Filmmaker/playwright
Shuji Terayama and poet/author Shuntaro Tanikawa began corresponding
by videotape between 1982-83, combining art and communication with [what
was then] the latest in technology. Here is a collection of unique video
letters (a personal Facebook of sorts) produced by two legendary
Japanese icons, - shortly prior to Mr Terayama's death in May, 1983
- filled with abstract philosophies, aberrant concepts and flamboyant
visuals.
Shuji
Terayama was a playwright, novelist, artist and filmmaker. Avant-garde
art circles treat him like a god, but in the USA, his work remains largely
undiscovered. Mr Shuji Terayama died from Nephrotic Syndrome in 1983,
at age 47. His experimental, radical vision (see SHORT
EXPERIMENTAL FILMS OF SHUJI TERAYAMA) continues to live through
motion pictures [THROW
AWAY YOUR BOOKS, TO
DIE IN THE COUNTRY: PASTORAL, FAREWELL
TO THE ARK, et al] and through his writing.
Tanikawa
Shuntaro, born December 1931, is perhaps the most widely read and highly
regarded of all living Japanese poets, both at home and abroad. He is
on the "A List" for Nobel Prize speculation. Mr Shuntaro is
best known for Floating the River in Melancholy, which
won the American Book Award in 1989. Besides writing 60+ books over
the years, he also works as a translator, responsible for translating
Charles Schulz's Peanuts and Mother Goose
into Japanese.
A
Japanese film/collection, with English subtitles, 74 min, fullscreen,
DVD encoded for ALL REGION NTSC WORLD FORMAT; extras include Terayama
trailers
