitan Art Space, is closed for renovation. In fact the tentative catch phrase for F/T11 used to be "Leave the theatre behind, go out into the streets!" However this was changed to "What can we say?", reflecting a certain feeling of helplessness in the aftermath of the 3.11 triple catastrophe.

Ichiro Momohara from the Tokyo Metropolitan Government opened the press conference by offering his condolences to all those who have lost someone in the disaster, also wishing for a quick recovery for the victims in the Tohoku area. He made it clear that it had been for a while uncertain whether F/T11 would have been held at all in the circumstances, but that in the end they decided to go through with the Festival without changes to either scale or budget.

Chairman of the F/T Executive Committee Sachio Ichimura said that it is in the power of the arts to question the way we are living, and the words of the government who tells us not to worry about the radiation and keep drinking the water coming out of our taps. It is the strength of art to give us hope in these times of hopelessness and maybe even offer an alternative reality.

Program Director Chiaki Soma (pictured below) called the disaster "a new grand narrative". The question is now how should F/T face this new reality. Should we talk publicly about it, or should we avoid it? Standing face to face with a new reality than has surpassed even fiction, what can we say? This is exactly why the Festival slogan was changed to "What can we say?" In particular, the two new works highlighted below are directly influenced by the recent circumstances. Although a part of the line-up included works already premiered, the audiences will also now see them through a new post-3.11 filter.

From the podium artist Akira Takayama talked about his overwhelming encounter with the Zwetendorf Nuclear Power Plant in Austria, which was prevented from ever being used by a referendum in 1978. Today the building stands as a monument to the power of the people. Playing with the irony that a plebiscite has never taken place in Japan, Takayama's new work takes as its point of departure the current dilemma of whether Japan needs nuclear power at all. "Referendum Project" is a participatory piece in three parts, bearing Takayama's trademark method of including the audiences in the performance, forcing them to make up a personal opinion and take a political standpoint.

Akio Miyazawa, leader of U-enchi Saisei Jigyodan, is also thematizing the threat that nuclear energy imposes on the human race. His new work "Total Living 1986-2011" presents the story of a man who is sentenced to 25 years in prison for a crime he committed in 1986. He is imprisoned in the same year as the Chernobyl accident and released in the year of the Fukushima incident. Against this background Miyazawa says that he intends to question our current way of living.

It remains to be seen not only at F/T11 but also in the years to come how the 3.11 catastrophe will influence the arts, and eventually the mindset of the general public. We hope that it will create a ripple effect that spreads beyond the borders of Tokyo and Japan.

by Tara Ishizuka Hassel]]>