I Was Enchanted: An Interview with Nobuo Murata
The opening of the 10th edition of the Poland Film Festival took place on 20 November 2021, during which Nobuo Murata was honoured as an ‘Ambassador of Polish Culture’. We talk with Murata, organiser of the festival and representative of Mermaid Films, a Japanese film distributor, about the development of the festival so far and plans for the future.
Paweł Pachciarek: This year we’re celebrating the tenth anniversary of the first edition of the Poland Film Festival. How has the festival changed during the past decade? What have been the greatest challenges in organising it? What are the challenges currently?
Nobuo Murata: A decade ago, many viewers who were then in their 60s were already familiar with Polish cinema, which they had seen in their youth. At that time, in the 1960s and 70s, they enthusiastically watched films that were screened in Japanese cinemas, such as Ashes and Diamonds, Sewer, Night Train and Mother Joan of the Angels. During the festival, we presented digitally remastered classics of Polish cinematography, but we also included films that Japanese audiences hadn’t yet had an opportunity to see. Some people came to many screenings. There were 120 seats in the venue, 70% of which were always filled.The problem is that now, 10 years later, members of the baby boomer generation are in their 70s and don’t have many opportunities to go to the cinema. So now we’re trying to focus on new Polish cinema and broaden the festival to include animation, documentaries, music, and other aspects of Polish culture. As a result, the number of viewers in their 30s and 40s is growing every year. Winning over an audience is the biggest challenge when organising a film festival.
PP: Why did you decide to present Polish cinema to Japanese people?
NM: Why Polish cinema? The answer to this question is the film Four Nights with Anna by Jerzy Skolimowski, based on a screenplay by Ewa Piaskowska. I thought that creating a film festival that could strengthen our ties with the Polish film world and link it with Japanese culture would undoubtedly be an enriching experience.
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Jerzy Skolimowski's 'Four Nights with Anna', photo: Press Material
PP: Please tell us about this year’s programme. What did you consider while selecting the films?
NM: The theme of this year’s edition is ‘Commemoration’. This year we celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birth of Krzysztof Kieślowski, the fifth anniversary of the death of Andrzej Wajda, and the 100th anniversary of the birth of Stanisław Lem, whose translated books have many fans in Japan. We’ll also be screening Piotr Domalewski’s film As Far As Possible From Here, which attracted a lot of attention during the Tokyo International Film Festival.
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'I Never Cry' directed by Pyotr Domarevski, photo: Forum Film
PP: What are your favourite Polish films and directors?
NM: When I was 13 years old, I watched Ashes and Diamonds in a local community centre, projected onto a small screen from a 16mm reel. It made a huge impression on me. When I was in high school, I was enchanted by the laid-back jazz and the beauty of the leading actress in Jerzy Kawalerowicz’s film Night Train, which I saw during a screening of Polish films. One of my favourite directors in general, not only among the representatives of Polish cinema, is Jerzy Skolimowski, who is one of the most highly respected filmmakers in the world.
PP: How do you imagine the Poland Film Festival in 10 years?
We’ll continue to work so that the festival attracts viewers every year, and people will want to attend and enjoy it. The key is to create a good team to work on this. I hope the festival will attract more and more people, that it will become very popular, and that in another 10 years, on the festival’s 20th anniversary, we’ll have the opportunity to talk again.
Thank you for the interview.
Interview originally conducted in Japanese, translated by Scotia Gilroy into English via a Polish translation, Nov 2021
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